Many times soffits contain not only electrical, but also plumbing to an upper floor and if you want to remove them you have to move the plumbing. Other times soffits are almost empty with maybe a few electrical wires going through (like the OP seems to have). We had 12" high soffits that we removed. Most were either empty or only had electrical that we were able to move up to the ceiling area. However, there was one area that had the waste pipes from the master bath. We were unable to move that plumbing so we put in a very shallow soffit and ran the crown molding over it where there were cabinets, but where the vent hood is you can see the soffit if you look closely. While I wish we could have gotten rid of the soffit altogether, I'm happy with how it looks now as opposed to what it looked like before. Before: Story of a Soffit Removal in Pictures: Waste Pipe that couldn't be moved (before cabinets went in): First cabinet installed: All 3 cabinets installed on one side; you can still see the waste pipe if you look closely above the cabinets: Start of Crown Molding, note that the waste pipe extends into the space b/w the vent and the cabinets. The pipe will need to be hidden here as well: Soffit between 2 taller upper cabinets that don't need it, but not behind them. It's there so the upper wall of both sets of cabinets look the same: Soffit on either side of vent: Soffit to left of vent: All crown molding, full view: All crown molding, right view: All crown molding & Light rail, full view: Note no soffit outside of cabinet run: Kitchen before paint, etc.:

The same material as the counter isn't an option since the counters are installed and we don't have enough left over. The veining wouldn't work out too well either that way. Does anyone know what mamadadapaige ended up doing to cover her plywood shiplap?

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!

If it would not grow up there naturally, I would not put it up there. So, if you had a skylight and a real plant would thrive there...maybe. If it is going to be up there in the shadows, it won't look real. If you want something, maybe some baskets or pottery as suggested.