KITCHEN GUIDE
Cornice, Pelmet and Plinth: Measuring, Cutting and Fitting
The trims are the last thing you order and the first thing people notice. This guide covers what each piece does, how to work out how much you need, and how to cut foil-faced trim without chipping the face.
What each piece actually does
Three different jobs, three different fixings. Most ordering mistakes start with mixing them up.
Cornice is the moulding that runs along the top of your wall units. It closes the gap between the door tops and the ceiling or the top of the cabinet, and it is what makes a run of wall units read as one piece of furniture rather than a row of boxes.
Pelmet runs along the bottom of the wall units. Its job is to hide the underside of the cabinet and, more usefully, to hide under-cupboard lighting and its wiring. Light pelmet is deliberately shallower than cornice for that reason.
Plinth (some people call it kickboard) runs along the floor at the base of your base units. It hides the adjustable legs and the gap underneath, and it takes the knocks — which is why it is the piece most often replaced on its own.
- Cornice (Hadley)
- 70mm high × 108mm deep × 2745mm long
- Light pelmet (Hadley)
- 50mm high × 28mm thick × 2745mm long
- Plinth
- 150mm high × 16–18mm thick × 2745mm long (thickness varies by range)
- Corner block (Hadley)
- 72mm high × 108mm deep × 133mm long — a pre-formed corner, left and right hand
- Sold as
- Full lengths. You cut to size on site — we do not cut trims to length.
Working out how much you need
Do this on paper before you order. It takes ten minutes and it is the difference between one delivery and two.
Draw the run, not the room
Sketch each wall as a straight line and mark where the units start and stop. You are measuring the cabinet run, not the wall — trims follow the cabinets, and the two are rarely the same length.
Measure along the face of the units
Run your tape along the front face of the cabinets in millimetres and note each straight section separately. Do not add the sections together yet — you will lose the corners if you do.
Count your corners and mark which way they turn
Mark every corner as external (the trim wraps around the outside of a cabinet, like the end of a run) or internal (two runs meet in the angle of the room). Each corner needs two mitre cuts, and each mitre eats length. Write the count down — you will need it in the next step.
Add a cutting allowance
Allow roughly 100mm of extra length per corner, plus one spare length across the whole job. Mitres go wrong, ends split, and a run that is 40mm short is a second delivery.
Then divide your total by the length of the piece — most trims come in 2745mm lengths — and round up to whole lengths.
Check the plinth separately
Plinth almost never matches the cornice run. It follows the base units, stops at appliances, and often has to be notched around legs and pipework. Measure it as its own job.
Cutting without chipping the face
This is the part nobody tells you, and it is the whole difference between a clean joint and a ragged one.
Cornice, pelmet and plinth are almost always a foil or laminate face on a board core. The face chips where the saw teeth exit the material — so which way up you cut depends entirely on which way your blade travels.
- Hand saw
- Cuts on the down stroke, so it exits underneath — cut with the decorative face UP.
- Circular saw / mitre saw
- Teeth enter from below and exit through the top — cut with the decorative face DOWN.
- Jigsaw (standard blade)
- Cuts on the up stroke, so it exits through the top — cut face DOWN, or fit a down-cut blade and cut face up.
Mask the cut line
Run low-tack masking tape over the line on the face side and cut through it. It supports the surface film and takes most of the breakout with it. Pull the tape off slowly, back on itself.
Cut mitres at 45°, both sides of the corner
Internal and external corners are both 45° cuts — what changes is the direction. Cut one piece, offer it up dry, then cut its partner. Never cut both halves of a corner before you have offered the first one up.
Dry fit the whole run before you fix anything
Lay the lengths out along the units, corners included, and check the joints close before a single screw or pin goes in. A dry run costs five minutes; a mis-cut length costs a week.
Fixing it in place
Cornice
Cornice is normally fixed from behind, through the top rail of the cabinet, so no fixing shows on the face. Pilot-drill and use a screw short enough that it cannot break through the front of the moulding — check the depth against the section before you drill.
Pelmet
Same principle, fixed up into the underside of the cabinet. If you are running under-cupboard lighting, fit the lights and route the cable first, then close it in with the pelmet. Going back afterwards means taking the pelmet off again.
Plinth
Plinth clips onto the cabinet legs rather than being screwed to the floor, so it can be pulled off for cleaning or access. Cut it to sit just clear of the floor — a millimetre or two of gap keeps it off a damp floor and lets it come away without a fight. Notch around any pipework rather than forcing it.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between cornice and pelmet?
Cornice goes along the top of your wall units and pelmet along the bottom. Cornice is the deeper, more decorative section; pelmet is shallower because its main job is to hide the underside of the cabinet and any under-cupboard lighting. They are not interchangeable — the sections are different and each is designed to be fixed from a different direction.
How many lengths of trim do I need?
Measure each straight run of cabinets separately, add roughly 100mm per corner for mitres, add one spare length for the job, then divide by the length of the piece and round up. Most of our trims come in 2745mm lengths. Plinth should be worked out separately from cornice, because it follows the base units and stops at appliances.
Do you cut cornice and plinth to length for me?
No — trims are supplied in full lengths and cut on site. That is deliberate: mitres have to be cut to the corners you actually have, and a trim cut to a plan almost never matches the room. It also means you keep the offcuts, which is what you want when a mitre goes wrong.
Can I fit plinth without clips?
You can, but it is worth using them. Clips let the plinth pull off for cleaning, for access to pipework, and for anyone who needs to get at a leak under a sink in a hurry. Screwing or gluing plinth in place makes all of that a destructive job.
My trim is a slightly different shade to my doors. Is that a fault?
Usually not. Trims and doors are made on different lines and sometimes in different batches, and on some finishes a very slight batch variation is normal rather than a defect. It is why we recommend ordering all your doors, panels and trims in one go. If the difference is obvious rather than slight, send us a photo and we will look at it properly.
Does the plinth sit on the floor?
It should sit just clear of it — a millimetre or two of gap. That keeps the bottom edge of the plinth off a wet floor when you mop, and it lets the plinth come away from its clips without a fight. Cut it so it hangs from the clips rather than standing on the floor.
Not sure how much trim you need?
Send us your run lengths and corner count and we will check the quantity before you order.