How would you handle this ceiling height transition in the kitchen?

11 months ago

Hey everyone,

Exposed concrete ceiling in the main living area.

We planned a 25 cm drywall drop ceiling in the kitchen and entrance, up to the beam (marked in red on the plans and visible in the photo).

Since we extended the kitchen by one meter, part of the cabinetry now sits past the beam—where the drywall drop ends and the concrete ceiling begins.

We’re debating how to handle this ceiling height difference above the cabinetry that extends past the beam.

I attached two options (the blue lines within the blue square represent the additional drywall drop celling past the beam, and the yellow line represent the planned drywall ceiling drop above the kitchen).

Option 1 - Extending the drywall celling drop in the same width of the celling drop in the kitchen.

Option 2 - Only extending the drywall above the cabinets after the beam, so it acts as a soffit.

Which one do you think works better?

Or maybe there’s a solution I haven’t thought of?

Featured Answer

3onthetree

11 months ago

last modified: 11 months ago

My suggestion is as this sketch. The drawings, as-built picture, and your sketches don't match together, so I'm guessing. And I see that the ceiling light fixtures are already switched and embedded in the concrete, and looks like the refrigerator water line is there. So other ideas I had of moving the Pantry and refrigerator, and some other things with lighting, I'll toss in the bin.

It appears a soffit might align with the pipe enclosure and maybe the edge of the peninsula/refrigerator transition. This is the intent I show with the BLUE line. The entire ceiling is lower on the front half of house, which also hides the secondary beam by the Powder Room.

This false ceiling will also allow you to change the Kitchen lighting to recessed fixtures and work better with your layout (the sink will be dark with lights behind you when standing there). I show a linear pendant fixture over the peninsula, and large semi-flush or pendant fixture in the Living and Dining to fit proportionally to the open space.

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Comments (11)

dan1888
11 months ago
last modified: 11 months ago
Another option.

Move the frig to allow the door to be near flush with the wall opposite. It's in front of the center wall/column that is between the entrance door and kitchen spaces. You can box it in to finish to the ceiling. A little more of the ceiling drop finish as needed. You may or may not need to shorten the peninsula to 3 seats to get entrance clearance if you want to move it towards the kitchen space. You can use a semicircle island or faceted semicircle island instead of a peninsula. You can use a table at dining height with chairs at a right angle to the pictured peninsula. Depends on full room dimensions and other seating plans.
apple_pie_order
11 months ago
What country are you in? Construction methods and customs can vary by location.
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eam44
11 months ago
If you don’t need the drop ceiling to conceal plumbing or ventilation, why not just leave the whole thing concrete? You will notice the beam transition less and enjoy higher ceilings.

My kitchen is not concrete but I’m extending one part of the kitchen into what was once a sun room that has a vaulted ceiling. I have drywall ceilings so I’m keeping them both white. But the idea is the same, don’t call attention to the change in ceiling heights and you won’t notice the transition as much.
romhit
Original Author
11 months ago
We chose to install a drop ceiling in the kitchen for practical reasons. If the cabinets extended all the way up to the original ceiling, they would be difficult to reach. At the same time, we didn’t want to leave an empty gap between the cabinets and the ceiling.
mojavemaria
11 months ago
What is your ceiling height? Looking at you window and door they look about 8’ (2.4 meters). Building a soffit above the cabinets and refrigerator you could preserve that height but fill in the gap above cabinets.
romhit
Original Author
11 months ago
The ceiling is 2.85 meters from the finished floor.

The height in the area with the drop ceiling is 2.6 meters.

So I would prefer to retain as much os ceiling height as possible
3onthetree
11 months ago
The extent of proposed "blue" soffits seem arbitrary. They don't line up with anything.

The floor plan will help to determine this. The peninsula is kind of out into the main space. Whatever is happening in the space next to the Kitchen (between beam and wall). How the pipe between stair and entry, once enclosed, breaks up the horizontality of that ceiling plane change. Successful designs will consider everything together.
romhit thanked 3onthetree
romhit
Original Author
11 months ago
@3onthetree attached is the ground floor plan. The beam goes across the floor on the point where the stairs start.
3onthetree
11 months ago
Is there another beam between the peninsula and Dining, connecting the two (offset) columns in the drawings? How do you intend to do ceiling lighting in the Dining, Living, and Entry, with raceway conduit mounted to exposed concrete?
romhit
Original Author
11 months ago
@3onthetree its a mix of spot lights and conduit mounted to the ceiling.

added the lightning plan (its missing some additional

spots, but that shouldn’t make a difference), and the lighting style we are going for.