Fellow Creekers,

As many of you have experienced (at least according to the numerous threads I turned up searching) a built-in entertainment center magically appeared on my endless list of things to do.

Our living room has an alcove that housed, at one time, a fireplace. The previous owners had removed the fireplace and had 'built' an entertainment center. There was lots of construction lumber, lots of nails and an electric fireplace. Suffice it to say that that mess is no longer present in the space.

My current plan is to build in a set of base cabinets and hang a set of upper cabinets in the space. The middle section will be left open as we are planning to wall-mount our TV using one of the articulated arm style mounts. The TV is only a few inches narrower than the width of the alcove (wall to wall) so that precludes any construction on the sides.

I've drawn up the cabinets; they will be poplar-faced plywood (or melamine) carcasses with poplar face-frames. The doors will incorporate glass panes so that we can still have remote control functionality while keeping little hands away from home theater components. The upper cabinets will be lighted and will most likely display my wife's China. Everything will be painted white.

I currently have trim molding framing the alcove, the same trim that I used around the doors in the rest of the upper floor. My question pertains to how the sides of the cabinet should interface with the trim. Is it common to have the trim overlap the sides of the cabinets? My original plan was to bring the front face of the face-frames flush with the trim molding and caulk and paint any gaps that occur.

Is there a general rule for this type of construction? Any input in the design process would be much appreciated.

Thanks!
Charlie