Open floor plans are the hardest crown molding job there is, and the one where a specialist earns their keep. The molding has to travel across kitchen, dining, and living areas as one unbroken line — around soffits, over cabinet runs, past columns and pass-throughs — without a single visible break in rhythm.
The great-room layouts common in newer Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, and Port St. Lucie construction, where one sightline covers three rooms.
Planning the run before cutting anything. Where seams have to land, they land on scarf joints in low-visibility spots, not in the middle of the wall a guest faces from the sofa. Cabinet transitions are the tell — done poorly, the crown steps awkwardly and the eye catches it immediately.
Two days for most open-plan main living areas.