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equest17_gw

Transition from cabinets to wall?

14 years ago

We are finishing up some little remaining items in our DIY kitchen remodel, and I have a question about transitioning from the toe kick to the baseboards.

I laid new floors, so we installed stained quarter round along the toe kick of the stained cabinets and white painted quarter round along the wall where the white baseboards are. My question is, which type of quarter round do we do along the little half wall (pony wall) where we built a raised bar? It doesn't have baseboard, but it has an inside corner with painted trim and an outside corner with the stained cabinets of the peninsula. We've cut a piece of both, and I have photos below of the two options (the stained one isn't mitered, just sitting in place, so please disregard the uneven ends).

Stained quarter round:

White painted quarter round:

Comments (14)

  • 14 years ago

    The stained quarter round for sure!

  • 14 years ago

    I equest...

    I'm not expert, so this is just an opinion, but if the pony wall is going to be green,like the adjacent wall, then I would use the white quarter round. Is it going to be green?

    KA:)

  • 14 years ago

    I would switch at the pony wall.Brown up to the edge of the cabinet, and a piece of baseboard plus quarter round on the ponywall including the thickness of it adjacent to the cabinet. Since the base will stick out further you will have to do some miters. Since the pony wall is drywall and wallpaper (?) it is "architecture", not cabinetry and should be treated as such imo.

    If you don't want to go into that detail, I would probably do stained on the whole thing since it would mostly disappear then.

  • 14 years ago

    We need to see the whole area to judge properly.
    I am leaning towards the white because it seems to be more part of the room that has white trim.

  • 14 years ago

    My gut response at a glance would be one of the following two - neither of which are the ideas you have above.

    One is to continue the full baseboard along that area and around the walls edge, ending it at the actual cabinetry. End the stained quarter round at the cabinet back and dont bring it over the wall end.

    The second option would be to use stained quarter round all the way around to the wall as you have in option one, but then continue it around the wall till it meets the vertical door molding. Eliminate the small run of white molding that is there now - the piece that stretches from the door molding to the wall.

    That is my opinion for what it is worth. Good luck.

  • 14 years ago

    Thanks for the input. I'll try to get a few more photos of the kitchen that give the context better.

    Lilydixie, I'm with you. I prefer the stain so it disappears, but DH likes the white because it matches the rest of the trim on that side of the ponywall.

    Kitchenaddict, the ponywall is wallpapered and complete as-is. I wanted something that would hide scuffs and such from feet at the bar, so I went with a durable wallpaper instead of the green paint.

    Palimpsest, the original plan was to transition the molding where you recommend, right where the back of the cabinet ends and side of the ponywall begins, but it's a rather narrow walkway and I didn't want to lose any space (or create a toe-stubbing hazard) with baseboard and quarter round protruding farther.

    Dianalo, that's what DH says!

    Seegaye, interesting proposal. If I understand correctly, your first option is the same as Palimpsest? That leaves the white quarter round sticking out farther, which I'm not sure I would like. Your second option is interesting; I hadn't thought of that. I'll take pictures of that side of the room and see if you still recommend it.

  • 14 years ago

    Hi equest...

    That being said, from the 2 choices you have pictured, I will change my vote to stain because I think it blends in better with your flooring and wallpaper. The white seems too bright against your wallpaper, which looks more beige.

    However, seegaye sounds like he/she has some expertise in this area and should be considered.

    KA:)

  • 14 years ago

    I don't think there's a right or wrong answer here, but for what it's worth, I agree with your DH. I think the white looks more finished and binds the two areas together better.

  • 14 years ago

    I'd lose the white quarter round and do the stained everywhere--assuming the stained is the color of the floor and not the cabinets. You can think of it as floor trim whereas the baseboard above it is wall trim. As floor trim, it should be floor colored everywhere there is floor.

    (Actually, any which way will do just fine, so don't worry about it. If you hate it, you can change it later.)

  • 14 years ago

    Try this on for size. I think this is one of the options that Seegaye is suggesting if I understand correctly.

    Happy New Year!
    Pepper
    ~ First coat of wall paint is now up. : D

  • 14 years ago

    I don't think that inch transition close to the wall would be a toe stubber...we walk based on our perceptions from waist up, taking into account our shoulders and arms. Your arm would bang into the counter before you would hit with your foot, generally. This is why we can walk through a 24" gap between chairs comfortably but would be uncomfortable walking down a 24" wide hall. Narrowness up by our shoulders and face is more discomfiting than at the ground. If this were surrounding a LOW area, it may be a toe stubber, not not an area where we would be trying to keep our arms away from something high like a counter.

  • 14 years ago

    Thanks for the info Palimpsest. I hadn't thought about it, but you're probably right that toes would be safe (the fridge sticks out a bit, and we don't kick that ;-).

    I found some photos of the kitchen that might help. Some are during the remodel, so many details are not complete. None of the quarter round or baseboard is in place in these pics.

    Just a little more info. The stained quarter round perfectly matches the floor and is a very close match to the cabinets (ignore the stained quarter round next to the brick chimney in the old pictures below, it has been replaced). The dining and living rooms that you see with carpet will soon be floored with the same laminate. Those rooms have white baseboards and I will be using white quarter round.

    Here is the bar wall taken from the dining room opening.

    Here is an older picture of the bar area, taken standing beside the refrigerator (the bar wall wasn't complete yet and the baseboards aren't in, but everywhere the wall is green now has white baseboard and quarter round.

    Here is the front side of the peninsula; you can just see the end where the quarter round is needed to hide the flooring gap. If I ran white baseboard and quarter round along the back part of it, might it look disjointed?

  • 14 years ago

    Because there is another doorway there, and a small amount of wall space around that French door, I would probably use the stained quarter round all around including the small areas that had white base (this only looks to be about 4 ft run or so). Since it matches the floor it will just blend in.

  • 14 years ago

    Your option one, stained on the pony wall and painted on the green wall is what I would do.