With so many different styles and varieties of molding that are available, you can create a custom look in your kitchen with very little effort. There are a number of different methods you can use in the kitchen when using molding, ranging from simple decorative touches to using crown molding around the tops of all of your cabinets. Either way, using molding is an easy and inexpensive way to add some custom style to your kitchen.

A Built-In Look

If you want to add crown molding to the top edges of your kitchen cabinet to add a custom “built-in” look, you’ll first need to measure the room around the top edge where you will be installing the crown molding. Choose a style of crown molding that gives the effect you’re looking for, and purchase enough to finish the project, plus about 15% extra to account for errors or cutting waste. You might want to check with the manufacturer of your cabinets, to see if they sell pre-finished molding to match.

Avoiding Nails

If you don’t want to nail the molding directly to your cabinets, you can get around this problem by attaching a one inch strip of particle board to the top edges of the cabinets. By doing this, you’ll be able to attach the molding to this strip instead of marring your cabinets, in case you choose to redecorate in another fashion later. After measuring, cut the molding using a miter box so that it fits, keeping in mind that you’ll need 45-degree angle cuts for the corners in most cases. Using a nail gun with headless nails, attach the molding pieces to the nailing strip you placed around the top. When finished, simply fill any nail holes or dents with nail putty, and paint or stain.

More Creative Options

Another way to use molding creatively in the kitchen is to glue it to the fronts of your cabinet doors. You can look at kitchen cabinet designs for inspiration, and then using moldings with whatever profile you feel gives the best effect, simulate the look of custom cabinet panels by cutting pieces of the molding and gluing them in the appropriate pattern. This can be an especially effective technique for painted cabinets, since you can add the molding and then give the entire cabinet a fresh coat of paint to blend the cabinets and molding together.

Chair Rails

Another great way to use molding in the kitchen is to add a chair rail. There are many attractive ways to incorporate a chair rail into a room. You might also choose to add wainscoting to the bottom portion of the walls, and then top with the chair rail. Using wallpaper on the bottom half of the wall and paint on the top, dividing the areas with chair rail is also a nice effect. If you use chair rail in the area of the kitchen that contains a table and chairs, the railing will not only look great, but also help to protect the walls from the tops of the chairs.

Custom Shelves

If you’re looking for a quick and simple way of adding just a touch or two to your kitchen, try creating a custom shelf using decorative wooden corbels as the shelf support. Even small touches with molding can help to create an attractive custom look.

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Category: Home Management
Keywords: home, decor, design, wall art, improvement, remodel, budget, repair, feng shui