Pick another cabinet line with more design options. Like almost any cabinet line. You need 36”H cabinets with a riser and then the same color matched room crown.

Thanks, Sophie. If only money grew on trees. I should have specified that we are trying to make this design work within the limitations of Ikea. Pros and cons there for sure but we have been impressed with the quality of their cabinets and the price is allowing us to make this happen. We will definitely color match the molding.

As Sophie. More importantly, how does one "just realize" that eight foot ceilings

mean ninety six inches to work with? Fifty four of that gone to counters and splash height!

The "fix" is no "traditional" crown in any of the kitchen cabinet wall space. Top the cabinets with a shallow flush to cabinet face soffit. Or you need 36 inch cabinetry as above

Penny wise and pound foolish. Already assembled cabinets may cost a bit more, but give you hundreds to thousands more options. Including a true white, not vanilla, shaker.

Remove the wall crown and only have crown on the cabinets.

In older kitchens the backsplash height was often only 15 or 16" ... Do what you want... are you putting in a pantry? This would be an area that is sticky - if you cut the toe kick , then the doors won't line up on the bottom.

Lowering the wall cabinets is one option since Ikea doesn't have a wall cabinet between 30 and 40 " tall. Otherwise do what everyone else suggested and don't do crown around the kitchen.

You could do a corner block for transitioning molding or if you have a REALLY skilled finish carpenter, he may be able to cope the moldings together.

Good luck!

IKEA sells trim that matches your cabinets. Get creative with their trim.

You would do what's called a hanging return (like in Debbi Washburn's second picture). You would end the room crown and finish it off before the cabinets, and the cabinets would have their own crown. In our kitchen, we did this and left about 5" to make the cabinets stand out more, but you could also do it as close as possible like in Debbi's picture. Our method required that we finish the drywall seams between the wall and ceiling since they are now exposed, when they weren't before.

My uppers are 17.5" off my countertop. Can't say that I notice any difference when I work in my sister's kitchen with 18.5".

Measure the tallest item to go on counter to determine if an inch difference matters to you. However, I suggest doing the standard 18" space.

I also suggest going to a local cabinet store which assembles cabinets. Usually 30% less than big box retail stores. 36" tall with filler then crown for 8' ceiling.use the same crown of cabinet material, so it will age the same.

My last kitchen which I gutted was 15" from counter to bottom of cabinets - I didn't even realize it until I was planning my remodel.

As it turns out my current remodel is also going to be less than 18" because of the height of the floor and the height of the counters.

I'm actually fine with it because it makes the top shelves that much easier to access. I have one area without any uppers which is where I keep my very tall coffee maker and the Cuisinart when I am using it. Everything else fits fine below the upper cabinets.

I had asked my designer about the issue of under cabinet lighting and she assured me that there wasn't going to be any issue with the models she had selected.

If you're using LCD under cabinet light, you do not need a light rail. They are flush to bottom of uppers.

Eh,edited because of ikea. Maybe you do need light rail since they are flush on bottom...