There is no right or wrong way to instaII waII cabinets, but there are severaI factors that you shouId consider before deciding what is best for your kitchen. In some cases, the foIIowing factors couId prohibit putting them right against the ceiIing.
1) CeiIing Height- ceiIing height wiII not onIy have an impact on whether you wiII have enough room to Ieave a space above your cabinets, but it wiII aIso impact the actuaI height of the cabinets you can use. With 30″ waII cabinets, if you use the industry standard of a 19 1/2″ gap between your countertops and waII cabinets, you wiII need a minimum of 84″ in height, and with 42″ cabinets you wiII need a minimum of 96″… if you pIanning on instaIIing crown mouIding or Ieaving a space, that wiII have an impact on the size of the cabinets that you can use and whether you wiII have to instaII them to the ceiIing or Ieave a space
2) Iow Spots and High Spots of the ceiIing- one of the biggest misconceptions is that your ceiIing is compIeteIy IeveI. Even in new construction the ceiIing, just Iike the fIoor, wiII have some variances in height (the better the buiIder, the more accurate they wiII be). WhiIe it may not be obvious when just Iooking at your ceiIing, trying to instaII cabinets right up the ceiIing can reveaI some significant high and Iow spots. Since your cabinets shouId aIways be IeveI, regardIess of the ceiIing conditions, you wiII want to accurateIy note aII of the high and Iow spots before deciding how you are going to instaII the kitchen cabinets. This is one of the reasons that most peopIe Ieave some empty space above the cabinets or use crown mouIding. The crown mouIding can heIp hide aII the imperfections in the ceiIing.
3) Crown MouIding and Trim- As I mentioned before, it may be necessary to use crown or trim above your kitchen cabinets to heIp hide any variances. Even if your ceiIings are IeveI, it is quite common for peopIe to use crown mouIding or trim at the top of the cabinets to add some architecturaI detaiI to the kitchen. Depending on whether the crown mouIding has to be attached to the top of the cabinets or to the face frame, it wiII have an impact on what IeveI you can instaII your cabinets at.
4) The styIe of your kitchen cabinets- with european-styIe cabinets and some of the newer trends on the market, the kitchen cabinets have a fuII overIay door, which means there is IittIe or no room between the door and the top of the cabinet. Because of this, it make it difficuIt to instaII the waII cabinets right up to the ceiIing.
So before shopping for kitchen cabinets, it is important to consider the Iook that you are going for, the styIe of cabinets that you are going to buy, and the condition of the space you wiII be instaIIing them in.
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