On Jul 29, 8:02*pm, "Mo" wrote:
I'm having new new kitchen cabinets for the first time. *Normally, I would
do this kind of work myself, but with my day job/travel, I don't want my
family to be without a kitchen for the several weeks it would take me to do
it myself. *To save some badly-needed cash however, I plan on installing the
crown molding myself. *I ordered pre-finished (matching) crown molding from
the cabinet manufacturer that will go above the cabinets and all the way
around the perimeter of the kitchen ceiling as well. *I've done a reasonable
amount of crown molding installation myself over the years and am
comfortable doing it. *I know the basic procedures of cutting the molding
upside down on the miter saw and coping the inside corners.

The guy installing my cabinets mentioned that because the molding is
pre-finished, I should *not* cope the inside corners, and should miter them
instead. *He explained that since it's pre-finished, I won't be able to fill
the gaps with caulk, paint, etc., which of course is true. But this advice
is opposite to everything I've ever heard, read, or done regarding crown
molding. * I thought a coped inside corner should better hide the gaps that
come from non-orthogonal walls and ceilings, and from expansion /
contraction that can occur with time, temperature, humidity variation, etc.
We certainly have a large humidity range here in Detroit throughout the
season.

My cabinet installer is a nice guy, and has a lot more experience than I do.
But he's not exactly motivated to explain it further to me, since he would
prefer I hire him for the job. *That's just not in my budget though ...

Can anyone shed some light on why a mitered inside corner would be better
than a coped one for *pre-finished* crown molding?

Mo

In my experience either can work. To miter it right, takes a good
amount of skill and effort, and a lot of very accurate measurements.
Coping also takes skill and some careful measuring, but allows for
some variations. I would suggest the best might be what you are most
skilled at.

Good Luck