Cathedral vs Prong settings

[Renae Sims]

I have a 1.41 round diamond and I am trying to pick an engagement ring that will show off the center diamond. I do not want a solitaire. Will a high prong setting or a cathedral setting show off the center stone better. I thought "Cathedral" meant the diamond would setup high off the band. I have been told that Cathedral settings are not high. I would appreciate your feed back.

 

[distracts]

Cathedral settings can be a kind of prong setting. They are not necessarily higher than any other setting - it depends on the particular one. Cathedral setting means the sides of the shank come up higher to the basket of the ring instead of just being flat to the finger.

 

[Lookinagain]

Cathedral settings are usually seen on solitaires which you say you don’t want so I’m a bit confused by your question. What kind of setting are you looking for?

 

[Renae Sims]

I was looking at a Cathedral setting that had diamonds towering up towards the center diamond. I want my center stone to really stand out but I didn't want it on just a plain band. I think of a solitaire as a solid band with the diamond. What do you consider a solitaire?

 

[foxinsox]

Solitaires are by definition a ring with a single main stone. They don't have to have plain shanks to be solitaires, they just have to not have side/accent stones.
Pave shanks like the first pair could be considered a grey area if you see the melee in the pave as side stones but in the functional use of the term, side stones usually stop somewhere around 1-2 on either side of the centre stone.

 

[LLJsmom]

Cathedral settings can be a kind of prong setting. They are not necessarily higher than any other setting - it depends on the particular one. Cathedral setting means the sides of the shank come up higher to the basket of the ring instead of just being flat to the finger.

Great pictures to illustrate @distracts ' point. The cathedral arms are a design element. They do not "push" the diamond up. You can ask the jeweler to set the diamond higher, but the cathedral sides don't really have anything to do with it. Look at some Tiffany solitaire settings and you can see they are set relatively high, but have no cathedral arms. Get it? If you want it set high, just tell your jeweler. You don't need a cathedral setting for that. The cathedral arms may just provide a more fluid look, and less of a "ring pop" look. No judgement. Some people love "ring pop". It's just a matter of preference.