Covering Fur Down - The Space Above the Cabinets

Changing that space above your cabinets is a great way to update your kitchen.

You know that annoying space between the top of the kitchen cabinets and the ceiling?  What is that?  And why did someone ever think it was a good idea to leave it blank?  You all know what I am talking about.

Or it is filled in with useless wall like I have.  The construction term is fur down.

Only in the past few years have cabinet styles changed to where they extend to the ceiling.  This is the look I like.

In New Orleans we had crazy tall ceilings and the space between the cabinets and the ceiling was huge. So just like everyone else, I filled that space with dust collectors.

I loathe this space.   If we had purchased new cabinets, I would have tore it out and had our cabinets built to the ceiling.  But we used our current cabinets so I had to figure out a way to hide the fur down. Your home might have AC and/or other wires and pipes going through the fur down so you can't remove yours without the huge cost to run all those wires and pipes somewhere else.  Making it look like it was built in and giving the illusion that our cabinets were built to the ceiling was the only option I had.

The before pictures.

While researching for a refrigerator enclosure idea, I came across this blog.  She started with an empty space above her cabinets so she filled it in with MDF, and then finished off with moulding.  I love her final look.

I already had the fur down in my kitchen so I didn't need to fill in the space but I did need to smooth the texture.  Doing several thin layers, I filled in the texture with a light weight compound.  I spread it all over, sanded, filled some more, sanded again.  I did this until it was filled in and smooth.

Then I moved on to the moulding.  I went with a 3 5/8 inch crown moulding (nothing crazy) and a chair rail moulding for the middle.  Both are extended throughout the kitchen where there is fur down and the crown moulding is extended through to the dining area.  We will be adding crown moulding to all the rooms in the house eventually.

SIDE NOTE:  Our saw was not in good condition and we ended up buying a new one.  This saw had a chart on it as well as had the degrees needed for mouldings marked.  This made things a lot easier but moulding can still be frustrating.  Once you get the hang of it, it is worth the time and the few "discussions" with your spouse.


Remember the whole idea here is to make this look like it is part of the cabinetry.   I wanted a seamless  look.  It took some tedious, time consuming, detail work but the final product was so worth it.  It looks amazing!  Here is the after but I am still hiding the rest of the kitchen.  Sorry folks.  Your going to have to keep being patient. :)

LOVE!!!!  Our cabinets have entered this decade and look expensive!  A DIYer's dream.  Expensive look without the huge expense.  I still stare at them because I can't believe how much they have changed.

You can use moulding to change your cabinet doors, too.  I did not do this but if you are wanting to update your kitchen without replacing cabinets, adding moulding is a great way to do it.

Click here to see all the before and after pictures.