how to install kitchen crown molding

[This is part of Our Kitchen Molding Makeover series.]

On This (really long) Page

  • How to Scribe the Crown
  • Which Wall to Start On?
  • How to Cope a Crown
  • How to Splice Two Pieces of Crown Together
  • How to Wrap Crown Around an Air Vent

You’ve come this far with the installation, and now we’re going to add the final piece that will pull the whole thing together.

diy kitchen crown molding buildup

This is what the crown will look like by the end of this page.

Scribe the Crown

It’s easy to nail crown in a slightly wrong position.  The problems show up when you try to match the scarf and cope joints with a crown that’s been nailed slightly out of position — the scarf and cope joints are hard to line up.

To achieve a consistent placement of my crown, I like to run around the room one more time making scribe marks.  This time I’ll put them at the lower edge of the crown detail.  This really helps me position the crown in just the right spot before I shoot brad nails into it.

diy large kitchen crown molding buildup

diy kitchen crown molding buildup

Glue all Contact Surfaces

Just like I preach when installing any molding, apply glue to the upper and lower contact surfaces of your crown.

diy kitchen crown molding buildup

diy kitchen crown molding buildup

Which Wall to Start On?

I’m going to start on one of my short walls.  The piece of crown I applied the glue to in the above picture is now installed in the picture below.

diy kitchen crown molding buildup

Below  Next I installed the crown on the opposite short wall.

diy kitchen crown molding buildup

diy kitchen crown molding buildup

This is what happens when I shoot a 2″ brad nail through 1″ of material into a brick wall.

How to Cope an MDF Crown Molding Corner

Don’t be nervous about cutting a cope joint, because it’s really easy.  It’s just one of those things you have to do a few times to develop a feel for how to do it.

diy kitchen crown molding cope

Below  I like to cut away small sections so that they fall away and leave me room to work my cope saw on more difficult angles.

diy kitchen crown molding buildup

diy kitchen crown molding

diy kitchen crown molding buildup

diy kitchen crown molding cope joint

Below  I still get happy when my cope joints turn out this perfect.  I want to say something like, dad, dad, look dad, look what I did dad!

diy kitchen crown molding buildup cope joint

diy kitchen crown molding buildup

Below  Repeat the cope process at the far end of the wall.  Glue and nail the crown in place.

diy kitchen crown molding cope joint

Now I’m going to install the crown in between the two air vents.  It’s a long wall, so I’ll need to splice two pieces of crown together with a scarf joint.

Crown Molding Scarf Joint

After my painstakingly installed crown molding is painted, I don’t want to see the scarf joints staring at me every time I walk in the room.  So this is my method for splicing crown molding pieces together.

diy kitchen crown molding scarf joint

Above  The most important thing is to use a long-ish piece of scrap crown to test fit the joint.  If you only use a short piece then you’re not really going to know how the crown is going to behave the length before the joint — it may be full of little inconsistencies that don’t show up when testing with a small piece of crown.

diy kitchen crown molding scarf joint

How to Wrap the Crown Around the Air Vents

Air Vent Wrap Step 1

Cut a piece of crown long enough so you can make all of your pieces for each vent from the same piece of molding.

diy kitchen crown molding air vent

I gave myself four feet of crown to work with.

Air Vent Wrap Step 2

Cut inside 45 degree miters at each end of crown.

diy kitchen crown molding around air vent

Air Vent Wrap Step 3

Find a comfortable work surface and cope both ends of the crown.

diy kitchen crown molding buildup air vent

diy kitchen crown molding around air vent

diy kitchen crown molding buildup around air vent

Air Vent Wrap Step 4

Hold one of the coped ends in place exactly how it will sit when installed and then scribe the back side.  Take your time with this step because you have a lot of time invested into coping those ends.

diy kitchen crown molding around air vent

Air Vent Wrap Step 5

Cut an outside miter at the scribe line.  It’s better to cut it a hair long rather than short.

diy kitchen crown molding buildup around air vent

After cutting on the miter saw.

diy kitchen crown molding buildup around air vent

diy kitchen crown molding buildup around air vent

Make two of these, one for each side.

Air Vent Wrap Step 6

Take the long piece of crown and put an outside miter on the left side, and then glue the left small piece to it.

diy kitchen crown molding around air vent

Make sure this is good and dry before you go on to the next step.

Air Vent Wrap Step 7

I hold the piece in place and then scribe where I want my outside miter.

diy kitchen crown molding around air vent

Air Vent Wrap Step 8

I cut an outside miter where I scribed in the previous step.

diy kitchen crown molding buildup around air vent

Air Vent Wrap Step 9

Glue the small piece of mitered crown to the right side.

diy kitchen crown molding buildup around air vent

Give the glue a minute to soak into the open cut and to tack up a bit before mating.

diy kitchen crown molding wrap around air vent

diy kitchen crown molding buildup around air vent

Air Vent Wrap Step 9

Glue all contact surfaces: top/bottom of crown and the cope joints.

diy kitchen crown molding buildup around air vent

Air Vent Wrap Step 10

Carefully put your crown molding wrap in place and then nail it with a few 23 gauge micro pins.

diy kitchen crown molding around air vent

diy kitchen crown molding around air vent finished

diy kitchen crown molding buildup around air vent

What initially was an obstacle to installing our kitchen crown has instead become a nice architectural element.

Installing the Very Last Piece of Crown

Installing the last piece of crown in a buildup is where I tend to make small mistakes, because I’m tired or feeling rushed to finish.  But this is not the time to cut wrong, it’s the last piece.  Here are some things to consider.

diy kitchen crown molding

Below  It’s hard to scribe the exact spot on a scarf joint.  I make many trips to the saw as I shave the length down to where I’m almost there.  At that point I gauge how much of the crown needs to be shaved and then mark it with a pencil.

diy kitchen crown molding

Below  The saw I’m using is new to me, and so not being that familiar with it I shaved off just a tad too much.  For a client I would have started over with a new piece, but I’m going to let this one go.

diy kitchen crown molding cope joint

Below  Can you see the scarf joint in the picture?  It’s easier and better to fill a slight gap in a cope joint (above) than it is to leave a gap in a scarf joint.

diy kitchen crown molding buildup

diy kitchen crown molding on brick wall

diy kitchen three-piece crown molding buildup

I know that my method of installing three-piece crown moldings is laborious, but my crown moldings never come apart, so it’s worth the effort to me.

The Next Step

The next step is to prepare the crown to be painted.  As you may have guessed, I have a process for that too.

I show step by step how I prepped and painted this crown in a guest post for One Project Closer: How to Paint a Three-Piece Crown Molding, or you can go to our How to Paint Moldings page.

CROWN MOLDING-103 Installation Series

1.  How to Install CROWN MOLDING-103 for About $3.00/ft

2.  Crown Molding Limiting Factors

3.  Kitchen Crown Molding: Materials from Lowes $211.75

4.  Building a Crown Molding Model

5.  Preparing the Cornice Molding

6.  My Crown Molding Layout Techniques

7.  How to Install the Crown Molding Lower Detail

8.  How to Install the Crown Molding Cornice

9.  How to Install the Last Piece of Crown Molding

10. Before & After: Another CROWN MOLDING-103 Installation