I have seen just about everything: beams left stained wood, beams painted a vibrant color with a white ceiling, beams painted white (or gray or other neutral) with a colorful ceiling, beams painted one color and ceiling painted another color, both painted same white ...

I think the thought process really depends on the rest of your kitchen. What are your tastes, how much fun do you like to have? Some decorating styles have more of a tradition of it than others, but there's definitely room to make it up.

Another consideration may be the rest of your house, and your site. I live in the city, where many people's ceilings are visible from the street as people walk by a little lower than ground level. I can't see into most people's rooms, but I can see many people's ceilings! So someone who has an interesting medallion, or beams or a mural (lots of artists in my area) is a pleasure to see on a cold walk home.

If you have, perhaps, a siting area where you can see a portion of your kitchen ceiling out of the corner of your eye when you are sitting, then it might be nice to have an interesting ceiling.

Something to consider.

We matched the beamed ceiling to the white cabinets. At least I hope they will match. The ceiling is in and painted but the cabinets won't be installed for a few more weeks. The ceiling is glossy white and it has wood planks between the beams painted the same. It's meant to look as if we renovated an old house and now have the old floor 2nd floor planks exposed above us. We think it looks fabulous so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the cabinets will be okay with it. We also have limited wall space but enough that I think the paint will set off both the ceiling and the cabinets.

The thinking behind the match was based on the recommendations of the painter and the carpenter. They both thought that doing another white was tricky since it could look like we tried to match and missed. They painter particularly felt that since whites can have pink or yellow or blue undertones that our wall color might not go as well with with the cabinets as the ceiling or vice versa. Hope this helps.

We agonized over this decision. My KD wanted to paint the flat part of the ceiling a color, something on the dark side, to coordinate with the walls, and to paint the beams white.

I love my very high (12 feet) ceilings, and I wanted to emphasize that, so I wanted light. We ended up painting the beams to match the cabinetry, since the cabinets and beams touch, and then painted the flat part of the ceiling the same white we had in the kitchen area ceiling. I am very happy with how it came out.

One of my inspiration kitchens, and where I got the idea for the boxed beams, was a kitchen showroom in my town. I've put the link below to the KD's website, if you click on Media and scroll down to the last picture that says "Intelligent Design" you can see what she did. The beams match the cabinets, and then the flat part of the ceiling has a slightly darker washed finish.

I also saw lots of pictures of ceilings with a color on the flat part.

Here is a link that might be useful: Picture of beamed ceiling

Thanks everyone for the helpful input. The photos of your kitchen are beautiful, Jeannie, and I also appreciate the link. It's starting to come together in my mind...I think I'll probably go with matching the beams to my cabinets and maybe I'll test out a couple of things for the ceiling between the beams but probably not veer far from another shade of white. Fleasdog, is your entire ceiling done in a high gloss? I hadn't considered that but it sounds like it's stunning!

Yes, Blakey, all high gloss. I was worried but the painter and carpenter kept saying it would be fine. Now that it's in I think it's more than fine. Keep in mind it's all wood so it has a lot of texture to it and doesn't seem like one big glare. I did want it light and bright and that's how it turned out.

This has been so helpful so I have another question along the same lines...if anyone is still reading this thread....how would you paint a beaded board ceiling in an adjacent breakfast room that is mostly windows. I'm trying to decide between a glossy white or shade of blue or staining it a soft color (maybe a khaki/gray) to let the wood show through. The floor is wide-plank, dark-stained pine. The kitchen is mainly white, with stainless appliances, calacatta marble counters and the island has a wood counter.