We may receive a commission when you use our affiliate links. However, this does not impact our recommendations.
Since our trip to the White Water Shaker Village, I’ve been anticipating the poplar cupboard build. The cupboard, out of the four pieces we studied, has the most need for a furniture detective; A missing crown moulding, and the fact that the cupboard base isn’t raised off the floor, caused raised eyebrows and a good deal of conversation on how the piece may have looked back in the day.
It is clear that, at one time, there was a crown moulding on the front and sides of the cupboard. Long since gone is the moulding, but 2″ down the top edge there is a distinct line of demarcation in the surface finishes that shows exactly where the moulding ended. We needed a replacement design.
How do you devise a moulding design that might have been on this cupboard? Find an example on an existing piece of furniture, that’s how. But therein lies the problem. White Water was not a village that made furniture for outsiders. Pieces built in the village were made for community use, and I know of no examples of crown or cove mouldings that were used on White Water furniture. So I had to look elsewhere.
The closest Shaker community to White Water was Union Village, near Lebanon, Ohio. There are many furniture examples from Union Village, but all the pieces of Union Village furniture that I’ve found that have crown mouldings have pieces attached to the top of the case against which the moulding pushes while being nailed along the bottom edge. 
There are no indications (nails, screws or otherwise) that any pieces were attached to the top of the White Water cupboard. 
Therefore we could only conclude that the moulding was nailed in place along its bottom edge, but stood free at the top with the exception of a few blocking pieces for support. The moulding we designed is just a cove with a wide flat area at the top edge on which we plan to scratch a hint of a line to simulate an additional piece set above the cove.
Take a look at the drawing below. You can see the cupboard with the newly designed crown moulding in place. And, you can see that one of the cupboards in the drawing has feet while the second does not. Next time I’ll explain what this is all about and show you why this became another area in need of good detective work.
Looking for More Free Woodworking Information?
– Sign up for our newsletters to get free plans, techniques and reviews HERE.
– Like tools? We do! Read our latest tool coverage HERE.
– Looking for free project plans? We have hundreds. Click HERE.
– Learn a new woodworking technique today. Click HERE.
– Want more videos? See all our free videos HERE.
– Check out our selection of half-price woodworking books HERE.
– Get 8 years of Popular Woodworking on one CD. Click HERE.
Here are some supplies and tools we find essential in our everyday work around the shop. We may receive a commission from sales referred by our links; however, we have carefully selected these products for their usefulness and quality.
I am not a Shaker expert, but as a Craftsman-Designer here are my opinions: This is a working cabinet. You would need to stand next to it while using the counter. Having built a few pieces without toe kicks that I needed to stand next to I found that I added some type of toe kick later as there is no place for your toes when you are working there. Due to the size and weight of the piece it would have been placed on a frame with legs that had pegs or dowels that located the frame under the cabinet. The frame may not have been permanently attached to the upper cabinet and that might explain its absence.
Glen,
I talked to a friend of mine who occasionally works at whitewater, and we both agree it should be on the floor.
Putting the feet on it nices it up, but the shaker weren’t for make it look nice only to be used.
As you know I study pieces of shaker all the time and I really think that you should leave it as is.
Maybe this thought when the shakers made their oval boxes with the nice carved fingers on the box that was not done for looks actually as far as they were concerned the fingers were in the back of the box.
Bob Casey
Glen,
My eye tells me you are making it too nice, I would expect the crown to be a bit more understated. The sides and front look pretty thick, possibly the molding was from the solid and had no gap at the top, they liked things clean and that would have been a dirt catcher.There is so much variation in this stuff that all you can really do is guess. My first thought was to make sure it wasn’t a built in. That would explain the loss of the molding. Is it positive that the piece was built there and not just brought in later? The detective work is always fun, I am sure you will do it justice. Are there any photos of the place, wouldn’t it be great to find a photo of some Shaker standing in front of it with all its’ parts intact? Happy sleuthing!!
Mike
I second the question on this being a built in piece. I would be checking the whole building carefully. I also wonder if the molding was a cove. If I recall correctly, some shaker pieces used a simple flat board with the bottom edge rounded over.
Mike
Could this have been a built-in piece? in a rooom with a low ceiling? Could the bottom been just a pedestal and crown taken from the adjoining wall and wrapped onto the cabinet? Did the Shakers use crown in any of their rooms? Most did not use it on their cabinets. I’ve seen cabinets like that with extended stiles as the feet, no feet, and turned feet. Very interesting
Were you able to look underneath the cupboard to see if legs were attached at one time? I’m thinking it would look better with feet similar to the shape of the upper cabinet..like a blanket chest. I think the spindles look a little thin and if they did their own furniture and not for sale to the outside, a lathe may have not been available to make this style of leg. Are there other pieces with spindle legs at this location? MTCW
Bill
Theme song:
Who art thou… who, who, who who…
who art thou… providence should let me know
The crown moulding looks nice, but I think that the legs look a little flimsy.
Some old Danish furniture built locally have a nice set of legs in the front of the piece, and some simpler ones in the back. I don’t know if the Shakers did anything that way. Afterall they made everything to the best of specifications.