What is the correct way to cut the inside corner crown molding for an upper corner kitchen cabinet? Thanks in advance.
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Replies
Cope it.
could you be a liiiiittttlllle more specific???
Mr. T.
There's a steering-wheel in me pants and it's driving me nuts!!!
For an angled corner cabinet I suppose you can cope it, but the back cut is so severe that I mitre it and preassemble before putting it up.
A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
For smaller cabinet crown I miter and glue. I only cope for larger moldings, like 4" or so. But I don't do a lot of kitchens, and I don't do a lot of crown."he...never charged nothing for his preaching, and it was worth it, too" - Mark Twain
The two schools of thought have already been expressed here: Cope and miter. Both are fine. I almost always cope, but if it's prefinished and rather small I will miter and use gorilla glue. I don't want to risk chipping the finish during coping and hate touching up prefinished material. If you miter, make sure you get a very tight joint and 100% glue coverage. If working with prefinished material a super sharp blade also helps minimize chipping of the finish.
How do you find the angle? 221/2 on both side does not seem to work?
How do you find the angle? 221/2 on both side does not seem to work?
22.5° is the correct miter angle for a 45° corner. Most likely, your cabinets are at 90°or 45°. If you're having trouble, it may be that you're not positioning the crown molding properly or the cabinets sit at an angle other than 45°. Remember that the inside corner must add up to 90, so if one angle is 60°, then the other one is 30°.
Use a T-bevel to determine the angle of either side of the cabinet (if it's really not 45°, but it probably is) Subtract from 90 for the other side of the cabinet. Divide each of these angle by 2 for the miter for each side.
-Don
It has two inside corners. So 221/2 times 4 but the wall was not square so you are right that one side is over and the other is under. I will give this a try. Thanks
Like most say here it is better and MUCH, MUCH easier to do a straight simple miter at the neccesary agle and use 5/8" 18ga. brads and to stitch it together, don't forget to glue it. Coping will work but it is so simple with a straight miter cut, plus if it is prefinished at all you don't risk damaging it. Just a couple of back pins (in place or nail before installing to cabinet). 5/8"er's will not jar it badly while you "hold the fit" ........and don't shoot yourself, LOL...........if you do, they're only 5/8 ths"...I DIDN'T SAY THAT.!
If the insider corner is perfectly square and the crown is small then a miter will perform okay if well glued and cross pinned. A trim screw will help. But unless the molding is perfectly aclimated to the room's final temp, it will open up (poly glue may resist this best but can be messy on prefinish or stain grade woods). A coped joint, well cut, well backbeveled and snapped into place, i.e. almost 1/16th too long, will perform better. Practice with a jigsaw, experiment with blades, and keep a good mixed of files. Fast is slow, steady is quicker. Speed? Go with miter and walk away. Craftsmanship? Cope and be proud. Remember your name's on it.
Speed? Go with miter and walk away. Craftsmanship? Cope and be proud. Remember your name's on it.
I disagree. I never cope on kitchen cabinets. I treat them like furniture and miter. I would never cope crown on a piece of furniture so why on cabs.
If you miter your pieces right and pin them from behind before installing them I don't think that they are going to open up.
Craftsmanship is knowing how to adapt to the circumstances.
Doug
If someone wants to cope this, and feels so strongly about it, just ask them to come and do it.
Kitchen cabinets are hopefully so square and level that there is no need to cope, simply mitre the joint. take two small pieces of crown and mitre them at 22.5 and see how they fit. Watch for the meeting spot, they is gonna overhang the doors ain't they....
Chances are the errors you is encountering is simply measurement errors, not angular errors.
maybe you don't have to cope to solve this problem.....
Just a thought
Eric
If your 22.5s aren't lining up it's a small investment in time to take some wood scraps and figure the angle on those, my guess it will be within a degree of 22.5. But make sure (ok, this is obvious but I'll say it anyway) you cut the same exact angle on both pieces to ensure that the detail lines up perfectly. Don't compensate by half a degree on one piece to close up a gap, get the angle squared away beforehand.
I usually don't prefabricate pieces of crown on cabinets (on plaster walls I do as the intersection of crown and wall gets caulked anyhow) but to ensure a tight fit against the rail and a tight joint I install each piece separate but always certain the next piece will go in perfectly. Back pinning the joint is added security but poly glue (or yellow glue) on smaller trim is fine. And the comment about poly glue being problematic on pre-finished stock is a wise one, the stuff does expand and bleed out and sticks to things worse than my ex-girlfriend. Yellow glue is much easier to work with and I'm sure will preform fine.
Edit: Also, an above post mentioned letting the stock acclimate before cutting and installing, this is vital for a miter and perhaps less important for a snap-fit cope (though not properly acclimated wood will always cause trouble). I like the furniture making reference, and it's true that copes are never used on high-end furniture, but properly acclimated wood is.
Edited 2/7/2006 12:39 pm ET by Rickie