Both seams on the outer panels are out of alignment. They should all line up in one continuous line to look right.

I think they should line up also.

When I was doing my own kitchen... I had to keep asking myself a very important question? Can I live with it? If the answer was yes then I overlooked it and moved on to the next line on my list...If my answer was no then I knew it needed to be redone! I factored in cost of the redo, downtime of getting it completed and final outcome and made my decisions based off that.

If you redo it ... I am curious how many pieces of molding are in your molding stack? I would do a pilaster first and then the flat stock. The seam isn't so noticeable.

I first looked the picture you uploaded and I didn't even read the title of the post, nor the description provided and thought to myself that the alignment doesn't look right. I would look at it the same way that lisa mentioned above. If it bothers you, I would try and address it.

Thank you all for your comments. I wanted confirm if the seams should be as wide as the door? They keep telling me that it's never going to be aligned being that it's a corner... @LisaPugmire, thank you. I will suggest that.

The first piece (flat part) should line up with the door. Angled crown will not align with door due to projection.

Lisa, I believe it's a 4 stack? Also, adding a pilaster it would be mean ripping all moldings, huh?

annmarie2,
Do you mean the seams won't go straight up. They will be angled? So it will start at say 16" and taper up narrower as you go higher?

it looks like they cut the moulding to the wrong lengths.

and i think annmarie is saying that the crown, since it's an angled piece, will start lined up, but then will taper to the ceiling. because that's what it's designed to do.

Here is what my husband who has 25 years of cabinetry/trim/framing/kitchen installation experience says.

The trim represents the true corner. The face of the cabinet does not represent the true corner. One of those elements has to be "dummied up" to match the other.

It may be possible to correct the problem by adjusting the sizes of the cabinet doors to line up with the miters. Purchasing of new doors may be necessary - some minor adjustments to where the doors fall on the face frames may help to reduce the numbers of doors you need to purchase.

But his main question is, his WHO is the designer? Your designer should have foreseen this problem and worked it out before they started building your beautiful new kitchen.

That all being said - woman to woman - and owner of a custom kitchen. What makes your kitchen great is the high quality work surface, backsplash, and appliances that you chose. The little things - like what lines up with what fade into the background as you go about your daily life in your beautiful, fresh, and chic new kitchen. What will make you happy or unhappy with your kitchen in the weeks, months and years to come is the functionality of the space. Focus on what you love - and look for the greatness in your surroundings.

I don't think there is a question of it if the crown should have lined up or not or if the end result bothers you. The question is if it bothers you enough to have them redo it? The Installer most likely added the trim and lined it up with the cabinet boxes and then added the doors. In hindsight he/she probably should have checked the doors along the way but again that is hindsight.To fix it now would be to redo or to cheat it by adding an applied molding on top of the flat stock that protrudes out a tad to trick the eye with the lines. It may not be perfect but as Lisa Dannenberg said "dummy it up" to take some from both sides and make it appear to line up.

Is this a remodel? Older crown molding with stock cabinets? If so perhaps a smaller crown molding can be placed right above the cabinet so it appears stacked and will help the appearance.

If he mitered (sp?) wouldnt that fix it? It looks like it is sitting on itself

the other option may be to paint the last piece of crown molding a charcoal and that will soften the corners.

"Older crown molding with stock cabinets?" what do you mean?

Was the crown molding there and then cabinets were purchased or did the carpenter install the crown molding and custom make the cabinets.

it was a total gut, we started from scratch.

Then the carpenter is responsible to fix it. You are not being too picky. He should fix the molding.