Love the first ones (green walls). The soffits that are horrific are the ones like I had before remodel - stuck out about 2-3 inches beyond the cabinets. I could have lived with them if they'd been flush. Just be sure the molding is no further from the wall than the framing around the window. Otherwise, it's a big dirt/dust catcher.

I like all of them for the most part. The one with the beige walls seems a bit off...is it only a 9' ceiling?

I love that green kitchen. I've seen that picture a bunch of times and never noticed the soffit!

I've seen that picture a bunch of times and never noticed the soffit!

Unless they stick out farther than the cabs (to make it more of an eyesore), I would bet "most" people wouldn't even notice soffits. Most people in real life aren't like people on here. Those kitchens posted are lovely.

D is off visually. In that case it would have worked better if the soffits were the cabinet color

I like those fine. LOVE #2. Soffits are good when ceilings are HIGH. And when they don't stick out!

I am generally pretty picky and snooty about a lot of kitchen choices that tend to make kitchens look dated (think, raised bar or alternating height cabinet tops). Frankly, soffits are never one that have bothered me. Sure, the most beautiful kitchens tend to have cabs all the way to the ceiling. But that's a chicken and egg question: Those ceiling cabs were custom -- which usually means the whole kitchen was custom or otherwise designed well. Soffits have become a point of scorn i think because they regularly appear in cheap builders grade kitchens with deep contrasting paint colors from the 1990s (sort of like the D kitchen above). The kitchens were already cheap looking, and by painting the soffit a dark contrasting color, you've only brought more attention to the cut corners. That said, a soffit painted white to match the white cabinets looks a lot better to me than simply having cabinets that don't reach the ceiling with a gap above.

A,c and e. D is really off and noticeable.

These are all very nice kitchens. To me, the ceiling fan is the only off-putting thing in kitchen D.

Interesting. A and D both have a big contrast of wall paint color and cabinet color. But people seem to like A much better. Wonder what it is? Possibly because it is a higher ceiling overall?

C and E I could live with, the other ones would bother me. Color and style of the kitchen will also affect how we perceive them.

Love A and B, but I’m partial to both green and beadboard. Both of these examples did a great job making the soffit a design element. I think B might actually be my absolute dream kitchen.

C is good too! They went the other way and really camoflagued the soffit so that it doesn’t draw your eye.

Looking specifically at the soffit, D is very off and I’m trying to figure out why. I was going to say the contrast in color, but A also has a contrasting color and it looks fabulous. It really might just look off because we’re comparing this nice normal kitchen to professionally photographed super high end kitchens. It probably looks fine IRL.

I don’t like the ceiling in E, but I think that’s more about my personal taste than bad design. If you like that look, go for it.

All great examples!!!!!

Totally OT.....

B has some great ceramic bowls and pots. I would gladly take those and help declutter that kitchen :)

taking a wheel throwing class and have all things clay on my mind :)

A transitions better with the colors because of the dark glass front. Bathe white uppers are broken up by the panes so your eyes perceive a natural transition. D has such a huge contrast between the white and brown that it sticks out.

Good call on the glass doors in A! Thanks Beachem for solving that for me! I don’t know why I didn’t see that, but I couldn’t figure it out and it was really bothering me.

C soffits are awfully deep but they handled it fairly well.

I like them when they are flush with the cabinets. Also notice that none of them have purpose-placed recessed lighting practically jammed against the moldings and drawing attention to the soffits. The lighting plans are very orderly.

Generally speaking, I think soffits should be as invisible as possible - i.e. the same colour as the cabinets, which makes a difficult situation with stained wood cabinets. While A looks good in the photo here, as beachem pointed out, it's the dark glass that blends things...I don't know if it would actually look as good in person and/or with different lighting. There are some other things in the photos that I like or don't like, but C and E are the best IMO with respect to soffits.

Not crazy about B, and really dislike D.

I generally don't have any problems with soffits, although I would prefer cabinets that go to the ceiling, and a high ceiling makes that sometimes not practical. So with those high ceilings, I would definitely want soffits. I do have them in my kitchen, they are flush, and are painted to match my cabinets.

happyday321

Interesting. A and D both have a big contrast of wall paint color and cabinet color. But people seem to like A much better. Wonder what it is? Possibly because it is a higher ceiling overall?

Because D looks more like an odd thin stripe across the top.

Not all soffits are avoidable because they hide pipes, etc. that need to be hid and thus there is no alternative but to use soffits for many, me included. Every kitchen that needs soffits is a unique problem to be solved and there are good soffit designs and poor ones. Some people's kitchens require pretty complicated soffit designs. I have found that one needs to be explicitly clear, in conveying what you want for the soffit design for your kitchen situation. I think it best to show an exact picture of what you want if you can and if you can a detailed technical drawing. Here is another soffit pic with a very tall ceiling like you mentioned you have. It is a relative's kitchen. I think the soffit looks very nice. However, if it were my kitchen I would probably have preferred the small moulding just above the cabinet tops to match the stain of the cabinets. I think it would blend in better. But this kitchen does look very nice in person. I also like soffit example A the best of the ones you posted.

Wow that color saturation is so deep that the soffits disappeared into the background. You can't see it from the first pic at all.

The only thing wrong with soffits is that if they were cabinets, you could put more stuff in them.

I don't like the wood-covered ones because it looks like you were trying to hide your soffits because you're on the GW kitchen forum too much.

Hahaha. I am in danger of my whole house looking like I’m on gw forums too much! Because I am!!

but I’ve actually decided against the soffits altogether now. I made peace with the idea of space above the cabinets, and newspaper up there will take care of the cleaning issue. Better no soffit than a bad one, I think