Crown vs. Cove molding-what is the difference?

[GlennS]

My new neighbor just put in a long building behind his house with 4 rooms that open to a common covered patio-looks kinda like a horse stable with normal doors. Turns out it is going to be for storage, a quilting room for his wife, and a WOODWORKINGSHOP :)! It will be nice having someone that close by with a common interest.

Anyway today he asked me what the difference between COVE and CROWN molding was. He was looking at it the other day, and he said he could not see the difference. His wife wants one of them (I'm not sure which) in her quilting room. I have never dealt with either so had to give him the big "I don't know", then after I thought about it I told him that I knew where to ask, so I'm asking :)

TIA
Glenn

[GlennS]

I think I got it, looks like the crown molding is basically flat with mitered edges, the cove is, well, a cove. I'd never really looked at it before. I am guessing you would treat (cut) corners the same for both.

Thanks!!!
Glenn

[Lou_williams]

You have it in general.

Cove molding is a style of molding that can be used in lots of places. One of them is at the wall celling interface. Any molding that is put at the wall celling interface is a crown molding. They come in lots of styles and sizes. The key thing to know about cutting crown molding is that the angle is a compound miter. The easy way to cut them is to place them on a standard miter saw with the top edge flat on the miter saw table and the wall edge flat against the miter saw fence. (this would be upside down vs how you would install it) Then you cut a standard 45 on the miter saw.

Do a search on crown molding there are lots to tips on how to install.

[Sawduster]

And you can do the same setup on a table saw with a tall extended fence added to the miter gauge.

[Mark F]

I think it depends on where you install it. Cove molding could be hung at the top of a wall and be considered a crown molding. But not all crown molding is cove molding. Here are a couple pictures, the cove is first.

Mark F