I have both. My second home has really tall ( idk how tall ) cabinets that go to the ceiling, my primary home does not. Even though I’m tall I never use the the uppers in my second home & I’m not about to climb on a ladder to access them. I realize that it’s ”de riguer” to have them installed to the ceiling, see that mentioned on this site always, but I don’t understand the appeal. Guess it’s for aesthetics. Resale? Do you intend to sell soon?

Can you post pictures?

What about keeping a soffit but having it match the cabinets?

I am only 5ft tall. I can only reach the 2nd shelf and only items right in the front. Forget the 3rd shelf and if cabinets were all the way up to a 10 foot ceiling. Current house has vaulted ceilings in the kitchen so cabinets can not go to the ceiling. Previous house had wood stained cabinets and the soffit above matched the cabinets.

If I were buying a home I am not paying more because a kitchen has cabinets to the ceiling.

Something like this:

It depends on your local real estate market. If there are many new homes in your area with 10 ft ceilings with cabinets to the ceiling, then it would make sense to upgrade your home with similar specs.

If most homes are of the same vintage as yours and they all have soffits, then it might not matter if you keep shorter cabinets.

As a buyer, I would be annoyed that you had a newer kitchen and kept the soffits with short cabinets. Depending on the market, I might make an offer that would take into account having to remove the soffit and get new upper cabinets.

You aren't going to please everyone!

Maybe show us a photo of the kitchen so we can see how the soffits "feel" in the actual space.

Also how big is the kitchen? Getting rid of the soffits will have a bigger visual impact in a smaller kitchen.

" I am remodeling my kitchen and replacing almost everything but not changing the layout, no walls will move. "

We have remodeled 2 kitchens without moving any walls, but we absolutely made layout changes. In the first one - a U-shaped kitchen with the sink in the middle - we moved both the range and the fridge away from the corner, greatly improving both storage and work space in the kitchen.

Chances are there are places you can improve with minor tweaks to the layout, without significantly changing walls or appliance placement.

As for your question: in both our kitchens, the top of the uppers are 8' from the floor, in spite of vaulted ceilings in both cases. I would always recommend cabinets to an 8' ceiling; possibly 9', depending on the situation. But 10' is WAY up there. Cabinets are too expensive to install if they are not realistically ever going to be used.

Pictures would help a lot!