I don't know what you want. You can make a smaller soffit, or you can expose the pipe. No magic third way available.

Maybe twin 12 " x 12" soffits mirroring each other with a taller ceiling in the middle?

A picture of the whole room wood be nice!

That's kind of what I was thinking, almost like corbels flanking the area.

Why can't the pipe be touched? You could re-plumb it by cutting it where it comes through the ceiling, sweat an elbow onto it, and bring it over and down. It wouldn't go away completely, but you could reclaim most of the headspace by running it tight up against the ceiling, and it wouldn't affect your neighbor in any way once it was done.

I agree with kudzu9 that it looks like there's room to move that pipe to get more space. Maybe the neighbor is opposed to you touching the pipe, but according to the usual laws of condos, that pipe may technically belong to the condo association, not to the neighbor.

Install 2 matching cabinets on far sides, as long as not in way of sinks below.

Maybe hide it in a cabinet. Build box around plumbing in cabinet.

Or have cabinet hung below pipe then 2 step crown above to hide plumbing.

kudzu9 - If one lives in a condo, one CANNOT alter any of the common area fixtures without approval of the HOA which is not generally given because of the risks of liability. If you move common area stuff (even assuming you are given permission which you probably would not be), you would then have to sign a maintenance covenant in which you assume all liability for issues from the common area plumbing which you have altered.

In generally in condos, there is a legal demarcation between what a homeowner is responsible for and can alter (i.e. the pipes that come out of the wall such as those under the sinks) and those which are the responsibility of the HOA such as pipes that are in the walls and serve multiple units.

You are correct. It's not that we can't physically move them, it's that we can't legally move them, at least not without great liability risks.

I don’t understand. Yes, I know it's complicated to have to deal with an HOA, but It’s a pipe and is a 20 minute job to cut and re- plumb it. What are the huge liability risks? You explain what you want to do, and get their agreement. It may take some effort, but otherwise you're stuck.

kudzu9 - You have obviously had no experience with dealing with an HOA and changing common area plumbing.

The HOA does not want to approve because it alters the Governing Documents which means a legal document has to be drawn up which shifts ALL liability for anything to the homeowner.

The homeowner will pay all costs for the legal agreement as well as any experts hired by the HOA to provide an opinion on how any change impacts the common area.

The Maintenance Covenant is then recorded with the title which makes the legal liability run with the property - i.e. all future buyers will be bound by the terms of the agreement as the Maintenance Covenant will come up when there is the standard title search.

it is for these reasons, that changes in common area plumbing are almost never done and most condo remodels retain the footprint of the plumbing with minor modifications - i.e. a sink can be shifted since that is plumbing maintained and owned by the condo owner after it comes out of the wall.

I was on the Architectural Committee of my condo for many years and the ONLY time a homeowner ever changed the layout was when two apartments were combined. This required a legal agreement and a structural engineering firm which approved the plans AND came in at various points to ensure that everything was done appropriately and according to the approved plans. This is all at the expense of the homeowner.

But it would be a very rare homeowner who wanted to go through the expense and hassle just to get rid of a soffit.

The liability is that the OP would have to fix any leak and any resulting damage for all future times! that's a nightmare -- imagine a clog in neighbor's apartment that causes a leak here and results in a destroyed apartment below! OP doesn't want to be liable for all that!

I like the balanced soffit idea, if your cabinet plan can't be tweaked to hide the pipe. (We have a duct inside a corner kitchen cabinet in one spot. Nobody would ever know!) With no context of sketches of the whole layout, it's hard to picture what you're even doing.

acm-

Please...we're talking about a copper pipe. Any competent plumber wouldn't think twice about cutting it and re-sweating the joints. In over thirty years of DIY plumbing, I've had one leak of a soldered copper joint and that was apparent the moment I turned on the water. I re-did it and it's been fine ever after.

The nightmare scenario you imagine is unrealistic, and a water pipe would have nothing to do with a clog. I'm not saying the OP should do this without permission, but it's a trivial revision of the piping and poses zero threat or liability if done with normal competence.

Helen-

I actually do have some experience with HOA's and know that they are not all alike in their curmudgeonliness. The OP has a problem, and one solution is to get permission to modify that small amount of piping. Whether the OP chooses to pursue it or not doesn't matter to me. But one way to find out is to ask the question, rather than assume that there is no way.

It may or may not be trivial pipe service, but a lot of HOA's are a pain in the ( ___ ) to deal with.

Not worth the headache.

Kudzu,

It doesn't matter how easy it is. That sort of rule is commonplace in condo and coop buildings. That pipe does Not belong to the owner of the unit who is doing the remodeling.

As for raising the ceiling and having a weird bump sticking down from the ceiling...I've seen that, and to me it just makes it more noticeable that there is some obstruction there that can't be moved, and brings more attention to itself than either some how concealing it in the design, or just having a soffit that has a regular architectural shape that corresponds to the vanity or the width of the room one way or other.

A random box or boxes hanging down to conceal something is not a design feature, and only draws more attention to the irregular ceiling and will not really make it feel more "spacious".

palimpsest-

I am aware that it's not the property of the OP. It doesn't mean that it's not worth a try. I've been told many times in life that something isn't possible, but that hasn't stopped me from trying...and often succeeding. I realize that HOAs and condo associations can be difficult, but that doesn't mean one needs to capitulate in advance.

K: It's not his pipe to change. It would be like me coming over to your house and taking out a pipe under your sink.

I'm actually surprised he got permission to open the ceiling in the first place since usually the condo owner does not own the drywall or studs, just the paint.

weedmeister- How many times do I need to repeat that I understand? How many times do I need to repeat that it may be possible to get permission to change it?

OP knows his situation better than any of us do. Personally, in my prior condo association I would have just brought this up at a condo meeting and it would likely have been approved because it's such a minor job and doesn't substantially alter any architecture or design. But his HOA may not be that easygoing, who knows.

It really is an extremely minor job however. Would be done in no time at all and the risk of something going wrong is infinitesimal.

While there may be some condos that are pretty lax in terms of construction issues, in my experience, most condos are pretty stringent about changes involving common area plumbing or electricity.

You might say it's a relatively simple job but the condo has no way to determine whether it has been done correctly or will cause issues in the future. Condo boards are inherently conservative and are not willing to go out on ANY kind of limb which may alter their liability.

Of course an individual homeowner can bring it up as a request to the Board but it is quite likely that the Board will refuse the request unless the homeowner goes through expensive hoops and agrees to accept all future liability for that pipe including maintenance.

My experience is that you can get a variance for some things pretty easily - for example my parents got a variance to locate a room air conditioner high on the ceiling instead of towards the floor so they would have better circulation and room but that had no impact on anyone else and really had inconsequential visual impact.

May I suggest again that one could likely determine how hard it was to get permission by simply making some inquiries? The alternative is to assume the worst and not try.

If the OP has made a determination that it's not possible based on querying the board and determining whether there are any options, or doesn't have the appetite for advocating his case, then a fix involving re-plumbing is moot. But all the speculation and negativity in this thread may or may not be relevant to this specific situation.