Greetings,

How can I get the top of "Search and Launch" to be transparent like the rest of my desktop?

http://imagebin.org/322587

iirc, that is dictated by the current desktop theme (System Settings -> Workspace Appearance -> Desktop Theme).

Thanks airdrik,

I was playing around with that before but I can't seem to get the top area transparent.
I'm currently using the theme "Air for Netbooks" which has all backgrounds transparent except the top area.

The themes themselves are collections of .svg files, so if you are familiar with inkscape, you should be able to make the appropriate changes to the themes.
The pre-packaged themes are located in /usr/share/kde4/apps/desktoptheme; personal copies can be saved in ~/.kde[4]/share/apps/desktoptheme