Filling in gap above kitchen cabinets

[WhereDoesThisToiletGo]

Just nearing the end of a kitchen installation.
Using standard height units, we knew that the finished units would come to around the bottom of the existing coving. Due to problems with levelling really undulating floor, the top has come a little higher than that.
We always planned to have this little gap filled in but wanted to see what finished kitchen looked like before decided how. We have a major spider problem in our house and this gap would end up full of webs!
The gap is about 6.5cm.
Builder says we should fill it with kitchen panels cut down.
Kitchen fitter says we should use plain MDF and paint it to match ceiling.
I haven't asked a decorator but they might well suggest something else .
We do have a load of matching coving spare but don't think it's the right thing to use.

Suggestions please.

This is not something that we are going to attempt ourselves, we will get a professional to do it.

Great idea with strip light set back on plasterboard/ coving so you only see the glowing light. You will need an electrician but LED strip lightnot that expensive. It would create a nice feature drawing the eye upwards to emphasis the height of the room-nice and airy. I have strip light underneath the cabinets in warm glow colour- nice lighting effect! Good luck. Know what it's like doing a kitchen you spend a fortune-often a once in a lifetime thing- and want it perfect. x

Coming from a kitchen company point of view here and also having just redone my own kitchen I would go with mdf or plasterboard set back a little bit from the top of the presses and painted same as the ceiling. I would also make a feature of it and get those little strips of LED lights on top of your presses. At the moment you have a kitchen fitter saying its up to the builders to fix and a builder saying its up to the kitchen fitter to fix. If it was a bigger gap you would have put coving up and it would have been up to the builder so by rights he should sort it for you. Alternatively you didn't show your kickboards but I love the dark wood inner press, have you any of that dark wood left to use as a filler piece? It could look quite cool especially if your kickboards are the same

How flush is the ceiling, Might look worse if theres any uneven bits

We had ours done with plinth. It looks great!

If you do get the board set back the unevenness won't show as much. And google pictures. No board just the lights also looks good.

Thanks for all your input everyone - didn't expect such a response.
It sounds like either way is ok, or at least neither way is definitely wrong!
I'll discuss with fitter - I suspect he'll do a neater job using the light plinth than the builder will

Honestly... at this stage I'd leave a gap.

The plinth looks ok, but highlights more the uneven ceiling and would still leave gaps for spiders (which seems to be you main concern)

The only way to fill in all the gaps/seal off would be plasterboard and filler, but I think that would look weird with such a narrow gap, then around the different depths of units and on the wall/the end units.

Can some of the pp that have filled in small gaps and painted the same colour as ceiling or wall share photos of how it looks?

This extractor vent is why I can't leave the existing gap

Just remember that if you are fitting appliances in the run of units to read your instructions regarding ventilation as fridges for example need around 200 square centimetres of air flow at the base of the unit and the top. Failure to provide the right ventilation will cause problems with the efficiency and may cause early failure and could affect any warranty.

@Bighairyiang Thanks- someone on another DIY forum pointed out about the ventilation, so I'll discuss this with the fitter

I'd go with the "set back painted ceiling colour" given the dip in the ceiling. You won't notice it then.

I wouldn't want that little gap that you've shown using the light pelmet @WhereDoesThisToiletGo. If you use kitchen plinth it should be the same colour as units and also be wide enough that the fitter could cut it to fill gap exactly. That tiny gap would annoy me more than not trying to fill it all all.

Our gap above the units is big (enough to fit a cat) so we didn't bother with anything to fill it.

Greetings. I’m a kitchen remodeler working in the New York market. I have designed over 10,000 kitchens and installed over 3,000 in my career.

Because your gap is rather small and uneven it will not look right filling in with matching cabinet material. Best solution is to fill the gap with something that can be painted to match the existing ceiling. This will solve your problem and be the least noticeable of all.

Wish you good luck with your project.

Regards from the Big Apple,

Mitch

We left our small gap as the ceiling is never dead straight/flat. I think the surplus pelmet might make it look worse than being able to potentially see some piping further back?

It's not "potentially" see the ducting, it's a lot more obvious than the photo implies

My equivalent gap is where my brexit boxes sit full of just in case coffee meds and essentials. Was coming on to recommend then saw the gap good advice here. Definitely l’air the ceiling colour. Won’t the space be full of spiders still just out of sight I guess ?

Regardless of the ceiling not being flat is no diff to and older house where walls meet the ceiling.
filling with plasterboar will look much better than mdf and easier to scribe and the fill the join. and look 100% the same as the other walls unlike the mdf.
mdf has a smooth front and hates paint unless done the correct way and that takes man hours so will pay £'s for the prep hours -
1 - plasterboard filling + paint will make it look as though the units were built to fit the space, rather than..... so a more natural look.
2 - the fillers will show/look that they were needed.
Such a small space so as i said before both will look fine it depends on what you want to see etc.
I would go with 1 so looks more built to the space

Set back painted ceiling colour with soft white led light strip in front. Looks v high end. My brother did it with his kitchen and it definitely made it look extra special.

I’d match the ceiling rather than the units personally. Get the fitter/joiner to cut something to size, and caulk what’s needed after?

@TowelNumber42 - how would you retrospectively fit the LED lights? How would they be powered?

I have a "high end" kitchen and my gap is filled with the same material as the cupboard fronts (and same colour), set back about 10cm. I'll try to post a photo

We have a gap like this and it is filled over with material matching the cupboards, it just looks like part of the cupboards. When we renovate we will again just match the gap to the cupboards.

I think matching your crown molding, aka cornice molding, that you have up would look the best.

May sound crazy but why not add a crown molding up there and possibly one that matches what's on the wall it's butting up to.? At least it looks like some kind of molding at the ceiling/wall? And yes, definitely paint to match the ceiling, not the walls. Good Luck whichever you choose.

We finally got round to sorting filling in this gap to hide the gubbins above.
We used the spare light pelmet but instead of using the 5cm side to nearly fill the gap, the carpenter used the 3cm side, set flush with the doors.
It leaves a nice larger shadow gap but the extractor tubing is hidden.
Adequate ventilation for the fridge and freezer, and if all the neighbourhood spiders move in, at least I won't be able to see them!