Installing matching crown molding on big box cabinets

[FS7]

How is this supposed to be done? Last year I put some cheap cabinets in the laundry room to replace the wire shelving. Nothing fancy, just prefinished white Hampton Bay cabinets. I got the matching crown, but because I had two cabinets side by side (it was about 63" wide, so I used two 30" wall cabinets) that were not at all aligned I ended up making a single contiguous face frame for them. This let me scribe to the wall and avoid filler strips and also add space at the top to attach the crown.

I just bought the same thing for a water closet inside our master bath. White wall cabinets with matching crown. This time I don't need to do a face frame since there's only one unit and it's actually a pretty good fit. That said, how the hell are you supposed to install the crown? The cabinet is 30" high, and the doors are at least 29.5" high. Centered, that leaves no more than 1/4" to attach the crown. I know it wouldn't be seen but I can guarantee that would split coming out the back. I'll probably just pin a 1x2 along the top for support, but in all honesty what is the intended way to do this?

[mike4244]

How is this supposed to be done? Last year I put some cheap cabinets in the laundry room to replace the wire shelving. Nothing fancy, just prefinished white Hampton Bay cabinets. I got the matching crown, but because I had two cabinets side by side (it was about 63" wide, so I used two 30" wall cabinets) that were not at all aligned I ended up making a single contiguous face frame for them. This let me scribe to the wall and avoid filler strips and also add space at the top to attach the crown.

I just bought the same thing for a water closet inside our master bath. White wall cabinets with matching crown. This time I don't need to do a face frame since there's only one unit and it's actually a pretty good fit. That said, how the hell are you supposed to install the crown? The cabinet is 30" high, and the doors are at least 29.5" high. Centered, that leaves no more than 1/4" to attach the crown. I know it wouldn't be seen but I can guarantee that would split coming out the back. I'll probably just pin a 1x2 along the top for support, but in all honesty what is the intended way to do this?

Glue and screw a 1x to the top of the cabinet. If you think you need backing for the crown , then 3 pieces of 2x4 cut at 58/32° is good enough.
Make sure the crown angle is 32/58°. Sometimes, not often it's 45°. I imagine your crown is 3" or less. I doubt whether you need backing.
mike

[Stwood_]

Those cabs were not intended for crown. Needs to be at least an inch of free space above the doors.
As above, add a strip to the top side for support

[FS7]

What I find confusing is that they are wall cabinets and are sold with matching crown. They aren't frameless either. They sell matching crown and there are even different styles for the shaker cabinets and the more colonial style.

It won't be hard to install it with a backer (not really needed, but the shaker style crown doesn't lend itself to nailing on the edges) but I feel like it's pretty deceptive to sell overpriced matching molding that won't even fit without modification.

My guess is that's it's intended to boost sales of the extremely overpriced filler strips and molding since you otherwise need those to dress up your inexpensive cabinets.