In my experience, items placed on the cabinets become dust collectors.

Best to leave the space empty from a design standpoint. You really don’t want to accent this part of the room. Under cabinet lighting looks great and keeps the eye on your focal points.

I wouldn’t do fake plants—Dust, dust, dust and near impossible to clean. It looks like a tiny piece of molding around your cabinets, I wonder if you could have a matching more substantial molding made. Then, maybe a few pieces of handmade pottery, but I wouldn’t crowd it with items. If you remove the 4” backsplash and do a tiled backsplash in a color (not white), it would unify the uppers and lowers, and add some visual weight so the space above the cabinets isn’t as noticeable. As it is now, the upper cabinets look like a thin strip of brown on a huge white wall.

If you don't want to have to be continually dusting up there, what about artwork that's behind glass - IOW, prints &/or photographs?

Thank you everyone so far. I feel like the backsplash could be overwhelming in its own aspect; as you can see, that would be a lot of backsplash! I'm also going to avoid options that can snowball and/or be expensive like trying to put a beefier top trim.

I agree, I'll avoid the plants. I do like what "seagrass_gw Cap Cod" did though with just a few larger artistic pieces. Maybe I'll go that route or mount a couple of large panoramic artistic canvases. I'm not gonna rush though, as this is low priority; but it's good to cook up ideas on the mental back burner.

In my previous home, it got dusty so fast! I don't know what's different about my current home, but it doesn't have the same problem of dusting up so quickly.

If you do anything up there it has to be substantial in scale or else it will get lost and look skimpy. If you want to do something beachy then some decorative painted oars hanging on the wall might work with some painted buoy markers...

Otherwise, leave it plain.

And I will second the suggestion for a backsplash as it will kick it up a notch. No need to get rid of the existing backsplash as they can just tile above it, esp if the tile blends well with the countertop material.

I would bring the eye down by lowering the island to counter height and add a light.

I know you didn't ask about that, but, two houses ago it made such a difference. for me.

I had a very similar ceiling in my house.

What would help would be a wall color there, something other than white. Visually, the white wall and ceiling become one huge space, so if you're ever going to paint, use some color up there, even if it's a neutral color. It is REALLY difficult to find nice inspiration pictures, but there are thousands of pics of what NOT to do!

Don't do this:

or this:

Even though the decor items are smaller here, adding some shelves (taller than these) might help (note this is not a vaulted ceiling):

This uses another shelf made with molding to help fill the space.

Here they use paneling to make it more interesting. Not the right color for you, but maybe a driftwood color or whitewashed boards?

This is an example of how using paint can help:

This is a design choice for sure. It was popular in the 80s to put ivy, Tuscan, all sort of things. The pendulum swung against it and now from what I see at young brides' homes it's back. I had my crystal displayed in the 80s. I dusted once a year--January cleaning. When things don't get touched dust doesn't really show that far off. This debate is one reason I prefer to the ceiling cabinetry. I definitely would have trouble leaving your space sterile. There's just too much open space!

It might be interesting to hang a nice arrangement of LARGE plates/platters, but I'd use the same color as the wall (all white) to add interest and texture without it looking cluttered.

Not this:

Unless youhave a boatload of plates and platters to decorate as Olychick posted above in those examples, I’d leave that area alone. Not every horizontal surface needs something to display and I’m just not a fan of stuff above kitchen cabinets.

One thing that would help would be to remove the upper cabinets above the countertops and replace them with shelving. This is not something I would do personally, but it would help the look tremendously. You could keep the one over the refrigerator and keep the pantry, of course.

Part of the problem comes from the inset panels on the doors.

I like having a lot of upper cabinets, but yours look choppy. They also appear to float rather than be anchored, and this is why I think shelves would look better, since shelves are supposed to float. Of course you cannot hide anything on shelves, and this is one reason I do not like them. It depends on what you need to store there.

If the cabinets were the same color as the wall, they would also blend in better.

