Removing my soffits (in a kitchen of similar size) was the biggest positive change we made in our new kitchen. It's amazing how much it opens things up! I wouldn't leave them...they scream 1980's cheap construction (lazy way to hide pipes and not take cabs to the ceiling). If you can afford it, get rid of them so your kitchen really does look new :)

I have seen some successful hiding of soffits with wood to make them look like part of the cabinetry.

Thanks for your answers.

Igloochic - I would love new cabs to the ceiling -- believe me, I would! But 18 years ago I decided to have a baby, and wouldn't you know it, now he wants to go to college. So I've got this university expecting a tuition check in a week, which is having a very negative effect on the kitchen remodel. Very bad timing on my part!

There is nothing hiding under the soffits, but we can't replace all the cabinets right now -- just a few new cabs and new doors on the old cabs. I have been living with frosted oak cabs and pink formica for 10 years, so anything will be an improvement!

Lightlystarched - DH had already considered your suggestion and decided it wouldn't work as cabs are already slightly recessed under soffit and adding another layer might make it stand out even more.

So the question really is do I have two walls with soffits and two without, or do I put soffits in on the wall of new cabs. Seems like neither way is a real winner.

I had a kitchen with a soffit on one side and cabs to the ceiling on the other. I think it was okay. I even had navy blue formica with yellow walls. I hated the formica, but I don't think the uneven soffit or lack of soffit was a big deal. If the soffits aren't even hiding anything, maybe you can redo that wall of cabs at some point in the future. I definitely wouldn't put soffits in the new wall!

Astridh - don't know which I like more -- navy formica and yellow walls, or pink formica with pink, purple and brown wallpaper. Aren't we lucky to have had such colorful homes!

How tall are the soffits? If 12 or 13" (ours were 13"), could you remove them and put 12" cabinets above the existing cabinets? Maybe have glass doors for decorative display or solid doors for seldom-used items w/o having to keep them neat!

Buehl - interesting idea. The soffits are 12" -- have you seen any pictures of something like that? I did a search but came up with nothing.

I've seen them w/8' ceilings somewhere...I don't know if it was in the Finished Kitchens Blog or in a post...sorry I don't remember.

We had our soffits removed and added molding to the cabinet tops. I love the way it is turning out(still a work in progress and I am NOT at all adept with the camera). We had to get the molding custom matched by the manufacturer, which took a long time for them to get their color matching down. I think the idea of the glass front doors above the exisitng cabs would be great, but I think implementing that might be more complicated than I could figure. Anyway here is my work in progress with the soffits gone.

In my old kitchen I had soffits around 360Ë. When we remodeled it I chose a wallpaper I really liked and several companion and border prints. We had quite a complicated arrangement of walls, ceiling, vertical border and horizontal border but when it was done it was smashing. Really smashing! It turned them into an architectural feature.

You may be done with them and want them removed. That's the contemporary style. But I think "different" is pretty interesting and soffits can be a feature.

There is nothing hiding under the soffits...

Then there is absolutely no reason to keep them. You will love how removing them opens up the space and makes the kitchen feel roomier.

And, you don't have to stack a cabinet on top of them. Since you're painting, you can add some cove molding and a cap board to give them a furniture top look using inexpensive off-the-shelf stock.

Better yet would be to top the cabs with some of that inexpensive melamine shelving material behind the molding so the tops are easier to clean. For some real WOW, tuck some fluorescent strip or rope lighting up there.

I think it will look great &, IMO, it doesn't matter that the other cabs in the kitchen will go to the ceiling. I'm seeing a lot of kitchens using staggered height cabs anyway so this would just be another version of that look.

Like you, I have one still in college so my kitchen reno is not so spectacular as many I see here. But we did gut the kitchen, remove a wall and put in new everything. I left the soffit on the one wall that had cabinets originally, I put new cabinets on two other walls and they do not go all the way to the ceiling (no soffit of course) and the kitchen looks beautiful! So don't feel bad about leaving the soffit, and I certainly don't feel that my kitchen looks outdated or anything because of a soffit. I painted it the same color as the walls and it looks great!

Take a look at Gail2's soffit solution. She made the soffits look like an extension of the cabinets by using mouldings and the same color paint as the cabinets.
She is listed under the Finished Kitchens Blog and has a Photobucket link (Our Kitchen) at the end of her resources list. With a similar technique, you could make your soffit cabinets look like they are ceiling height.

http://finishedkitchens.blogspot.com/2005/10/gail2s-kitchen.html

Here is a link that might be useful: