Finish Carpentry Question -- Cased opening or not?

2 years ago

Here is a picture of our future kitchen as seen from the family room. My builder is confused why we're not doing a cased opening to define the kitchen from the family room and designer thinks we should not do a cased opening.

The house is rather traditional so i would like some trim work (across the top beam ideally), but I also don't want wing walls or vertical trim work which will eat into my precious cabinet space on the window wall.

Any ideas? This is causing a design challenge between my builder and designer and I need a tie breaker!! :)

Keep the beams wrapped in drywall as pictured? or wrap the beams in some woodwork/trimwork? If you vote for adding trimwork how should I do the vertical trim?

Thanks!

Featured Answer

palimpsest

2 years ago

If I did casing like Beth shows I would do the third side on the left as well. I think it either needs to be a full cased opening or not at all rather than on just one side and the top. The left only needs to be the width of the casing and maybe an inch.

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Comments (6)

Beth H. :
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
You mean here?

I would

I cased mine w/a 4-5" flat piece, similar to baseboards
Frank thanked Beth H. :
Frank
Original Author
2 years ago
Beth H, yes that is what I'm talking about. Thank you for the drawing. But do I need to wrap it around the corner and under the beam (highlighted below)? The drywall that wraps the beam above that opening is expected to be 8" wide and I'm concerned that takes away crucial cabinet and counter space.

Thanks!
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Beth H. :
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
My cased opening only goes up one wall and over the top, dead end into the cabinets. on the other side it hits all 3.

it's really hard to tell based on these picturs. how about you wait until its in and reevaluate? the casing can be added at a later time. not a big deal.

btw, this kitchen looks amazing. love to see pics when it's done.
PRO
Design Interior South
2 years ago
i thik it looks odd that this opening wouldnt be cased but the one adjacent to it is.
Frank
Original Author
2 years ago
Beth, do you have a photo of your example? Thanks so much for your input!

I have a feeling the simplest solution is a faux boxed header? it seems to be the most common way to avoid the "dreaded" drywall beam without having a full cased opening that requires trim to come down the vertical sides. The vertical sides are what I'm trying to avoid cause they take up 8" of useless space into my kitchen, and shifts my window wall of cabinets down and shrinks the amount of cabinets and counter.

I don't love the boxed headers look (too distracting to the eye in my opinion)