I think the historical soffits would've been white if the surrounding ornament was, so I would do that. I think they will disappear relatively compared to the adjacent things if they just blend in. Most people screen those things out anyway, visually, and don't notice the modern aspects of it that probably drive you crazy.

momj, you have a beautiful kitchen. I like how you treated the tops of the cabnets. And I loved the cat's hat. That was too cute. My cats would go nuts. mereanne, we did think about that. We built the house so we know there is nothing other than the electrical wires for the light above the sink. I can imagine what a job that was.

I would want it to blend in-not stand out because of "stripey" look that would ensue. Just from the image off the computer-something to bear in mind is the sheen that appears quite glossy on the molding-that's okay-but then the soffit surface has to work with that. I guess I'd start with a white shade-maybe a tad grayer than the white of the molding and one sheen level down. Normally i like more matte walls-but i just think that would not work with that molding-stay close-try to get it to blend together to prevent the eye from moving up there and constantly looking at it like some sort of feature. I'm not sure why some molding couldn't be milled up to get really close to what you have over on the right-that's possibly a better option-have you discussed this with a trim carpenter?

How high are your base cabinets including countertop? I'm getting a different number, about 99" to the top of your cabinets. Base cabinets are usually about 36" including countertop. Wall cabinets are normally placed 18" above that. If you add those plus the 42" for your wall cabinets and 3" for the cove molding, you should get 99" to the top. In any event, I would install a modified version of your three piece trim. I would install the trim right over any soffit, so now you've incorporated them and you don't need any extra space for soffit alone. Even if you want a separate soffit or go another way, if you paint everything white (trim and soffit), your eye will not go right to the splash of color above the cabinets. If you only have 9" of play left over, maybe you want to skip the picture rail and use the cove molding from your cabinets as the bottom piece instead. For instance, install the 3" crown molding and a 6" flat board to make up your extra 9" of space. Then right underneath that, you'd have your 3" cove molding and then your cabinets. The only problem would be making it work with the adjoining dining room where it meets the kitchen trim. Does that room already have the 3-piece trim? If so, you could do this modified version above the cabinets only and then continue the rest of the kitchen with the original 3" crown, 8" flat board and 2" picture rail.