Carpentry and Woodworking - Installing Crown Molding on Cabinets

I have crown molding that I plan to install on my almost full overlay face framed cabinets. There is about 3/8" reveal between top of cabinet door and top of cabinet face frame. That certainly doesn't seem like enough space to nail the crown to. Is the crown normally installed directly on the face frame of the cabinet?

I have not installed the wall cabinets yet, and I'm wondering if I need to put anything on the cabinets to install crown to. Should I put a 1x nailer on top of the face frame? If so, does this need to be put on before the cabinets are installed? The cabinets are only 36" tall so there is about 6" between top of cabinet and ceiling. Should the nailer be flush with the face frame? Or should I miter it 45 deg and overhang to follow the crown? Should the bottom of the crown overhang the face frame at all? Or just low enough to cover nailer?

Yes, put a nailer onto each cabinet before it is installed. You can do it afterward, if you don't mind the screws going through the top of your face frame. Then overlap the crown moulding onto the face frame by 1/8" or so.

What XSleeper said, overlay the crown about 1/8"

I usually make my nailing strips out of scrap pieces of plywood in the shop, but a 1X will work.

They are much easier to mount before the cabinet is installed. I don't go all the way to the corner of the cab, to allow for some movement to get the miters tight before nailing.

I'm assuming your only going with a small crown, as a large crown would look weird between the cabs and ceiling.

Assuming these are new cabinets, I would get a piece of 1x material that matches the cabinets and install it after the cabinets are up hanging past the face frame of the cabinet even with the face of your doors. The reason I do this is so the crown is not behind the door when finished, it should be proud of the door in my opinion. Install the 1x as xsleeper says by screwing through the top of the cabinets. Make sure you pre-drill and counter sink the screws so you do not split the frame. Some manufacturers offer the crown with this 1x already on it which would make it a little easier.

And to answer your question, I would bevel the 1x on edge so the crown will hit it at the correct angle and not leave a gap.

Thanks for the responses!

What about the cabinets and the end of a run? The crown has to return to the wall, but the cabinets face frame sticks out about a 1/4" from the side of the cabinet. If I overlap the molding about 1/8" onto the frame then there will be a gap along the side of the cabinet and the crown. Do I just install the crown directly flush with the top of the frame? Or do I trim the face frame so the crown will sit directly against the side of the cabinet?

On the sides of your cabinets, it's usual to install a 1/4" filler on the side of the cabinet that will be even with the bottom edge of the crown moulding. Cutting that 1/4" off of the face frame would look VERY bad. The filler used should match your cabinet trim paint/stain color.