SFGate

Art & Interiors by Lisa A small trim moulding around the bottom of the cabinets that is level might hide that depending on how crooked the cabinet is.

intoit Reinstall the cabinet so that it is straight.

Ironwood Builders Intoit is so totally correct!

Tammy Sprinkle The tile looks beautiful. Just unscrew your cabinet and make it level.

hockey29 IT NEEDS TO BE STRAIGHT!! Why would you just leave it like that?

pud07 What color is your tile? I love it. Is it travertine?

Pamela Tripas Are these cabinets new or were they existing? Is it possible the cabinets were not reinforced to support the weight of the microwave and caused some movement? I would get to the source of the problem. I find it dismaying that the tile installer did not check for level upper and lower cabs before installation.

brickandstucco Pamela- I find that dismaying too but he didnt! I would have never known it wasnt level. I think that the whole soffett is crooked and the cabinets were installed to be even with the soffett.They are about 28 years old and I've lived here for 18 years and never noticed it! I just dont know what to do now. I do love it and it IS straight it just appears to be crookedI after waiting all these years to do this...I want it to look right! How would you make the cabinet level if the soffet is off?? It is a little over a 1/2" difference from one end to other. Thats huge when it comes to a horizontal line!

Pud07-the tile is 4x8 travertine (karina wavy)

eagledzines The only way to know what is not level is a carpenter's level--not a ruler. If the cabinet is not level, it may be as was suggested. It may be sagging from the weight of the cabinet and contents. This can happen if a screw that was used to install it didn't hit a stud. If the cabinet is not square, have it rehung. If that separates it from the soffit, you need a piece of molding at the top of the cabinets.
If the cabinet is level, then the problem is probably that the countertop and lower cabinets aren't level. In that case, put a piece of molding at the bottom of the cabinets to hide the gap.
If you still notice the problem, divide the difference between the top and bottom and put a piece of molding on the top of the cabinets and on the bottom of the cabinets.

brickandstucco Thanks for the advice. A carpenter measured and we have discovered that the entire soffit is uneven. My options as I see them are to either rehang cabinet which then creates an uneven line at the top or install cabinet light molding to bottom of cabinets hiding the bottom line of tile which then hides the problem just doesnt fix it. Im not sure what to do!

Ironwood Builders Any possibility of adding a crown moulding at the top of the cabinet, even a small trim to correct the gap?

eagledzines If the "entire span" of wall cabinets is out and 1" or less, hang the cabinets so that the difference is split between the top and the bottom. use a 3/4"-1" piece of cove molding on the top and either cove or 1/4" round or flat directly under the cabinets on the bottom. 95% of people won't notice the difference -- as you never did until the change. If it's out more than that, hang them level and put crown on the top. There will be a difference in space between the bottom of the crown and the top of the doors but if the crown is the same color, it won't be noticed (except by you of course).

Besides that, the only other thing you could do is take the uppers down and have the soffit leveled--a lot of work and expense.

brickandstucco Unfortunately because the cabinets hang directly from the uneven soffit, no matter what is done, something is going to be crooked --unless the soffit was redone and leveled. A very unexpected problem!

eagledzines That is true. It may also be true that the ceiling is crooked and the soffit is the same height all the way. In which case if you redid the soffit so that it was level on the bottom it wouldn't be the same height all the way down.
If you want to create an optical illusion, I would suggest going with my first suggestion.

brickandstucco Thanks so much for your expertise! Can you come here and do it!!!!! LOL thanks!

eagledzines (chuckle) I'd love to. I'm retired.

brickandstucco :( there's always room for "one more job" :)) The good ones always retire! Thank you very much for your suggestions!

eagledzines Your very welcome :-)

Don Sciore A lot of good advice here.
And the answer is . . . Rehang the cabinet(s) so they are level. Trim the top w/moulding scribed to disguise the un-level soffit. Enjoy your beautiful kitchen. (I would like to see more pics of the problem.)

Don Sciore BTW: beautiful tile. Can we see a good shot of the counter top?

brickandstucco Here are a couple more photos. I think the first one shows that the cabinet isnt level. Time to level the cabinet!!