David F. Eisan wrote:
Hello everyone,

I made the mistake of installing all my cabinets level and true in a kitchen
that is anything but.

The old cabinets were pushed flush with the ceiling and had quarter round
between them and the ceiling. Things rolled around in the old cabinets.

I now have the dilemma of how to fix this random gap between the tops of my
cabinets and the ceiling. In some places the cabinets touch the ceiling and
in other places there is a 3/4" gap. The face frame exposure above the doors
is about 7/8".

http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/cabprob1.jpg

http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/cabprob2.jpg

Hindsight tells me I should have figured out the difference in level in the
ceiling and made the face frames and side panels large enough to allow for
scribing.

Any ideas how to fill the gap? Somehow I don't think caulk and paint is the
answer. Neither is fixing the ceiling an option.

I am trying to think of some sort of trim design/style that I can put up
there to fix things that won't look all stupid being made of various widths.
I was thinking of making some sort of trim starting with a min height of
1/2" where the cabinets are flush, expanding to 1-1/4" at the worst gap. Add
to this the fact that I deliberately made the face frame sides proud of the
side panels, and that issue needs to be dealt with (mitre, mitre, mitre,
another mitre, mitre, mitre, another mitre....).

I am thinking 1/2" trim with maybe a 3/8" quarter round with bead on both
sides to mimic the doors. In order to do this with speed. I would prepaint
the trim, scribe it and hang it with 23g pins

To make matters worse, time is seriously of the essence. I take possession
of my new house in a little over three weeks and I really need to get this
done ASAP!

Finishing the kitchen is one of the many jobs that needed to be done last
month .

Taking down the cabinets and building the soffit down to a level line,
and then reinstalling the cabinets, would take at most a day. That's
using setting type joint compound and taking the requisite number of
breaks to step back and admire your work. This would be the slowest
(by a couple or three hours) but most factory solution.

Your trim option seems workable, but not having a real idea of the
size of the discrepancies, I can't tell for sure. This, of course,
would probably be the fastest and easiest option. Also probably the
least likely to look factory. You're working with small trim and fair
sized gaps - something will look off.

Another option, and I'm not necessarily sold on this one, would be to
use low-expanding foam (protecting adjoining surfaces first of
course), slicing it back flush with the face of the cabinet, then
spackling and painting. That might be the fastest and look factory,
but I haven't experimented do such things to provide a smooth
transition to a wall surface while filling a substantial gap.

R