| With so many different styles and varieties of molding | | | | When finished, simply fill any nail holes or dents with nail |
| that are available, you can create a custom look in | | | | putty, and paint or stain. |
| your kitchen with very little effort. There are a number | | | | More Creative Options |
| of different methods you can use in the kitchen when | | | | Another way to use molding creatively in the kitchen is |
| using molding, ranging from simple decorative touches | | | | to glue it to the fronts of your cabinet doors. You can |
| to using crown molding around the tops of all of your | | | | look at kitchen cabinet designs for inspiration, and then |
| cabinets. Either way, using molding is an easy and | | | | using moldings with whatever profile you feel gives the |
| inexpensive way to add some custom style to your | | | | best effect, simulate the look of custom cabinet panels |
| kitchen. | | | | by cutting pieces of the molding and gluing them in the |
| A Built-In Look | | | | appropriate pattern. This can be an especially effective |
| If you want to add crown molding to the top edges of | | | | technique for painted cabinets, since you can add the |
| your kitchen cabinet to add a custom "built-in" look, | | | | molding and then give the entire cabinet a fresh coat |
| you'll first need to measure the room around the top | | | | of paint to blend the cabinets and molding together. |
| edge where you will be installing the crown molding. | | | | Chair Rails |
| Choose a style of crown molding that gives the effect | | | | Another great way to use molding in the kitchen is to |
| you're looking for, and purchase enough to finish the | | | | add a chair rail. There are many attractive ways to |
| project, plus about 15% extra to account for errors or | | | | incorporate a chair rail into a room. You might also |
| cutting waste. You might want to check with the | | | | choose to add wainscoting to the bottom portion of |
| manufacturer of your cabinets, to see if they sell | | | | the walls, and then top with the chair rail. Using |
| pre-finished molding to match. | | | | wallpaper on the bottom half of the wall and paint on |
| Avoiding Nails | | | | the top, dividing the areas with chair rail is also a nice |
| If you don't want to nail the molding directly to your | | | | effect. If you use chair rail in the area of the kitchen |
| cabinets, you can get around this problem by attaching | | | | that contains a table and chairs, the railing will not only |
| a one inch strip of particle board to the top edges of | | | | look great, but also help to protect the walls from the |
| the cabinets. By doing this, you'll be able to attach the | | | | tops of the chairs. |
| molding to this strip instead of marring your cabinets, in | | | | Custom Shelves |
| case you choose to redecorate in another fashion | | | | If you're looking for a quick and simple way of adding |
| later. After measuring, cut the molding using a miter | | | | just a touch or two to your kitchen, try creating a |
| box so that it fits, keeping in mind that you'll need | | | | custom shelf using decorative wooden corbels as the |
| 45-degree angle cuts for the corners in most cases. | | | | shelf support. Even small touches with molding can |
| Using a nail gun with headless nails, attach the molding | | | | help to create an attractive custom look. |
| pieces to the nailing strip you placed around the top. | | | | |