I don't have photos of ours, but our old kitchen had the ceiling done in a satin finish. It looked fine---honestly I didn't even process that it was shiny until we started the reno and I was up on a ladder looking at it. Our walls were painted in BM Satin Impervo, which is glossy (and was lovely and easy to clean!) so I think that's why they used the higher gloss on the ceiling. The rest of the house has the ceilings in the same color but in a flat finish with eggshell finish on the walls; we stuck with flat for the ceiling in the new kitchen since it would hide the newly-created imperfections better (we took down a wall, so you can see the scar!), but same color as the old kitchen. HTH!

I am hoping that we won't have such glaring imperfections that we can't do a sheen. I was just speaking to our spackler and he was against the semi gloss idea too. I have always painted with eggshell on walls and flat on ceilings, so am not sure what the next sheen down from semi gloss is. I think it is eggshell, but could be wrong.

Ours are semi gloss white. Actually, we used Kitchen and Bathroom paint in bright white semi-gloss.

If I can find my camera, maybe I can take a photo of it.

We don't have cathedral ceilings or anything dramatic like that, but I think it looks fine--it doesn't have glare or anything. It looks clean and crisp.

Our house had semigloss ceilings when we moved in. They perfectly captured the feeling of a dripping, slimy cave. You would see people glance up at them, then quickly examine their skin for fungi. So cozy.

I don't know why they were semigloss. The previous owner worked in a mental hospital, so perhaps they made her feel more comfortable.

I was told that a mat finish would be one step up from flat but less than egg-shell followed by semi-glossy...that it would have a very slight sheen but not so much that it would be eye-catching. It might be described best as having a 'glow'.

Flat > Mat > Eggshell > Semi-gloss > Glossy

That's what I was told. :-)

Pepper
~ Still waiting on cab delivery...because sheetrock refuses to dry...due to cool temps. *sigh*

Yep, that's right, though in some paints flat and matte are the same. With BM paints (and possibly others) there's also a satin finish in between eggshell and semi-gloss in some of their lines. That's what we have on our cabinets and trim to keep them from being too shiny. In theory, shinier paint shows more blemishes but is easier to clean, though of course both depend on the paint quality, too. We used BM Aura in the new kitchen and I'm super happy with that so far. Old kitchen was BM oil-based Satin Impervo, which was also great (but not readily available here anymore). It is ever so slightly shinier than the Aura Satin, but close enough.

@Pepper, we have plaster walls and it started pouring the day the plaster guys came and didn't stop for about two weeks...."normal" dry time was supposed to be 3-4 days, and it took over two weeks! At the advice of the plaster guy, we put a dehumidifier and space heater in the room, which supposedly helped. Who knows how long it would have taken without that... (Meanwhile the electrical work hadn't been finished at the time, so we had the space heater and dehumidifier daisychained to several extension cords along with the refrigerator, which then stretched across our dining room to reach one poor little unsuspecting outlet that had never had more than a vacuum plugged into it before that. Fun times... ;)

We have BM Aura semigloss on two accent walls in our cabin. It has a lovely sheen, but it shows every imperfection. We were able to hide most of them with acessories, and retain the wow factor, not sure that I would want it on a ceiling, though - but how often do you look up?!
It would definitely increase the light.

Thanks everyone. I wasn't sure where satin fit into that chain of sheens. I had heard it was before and after eggshell. If it is between the eggshell and semi, then that will probably be my pick. I have always used eggshell on my walls in the past and that does not have much sheen to me at all. I just hope I get enough sheen and am not wimping out....sigh....
I took a few hours off from thinking of ceiling paint and spent them figuring out and ordering window treatments. I know I got great deals, but hitting the send button on the order was still painful. I hope I chose right and measured well because I hope not to do that again for a very long time. There was a sale that ends at midnight and so I felt under pressure and ordered without seeing samples. Luckily, even though there are different products in different rooms, all are crisp bright white, so I don't have as much worry about colors as if I wanted a particular shade of something.

Dianolo....

Why don't you get a pint of your fav color in the finish (or two) you think you want and give it whirl.

Live with it for next day or two and see which one you like the best.

Everyone that I've spoken to from a few Interior Designers to my own GC says to go with flat for the ceiling, semi-gloss for trim work and doors. The walls are a toss-up.

If my GC remembers correctly, I'm supposed to be getting mat finish for my LR walls, eggshell for the kitchen walls.

We shall see.

Pepper
~ Sitting and watching sheetrock dry. :-)

I know what it looks like, having seen it on walls, but not how it will relate up on my ceilings and once painted (and with my wall colors, fixtures, etc..), it could mess up subsequent coats if I only try out a patch.
If I were doing my own painting and could do one room at a time, it would be easier to experiment. This is a big undertaking with ceilings done all at once (lr, dr, kit, den, mbr, mbth and hallway). I need to make a decision and stick with it (and hope I don't mess it up by being too out there or have regrets for playing it safe).
Most decisions come easier to me, but this one is getting resistance more than most.

I truly found my semigloss ceilings viscerally repulsive. As in, lower-lip-trembling, vaguely nauseated repulsive. The ceilings always seemed low and wet. Odd reflections came from the wrong directions.

Don't confuse bathroom paint with some high end finishes that are truly high gloss. There's one product that is actually a rubber or plastic sheet that gives you a perfect white surface that's as shiny as lacquer. Stunning. Megabucks, but stunning.

A can of semigloss it ain't.

I think marcolo's point about ceilings seeming low might be key too---how tall are your ceilings? Ours are 9' and I'm sure that's partly why I had no idea our paint was glossy till being up close (that, and having a single central light). Lower ceilings mean you can see the paint much more easily, so you might notice the finish more if you have 8' or lower.

Our ceiling was also smooth plaster in the kitchen but textured in all the other rooms, and the pro painters opted for the flat everywhere but the kitchen, so they may have known a thing or two about how the paint finishes would play with that, too.

I don't think I'd go glossier than satin, though.

I found you a couple of photos of our old ceiling in satin:

Not a great shot, but the finish on the wall and ceiling is actually the same---I think the shine on the wall was reflecting from the fluorescent light:

This is mid-project, but you can see the chunks of the old ceiling and the bit of shine they have:

artemis - I like the glow your ceiling has. That is the effect we are shooting for. Our ceilings are either high (12' over part of kitchen and all of den)and/or broken up by skylights. We have lots of angles and changes of plane. I'd like to play all that up with a sheen.
I am leaning towards satin because it seems like a fair compromise.