This is a rough mockup but if you painted the upper doors the wall color, that helps. You could do a wall /cabinet color backsplash (not sure what) and use dark gray grout.

EDITED:

Or, paint all the cabinets a white with a tiny hint of blue. That looks nice with your floor color. If you are in Palm Beach County I know of a company that does an excellent job.

With the plan below you could add a backsplash with

a splash of color as there will be less competing finishes

and woods.

What about some nice pieces of drift wood hung on the wall(s)

I would paint the area above the cabinets and either paint the backsplash area the same color or put in a backsplash with some color. The color experts on here could help with color suggestions. I like the suggestion to redo the island to counter height; it currently adds to the eye being drawn to the ceiling.

I love paint and color, but we can't see the rest of the room, and the problem would be where to stop the paint color.

What's going on with the side of the bottom cabinet on the left? It looks like the panel doesn't match the rest of the cabinets...is it missing an end panel?

Good plan! Don’t let a backsplash intimidate you. It isn’t that bad, especially when it is just a straight run like you have. We did ours in a weekend. It isn’t super expensive to hire out either. Just keep it in my mind down the road 😁

Having a vision of a plan is good! My last kitchen was done in two stages that were years apart.

First stage for us was lowering the whole island to counter height and adding a range hood. The second stage was adding new painted doors and swapping out a few lowers for drawer cabs. Your wants will be different but doing stages is fine.

No one has mentioned so far that the dust that shows up above kitchen cabinets is GREASY dust. Super yucky, and hard to get off.

Personally, I'd think about putting more cabinets up there. More storage is always a plus.

Adding cabinets would be the most expensive option, especially to make them look like they belong and avoid too much visual weight (prob requiring glass).

I like the paint/bs ideas people have shared - reasonable costs. Essentially using color to fool the eye.

No one has mentioned so far that the dust that shows up above kitchen cabinets is GREASY dust. Super yucky, and hard to get off.

This must depend on what one cooks, range hoods, and how often one cleans. I have zero issues with this. And I have either a shadow box or an oil painting hanging on the b/s to the right of my stove. For over 10 years now.

I wouldn't go out an buy something . . . I have large vases, baskets, pitchers, a big teapot, and some large serving platters and dishes. All pretty fancy/decorative. I do use them from time to time. Have to wash first usually but no biggie. The exception to that is a collection of copper items I inherited from my late mother. Their finish is pitted and not very practical to use on a regular basis, but they look good from a distance . . . I don't yet have the heart to scrap them . . . I also have a few plates from long-gone dish sets but I hold on to them for sentimental reasons. Mom had a set with fruit on it, very decorative and I still have the pear plate and apple platter . . .

Nothing. Nothing at all.

"No one has mentioned so far that the dust that shows up above kitchen cabinets is GREASY dust. Super yucky, and hard to get off." Gas stoves are the worst for this...but my experience was it only appeared directly above the stove. For sure the type of hood/ventilation one has would make a huge difference. I just packed #1DDs kitchen for a move to a new home. The open shelving above the stove top was GROSS along with everything on it. No where else. My crystal, described earlier in this thread, was never greasy. Here in our 'forever' home I have a soffit that holds a set of God Bless America plates. They get cleaned once a year and the only ones with any grease are directly above the electric stove top, and it's not a big deal. Dawn soap is your friend!!

I used to lay newspaper (or shelf paper) on tops of the cupboards and would change it out…it saved a lot of cleaning.

That’s a great idea, Gargamel!

I should try it on our kitchen floor, too. DH spilled his mug of hot tea and honey last night (it was half full) … I’ve mopped twice and am still sticking to the floor when I walk in there. Am I just going to have to get new tile?! :D

I too have a Florida home with a funky ceiling. We just installed these today

Looks great, cmm! Great lights, too.

@cmm1964 That looks great! And it looks like you have lighting glowing upward there too. Thanks for sharing!