Hard to say if they will or not. I chose not to do them and do flat 9' ceilings. I think one reason, other than decorative, that they are done is to make a mechanical soffit or dropped beam look more intentional. So, you might want to see if there are mechanical reasons for them (looks like there's an air return in that one, but it might not have to go there).

willing to bet that the hvac run is in the dropped portion near the windows and the coffered ceiling is used to make it not look bad. If the builder can do 9' ceilings and not drop the hvac along the wall I would go that way. Height always makes a space more elegant and expensive looking/feeling.

Thank you both. I had definitely considered whether or not they had to be there but less expensive homes by the same builder (such as same floorplan but different neighborhoods and fewer upgrades) sometimes have plain ceilings so I think it's considered an "upgrade". In addition, the kitchen also has ceiling vents but has a plain ceiling as does the formal living/dining flex room. Of course I will ask the builder to be sure but I wanted to make sure it wasn't some really pretty feature that I just wasn't "getting". We plan to square off all of the doorways/openings instead of the rounded arches as well.

Ugh. Whether it will look dated or not, I don't like it. Far from appearing elegant, this ceiling treatment looks like it's designed to hide ductwork. No thank you.

Go with your gut and stick to flat ceilings.

First ask him where the ducts will go. Do they feed the upstairs and downstairs? Is the house on a slab? You may not have a choice about the perimeter soffit.

Here they're called tray ceilings. I would much rather have an ACTUAL coffered ceiling, a ceiling painted a bright color, or crown. Tray ceilings make me think of early 2000 builder grade adding 'plant ledges' etc to look different. Drywall doesn't make things look more expensive, IMO.

NOW, if you love them DO IT. Everything will look dated in 15 years!

They needed someplace to put the ductwork. It's not even an equally proportioned tray, it's a series of soffits of different widths.

"Everything will look dated in 15 years! "

Clothes will be dated. Surface treatments and colors may be dated. A house shouldn't be dated in only 15 years, a fifteen year old house should be "almost new". Then again, with the quality of materials going into a lot of construction these days, sometimes 15 years old is pretty beat. But I find this speed of obsolescence in a building --depressing.

The ceiling would look somewhat elegant with crown moldings, but as is it's not attractive.

The house would most likely be on a crawlspace. Yes, it's a two story house so the ductwork is feeding both floors. I don't understand why they would have to drop the ceiling there for ductwork but not in the kitchen or formal living/dining (which also both have ceiling vents). I did email the builder to ask if we can have plain 9ft ceilings throughout the main floor so I'll find out soon enough.

If it turns out we do have to keep them, we'll definitely add to them somehow with crown molding, etc...but as is they kind of remind me of a basement ceiling with low ductwork. We may not have a choice, though.

I can post the floorplan if that helps at all but I don't think it would.