Expert: Jamie Yocono - 7/18/2006

Question
We (I) want to add decorative moulding to our kitchen cabinets.  Can you give advice on how to measure crown moulding correctly.  We've got a single cabinet and then two walls each of 8' of cabinets that meet with an inside corner.  Which means my husband will have to make inside and outside corners.  Is a nail gun the best way to attach the moulding?  Any advice you can give will be greatly appreciated.  

Answer
Hi Barb,

You gotta love a husband who's willing to tackle a job like crown molding!  I wish a had a dollar for every time someone asked me how to install it. Truth is- it's been so long since I did it, I barely remember how, so this isn't going to be an "off the top of my head" answer. But- I did look at some websites that I frequent, and these three different sites should be very helpful to you.

http://www.altereagle.com/How_to_install.html
http://www.josephfusco.org/Articles/Crown_Moulding/cuttingcrownpg2.htm
http://www.compoundmiter.com/crown.html

These tutorials should make this job easier, especially if you like visual aids. Frankly, it's a tough job. I'm not trying to discourage you, but unless you have some skills and access to tools, it might be something you should consider hiring someone to do. Tools you need include a compound mitersaw, nail gun & accessories, and possibly a tablesaw, as you might need to rip some blocking that you'll need to install the molding.

About your nail gun question- I can barely work anymore without my nail guns ... specifically my pinners. The gun I use (almost daily) shoots up to a 2" pin, and you barely have a nail spot to fill. In fact, one of my suppliers just sent out a flyer this week that featured this gun, and everything you need, compressor, hose, fittings, nails, everything for about $150. I mean, my compressor alone was about $300, so this was quite a deal. If you look around at a good tool store, you should be able to find some sort of a deal like this. I think it was a Porter Cable set.

Another thing you might want to consider- there's a tool called a "Third Hand" and it's been useful to me in situations where you need...well.....a third hand. I bought two from Amazon for about $70 or so. I've used them for everything from cabinet installation to masking off temporary spray booths. They ratchet into place with one hand, and allow you to do stuff you could never do alone. So you might want to check these out for your job. Heck- you could buy them, use the for the molding job, and then sell them on eBay. I've done that with some tools that I wasn't sure I would need again. BTW- I purchased the larger pads (6" square) for these Third Hands; you'll see them mentioned on the Amazon website. The larger pads give you a little more stability, which helped me when installing kitchen cabinets. But for crown molding, you might be OK with the small pads that they come with as a stock item.

I hope these sites help. Sorry I can't give you specific help, but it's been so long that I've done this, you're better off looking at these tutorials. Feel free to write back if you have any other questions after reading this. And ... please tell the hubby to be careful. Those mitersaws can be dangerous. Good luck!


Jamie Yocono
Wood It Is! Custom Cabinetry
Las Vegas, NV
www.wooditis.com