I think a 10' ceiling would make it feel special. FLW used to change ceiling heights to make special public rooms feel more important.

Certainly a 10-foot ceiling will be an improvement in the overall proportions of a room that size. Calculate the golden mean for a room that size...

On the other hand, if it's open concept then maybe the 10' ceiling will help separate that room visually from the rest of the house. My DH talked me into going with 10' ceilings on the main floor and personally, I'm glad he did because while we only have 5 rooms in the house, they are large rooms and the ceilings feel good at that height.

my great room is 21x27 with nine ft ceilings and it looks very nice to me i would not go more than 10 ft. my gr opens to the kitchen which also has 9 ft ceilings and the more spacious area looks good too

Zippity1, do you have an archway separating the great room from the others? Like where it drops a foot or so in between the rooms to help designate the different rooms? Or do you just have the flat 9'ceilings going from the great room into the others? Also, do you have 2 different seating areas in the room since it is larger or do you just have it set up as one big room?

I have a large open family room and it has 9 ft ceilings. 10 ft would have been better for the space. What makes a big difference is that I have two sets of 8 ft high french doors, which makes the room feel more open, even with 9 ft ceilings.

Ten is lovely, allows for some details such as coffering BUT........realize you must also consider windows and the elevations. Nothing is worse than a mile of header above a window, and squatty entrances or doors. When you take a ceiling up, you take the rest of the elements up as well.

A good architect is your very best friend on this.

Jan is right. The question is not how high the ceilings should be but how high the windows and exterior doors should be which will dictate the ceiling height. This will depend on your site, orientation, exterior environment and views.

There is no generic answer to your question. Ceiling height needs to blend in with ceiling heights of adjoining spaces and rooms and should present a smooth transition (an engineers perspective), it's impact to the roof line, exterior/patio doors/windows, the views (if any), your cabinetry, lighting etc. etc. and your budget of course.

I prefer to carry a comparitively taller ceiling height theme from the entry through to family room and kitchen (assuming an open concept).

IMO 9’ is a perfect ceiling height without breaking the bank with heating and cooling.