I have a beadboard ceiling in the kitchen that I absolutely love, although DH still reminds me about what a PITA it was to install. I tell him SOOO worth it. In fact, we talked about it just this morning. I was gone all day Saturday, and he sneakily installed those ugly firestop canisters under my vent hood. I told him before I didn't want them to be seen so I forbade him to put them in. This morning at the cooktop, what did I find tucked up securely out of site? I'm OK with his installation because you can't see them unless you put your head under the hood. He called me later and I gave him a hard time about his sneaky project. He said far better to have $300 worth of damage from a cooking fire than many thousands, and what would my ceiling look like? Gotta love a safety conscious hubby. He's not worried about my inattentive cooking, but that of our teenagers. If I were to do my kitchen again, this ceiling would be on my must have list.

I would love to do this in my kitchen, except with removable panels to accss the plumbing above (2 bathrooms and a laundry room) I haven't figured out how to acomplish this yet, and I have to convince my GC (Daddy) that it's a good idea...but I think it would be great!

As others have said it's hard to say without seeing pictures, but, one thing you said makes me wonder if the beadboard look will work. You mention that this is a corner. Does this mean you would only put beadboard on two walls? IMHO it needs to tie in to the surrounding areas. I don't think I've ever seen it used on just some of the walls in a space. I actually looked for this when I was remodeling my open plan basement. I really wanted to use beadboard but couldn't find a logical way to use it on some walls and not others.

I thought one of the experts would offer an educated opinion by now, but you are stuck with me. Last summer I removed an awful ceiling from the worst room in our 1868 home. The ceiling is now beadboard and matches the pitch of the metal roof. New insulation was put in and then the beadboard was nailed on over that. A nail gun comes in very handy for this overhead job. I am inept with sheetrock, taping and all the other skills drywall requires, so beadboard is now in three rooms of my house. Any ceiling with a pitch gets beadboard here. Back to the beadboard... I like the real stuff rather than the sheets you can get at the big box stores. Unless you are looking for a rustic look, check your lumber supplier for a clearer wood. I'm sure mine is pine and for painting that should suffice. I back primed all the pieces and then primed the face side. I then put two light coats of paint on the face side including the tongues that fit into the grooved side. You have to paint those so they don't look awful when the heat goes on and the ceiling contracts. Putting up some sort of crown molding makes measuring and cutting a bit more forgiving and I need all the forgiveness I can get. After that, I caulk the crown molding and give everything one last coat of paint. Be careful not to fill the grooves with the finish coat. I like the look of semigloss on the beadboard, but that is a matter of personal taste. I think all the priming and painting took more time than the actual installation. Now maybe the guys who really know something will respond with the right way to do all of this. Your house and its setting look incredible. Good luck with all the changes you will make. Have you looked at the "Old House" forum on this site?