Context is key. A lot more info is needed to make a decision like that.

What feeling?

You don't design a 17 or 20 foot ceiling to create a sense of cozy togetherness.

20 ft. valulted ceiling

Define "too high"? It really depends on the house design/style, your perception of space, geographic location, etc. I feel claustrophobic with ceilings below 10 ft, but other people here are happy with 8 ft ceilings. In our previous house we had 3 rooms that were vaulted to 14 ft with 9 ft side walls. In our current house we went with mostly 12 ft flat ceilings. Both of those houses were in warm climates.

For a church, to instill a feeling of awe in the presence of a superior being? No. For a cozy family friendly home? You bet. The family will all hide in their rooms. But the neighbors will be impressed. Not as impressed as in a church.

I can assure you that my family members do not hide in their rooms. We created a cozy family space with the sectional around the fireplace, but also have a 20 foot vaulted family room.

10' walls, 20' wide, 5' 10" people

Most people will not be able tell the difference between 17 and 20. I lived in a lofted apartment with 14 and more often than not people thought they were 16 because part of it was bilevel.

17 feet is just as cold as 20 feet.

The great room is 19 x 23 what would be a good ceiling height?

I disagree with those who make quick judgement that 16’, or 17’ or 20’ high ceilings are cold or are done to impress neighbors and that family members would hide in their rooms. Obviously those commenters do not live in such a space where the morning sun pours in leaving shadows of trees on the wall, or when the evening golden hour sets the room aglow. Light and a sense of spaciousness is what you have with two story ceiling heights with the warmth of the room like most rooms …coming from the furniture and decor. Rooms with 8’ ceilings can look as cold as the poster’s comment….

The great room is 19 x 23 what would be a good ceiling height?

What will the house and room look like?

Context is key. As PPF asks. What does the house look like? Other rooms? Exterior? What is the style going to be?

Is the family all 7’? Because you are entirely outside the scale of normal human height. Anything over double the average height of a human is just a complete waste of resources to build, and operate.

This ceiling is very high, probably 25+, but in the context of a large Tudor revival house it makes some sense.

The Dorothy Shipley White house (Mitchell/Giurgola, 1961) is a modernist house with very high ceilings, and I wouldn't necessarily call this cold either, it was designed for entertaining and to house collections.

In the proper context it's okay. But I feel like a lot of time "High Ceiling" meaning almost double height or more, now, as a Checklist Item on some list of what the house needs to have just because--it's not so successful and leads to a lot of ill-proportioned rooms.

The house we are designing is 3,000 sq ft it is in a forest type setting, no mountain views. i want a vaulted ceiling in the great room, but no so high that it feels cavernous or overly high i want it to feel inviting. will a 15’ ceiling do that, or is it out of perportion to a 19x23 great room

10' non vaulted ceiling height is fine in our 28 x 40 great room. 19' width with a 15' vault and 10' walls would be a vaulted alternative.

i want a vaulted ceiling in the great room, but no so high that it feels cavernous or overly high i want it to feel inviting. will a 15’ ceiling do that, or is it out of perportion to a 19x23 great room

I think 15' at the peak would be a better alternative.

i want it to feel inviting

What makes a room with a vaulted ceiling inviting?

For the best ideas, share your floor plan and elevations.

You did not say how the vault will run -- will the ridge be 19' or 23'?

What about windows, doors, a fireplace, beams, ceiling materials, wall height, and so on.

A lot has to do with how the space will be embellished.

What has the architect suggested?

We have a shed roof that is 13’ facing southeast…that slopes down to 9’ at the rear of the house..lots of windows in front very few in back…i cant imagine full house ..higher ceiling ….being cozy?…or comfy…for a human being…it is just not necessary …also a huge challenge to keep it warm in winter....it is our summer home ..so we chose this as heat rises in summer …we use an exhaust fan for the rising heat…and almost never need the AC

@Mark Bischak, Architect Is that Biltmore?

Yes, by Willian Morris Hunt.

EDIT: Oops, Make that Richard Morris Hunt. I got my 'Hunts" mixed up. William Morris Hunt was a painter that had a house designed for him by McKim, Mead and White.

Most of the good examples have incredible views..but note…the peak areas are usually “enclosed” for a dramatic effect..the entire area is not open high ceilings.

A couple of thoughts on having (unnecessarily) high ceilings:

1. How is the room to be illuminated and, if there are fixtures on the ceiling, do you have an appropriately-sized ladder that can be maneuvered into place so you can replace burned-out bulbs?

2. Ditto on your readiness to replace the smoke detector battery -- required to be located near the highest point of the room -- especially when the low battery warning starts going off at 3 AM.

To be fair, code does not require smoke detectors in every room. Bedrooms and 1 per floor. Also, they do make 10 year sealed battery models.

Similarly, led bulbs do not generally get changed. They occasionally have early failures but for the most part are over a decade.

I have a 14 foot ceiling in the center (not the walls but not typical vault either). We have a chandelier that has bulbs near 10 feet high - easy peasy. I changed them to a lower wattage because even with a dimmer, they were a bit too bright for what we wanted at night. LED so no failures.

Doesn't mean I don't agree with your overall point. Just that these 2 arguments aren't great.

One thing that I would probably forego with a high ceiling, particularly if I wanted it to feel "inviting" or "warm" or "not cold", is recessed lighting --particularly a lot of the currently popular types of 4000K LED lighting--in the ceiling. That's one way to really make it feel commercial.

If you look at the historical examples above, none of them have lighting in the ceiling plane, recessed or not. They have pendant lighting, or in the case of the Shipley-White house, they have almost exclusively human height lighting, table lamps and floor lamps, and the Tudor is lit with sconces as well.

I don't understand why people seem to have forgotten that table lamps and floor lamps exist. You read a lot of questions about improving lighting and "warming up" spaces, and in the pictures they post there is not a table lamp or floor lamp to be seen. The room is lit by a single ceiling fixture or like a garage.

This is a 13’ ceiling

Shed roof..9’ at back of home30’ from front…

Doors 8’ tall

Yes, that would look good thanks

How tall are the walls!

Sorry, that was a question. that is a lovely great room

The wall with the windows is 13’…ideal height for high ceilings,I think ..but without all the windows I wouldn’t like it as much🤷🏻‍♀️…

And the ceiling does slant downward toward the back of the house to 9’…so the end walls are not as high

I was asked to remodel a 60's prefab post & beam Yankee Barn with a 10 in 12 roof and an interior ridge height of 22 ft. on the ocean on Cape Cod. The biggest problem was heating, cooling and lighting made more difficult by the stress-skin wall and roof panels between the timbers.

After a year of hand wringing, the owners opted for building an addition for winter use so I suggested adding a second floor that would provide a magnicicent view of the ocean and comfortable spaces on both levels. They insisted the view would be blocked by the trees but trees on the Cape aren't really like that.

8-6 ceiling

Thank you for the photos. Lovely interior with great views.

We have 9’ ceilings throughout and our great room is vaulted to 15’. IMHO how you furnish the space makes a difference.

Thank you for the photos and measurements, that is helpful