Leave them be.

I’m surprised a pro would recommend to keep them, not doubting your expertise, but I find they really date a house.

My sister recently had a reno done and the contractor said it was cheaper to replace the dry wall than it was to scrape it down. That’s what she decided to do and is pleased with the result.

On a decorating show I saw they put thin boards on a ceiling ( like wainscotting) and they painted it with what they called a white lacquer, and it looked stunning. I wonder if something like that could go right over your present ceiling?

There’s a difference between textured and popcorn. Both hide poor drywall work and wonky ceiling joists that will need repair work before ceilings can be smooth. It is not as easy as it sounds to “just” get rid of texture. And those ceilings are not as objectionable to waste 10K on as to spend that elsewhere in the home.

"is it worth it if we are thinking of doing major renovations in 7 years or so"

In addition to what Sophie states there is this.........................

Don't look up is the best way to minimize the texture.

As Sophie wrote, the popcorn/texture was used to make one mud/tape application necessary, instead of a MUCH more expensive/time consuming job of making the ceiling surface an even surface and the tape joints smooth. Our eyes can see the irregularities in a horizontal plane better than a vertical plane. So, a wavy ceiling stands out. The popcorn/texture cut several days work out, meaning homes were less expensive.

Seriously, our current house has popcorn ceilings. LOML did not want to spend the money/time to remove the stuff---mainly replacing the sheet rock and finishing. So, we make each room pleasant to look at from the ceiling down and seldom look at the ceiling.

My plasterer would skim that smooth for $300. You should be able to find a drywall contractor that could skim it too. The time consuming work would be preparing the room for the skim coat.

Is it not cool to have a used house now? It's not like second-hand underpants. You aren'y supposed to tear down a house and make it new every few years. "Dated" should not apply to permanent features of a home. Ceilings are not sofas.

I hate textured ceilings. I have removed them myself from rooms in two houses. It’s not a super hard job but it is very messy and takes a careful hand to not unduly scrape and damage the underlying drywall. I used a spray bottle to lightly dampen and then a wide, thin scraper to remove texture. A lot depends on underlying quality of drywall job as to whether you will need a final skim coat to smooth out irregularities.

If you cover everything in plastic (walls and floors) cleanup is much easier

It does make a big difference to the look of a room and makes ceilings look higher.

Amurz: we had an 80s home complete with popcorn ceilings throughout when we bought it. We hired painters to get rid of the paint scheme before we moved in and they also removed popcorn throughout except in vaulted ceiling rooms where we knew we would do gut renos in a few years. The skimming and removal of popcorn resulted in an imperfect ceiling- you could see that it was not completely smooth. I liked the somewhat textured look but husband hated that it wasn't perfectly smooth. Also, we ended up having to hire a company to clean out vents because so much dust was generated through the removal work- it took a while to get rid of the dust. It was not cheap, was messy, and resulted in not perfectly smooth ceilings (could be who we used), but I don't regret it because the ceilings look so much better. A couple years later we gut renovated the remaining rooms and changed our can lighting to recess as part of that. The contractors put in new dry wall as part of the process. Ceiling looks like new, perfectly smooth and no popcorn.
Long story short- if you are planning ceiling and lighting work, wait to replace the popcorn with new drywall and then you will have a perfectly smooth ceiling. But if you aren't planning renovation work in certain rooms, go ahead and remove the popcorn. You won't regret NOT having popcorn. Some people aren't bothered by popcorn ceilings but it's a matter of personal preference. I hate them! Lol.

$10,000 to replace sheet rock for a single room. You may have to reconsider your trades....

We had our contractor put very thin drywall over the popcorn & it turned out great. He did this in 2 rooms about 15" x 18' & a hallway. It cost about $1000.

Suchira - op said it is a textured ceiling, not popcorn. Popcorn is easier to scrape off than textured.

I have textured ceilings in my house. One of the previous homeowners didn't like the smooth ceilings, so bought a few 12 packs and invited a bunch of friends over to "texture" it. They used their hands. I know this because I work with one of the guys who helped do it. It's an ugly mess. I can't afford to have it torn down and redone, it's really thick and I doubt it can be skim coated over. So I'm scraping it myself. I've done one hallway. It's a lot of work. Kalliean is right--make sure you cover the walls and the floors. To me it is worth it to get rid of it, I have more time than money. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

One of the things people forget is that some kinds of textured or "popcorn" ceilings make your house somewhat quieter by not as readily reflecting sound.

So it's "dated." Who told you that? As far as I'm concerned, they're picking your pocket.

Sure, everybody wants a nice house, but look at the way home fashion is pushed on the net (it used to be mainly in glossy magazines). You could be chasing the latest fads in home decorating the rest of your life, and all it would do in the end is drain your bank account. I sometimes think that home fashion is nothing more than income support for contractors, manufacturers, and home improvement stores.

It appears to be a more modern popcorn ceiling. If it is, it will come down easily with water and the whole room covered with plastic. I've done this. I had recessed lighting installed after. The process of stripping the ceiling took about 4 hours and if you're handy it can be a DIY job. Just look for some YouTube videos.

Here are photos of when I did it.

Thank you Wooden It Be Nice - Custom Woodworking. Did you test for asbestos before? I'm not sure how old the ceilings are, if so, do you have a recommendation on company to use for testing? Thanks!

We just looked online for a local company. Cost $49.

amurz - I don't know the timeframe for asbestos, but I know my ceiling was done in 2001, so it was safe. If you search for an environmental contamination cleanup company, you will find someone who can help.