I'm such a dope, it is 2-3 Inches, not feet. I corrected the subject. If it was a bigger area I would put stuff up there but 2 inches isn't enough room!! Sheetrock is an option, I thought about that, definite possibility. Art, the rest of the kitchen is painted. I don't want to paint the cabinets, I like seeing the woodgrain. Ann, It's funny you mentioned that, about the colored board. I was doing picture searches today on the web and saw cabinets done like that and I thought that might be an option. Then when I was at Lowes, I grabbed a bunch of free cabinet books for ideas, and one of them showed that style. I wanted to incorporate more of the cranberry/ pomegranate color into the room and that might just be the place to do it... I'm definitely going to consider that!

Sorry for the lack of information...hope this helps - alwaysfixin - we have 9'3" ceilings (1906 Victorian), and 42" upper cabinets. They have already been ordered (including the moldings) and have been shipped to the local warehouse - so with 42" uppers, we are looking at them ending at 8', which leaves 15" to play with. The moldings are around 3" vertical, hence the 12" panel. Our contractor is going to make the upper panel, and hasn't made it yet - he is the one that brought up it being too large. He suggested open shelving/cubbies, but we sort of think it would be a hard to reach space that would end up gathering dust. Any other ideas?? Thanks for the great feedback so far!

Looks like an 8 foot ceiling. Pendants aren't always recommended with lower ceilings like that as they can't hang far enough down to look balanced or will simply be too low for clearance. That doesn't mean you can't but it may limit options on what you can use without it looking awkward. I would rule them out altogether for your central lights as they will simply be too low, but they may work for the peninsula. Consider recessed first, but if you want the lights to serve a decorative purpose, start looking at flush and semi-flush options. I personally like using above cabinets as display space and use led lighting to give some extra pizzazz. Looks really cool at night running only above and below cabinet lights. But, filling the space above with additional cabinets or fake cabinets is definitely a common approach. I would not raise existing cabinets as that would reduce function from being up so high. Kitchens with cabinets to the ceiling tend to use taller cabinets than the standard 30" in your kitchen.

Too bad there is no cabinet over the refrigerator or next to it. The shelf look awkward. Can you lower it or use it somewhere else? Look like on of the pendents is missing a glass shade. Do you have it or can you get a replacement? I like the posters. Maybe one bold one over the wood cabinets. If you get rid of the shelf, you could hang a poster over the refrigerator. But the space looks good empty, too.