How tall are you?

It all depends on the size of your rooms. A 10 x 12 office looks kinda odd with 12 foot ceilings.

10 foot

The architect is building the plans right now, assume some rooms to be at least 15 x 15 or more, living room might be 24 x 17 or something similar and kitchen area might be around 18 x 20 or so, dining 16 x 14, two storey foyer.

@Mark Bischak, Architect almost 6 feet

10’ ceilings are plenty tall and grand. Another two feet might actually be too much of a good thing, making rooms feel cold and unwelcoming. And even at 10’ it’s a bother to change smoke detector batteries (speaking from experience!)

IMO a 10’ ceiling is the max and I would do 10’ on the main and 8’ in the bedrooms since I think anything taller just wastes heating and cooling $$$$ and those high ceilings have some very ‘interesting” affects on sound. IMO no need for a tall ceiling in bedrooms where cozy is the point of those spaces and saves money on construction too. Where i live 2x6 is the standard and now some builders are moving toward 2 x8 and 2x4 has not been used here for a very long time

We stayed in a house we rented for the weekend that had 12 ft ceilings in all rooms downstairs and even in one of the small baths, small closet, mudroom area, or a small short hallway it didn't seem off or look odd at all. So looks wise it would likely be fine and if you are in an area where this is common then I would do the 12 ft, but with some considerations. The only area that was 10ft on the first floor was the kitchen and that was likely because the 2nd/3rd and 4th floor was all above that area.

It will be harder to change light bulbs and smoke detectors and anything that is higher up and you won't want cabinets all the way up as that would look off and even with 10 ft it would be hard to access those spaces.

If you are in a warm climate, most new construction, specially custom and larger sized homes, have ceilings in the 10 to 14 ft range. I would not buy or build a house with any 8 ft ceilings. I am not that tall and I find the 8 ft too low, specially if you use ceiling fans. I also like vaulted/peaked ceilings, but don't like 2-story rooms.

If you can afford it and you like the look and feel of the higher ceilings, then it doesn't matter what other people think!

@lyfia Thanks for the input, that helps. I think definitely agree harder for the light bulbs etc, but that would be the case for two storey great rooms i guess too? but the 2 storey great rooms look amazing. Now the factor is look wise if it would work and other big factor is cost not bothered about the insulation etc as it does not get that cold. But does 2x4 work on 12 ft vs 10 ft and currently living in a 10 ft ceiling house and that is decent height and i am sure these are made with 2x4's.

10 ft are great - I wouldn't go taller.

Also, consider window coverings. If your windows are larger, custom sizes will be more pricey. You can sometimes find drapery up to 120" ready-made, but you won't find it any longer. I personally dislike a two story great room - seems like a waste of space to me, but that is a very personal choice! I don't think you'll go wrong with 10'.

A stair that rises 12 feet demands a lot of room, and a lot of work to climb.

Twelve feet on first floor is very nice.

10' is plenty big. I'm in the south and have 10' first floor and 9' second floor. I wouldn't go any higher.

Twelve feet on first floor is very nice.

Not if you then have to climb the extra steps to get to the second floor!

I actually do it every day!

Also curtains are harder to close. We had an 11 ft in our last house - oh frustrating.

Light penetrates farther into house - assuming you increase height of windows - which is certainly a good thing but heat would come in also if you are in a hot climate.

This is overall a really common thread/debate.

Why do you care if it is 2x6 vs 2x4? In the grand scheme of things, this is minor money compared to other expenses - much of it window/treatment/drywall/paint/HVAC/stairs/siding/masonry.

Other downsides not yet mentioned (some where I know)

Spider webs.

Possibly HVAC filters.

SD batteries - supposed to check twice a year - and imagine resetting them after a kitchen mishap.

Window cleaning.

Will the ladders needed scratch your floor?

Taller gutters to clean out

Higher position of holiday lights

Longer staircase

Can lights become far away from work areas.

Chandelier dusting

More noise transmitted into house (really reaching here....)

Have i hit everything?

Whether you do 10 or 12 feet on the first floor, I would NOT do 9 feet on the second floor. We have 10 on the first and 9 on the second, and I truly regret the 9 foot ceilings. We should have done 10 on both floors. Going from the first floor with 10 foot ceilings (along with 8 foot doors) to the second floor with 9 foot ceilings (and 6’ 7” doors) imo is just not a good look. It feels like a hobbit house upstairs and the ceilings seem very low to me. And if you choose 12 foot ceilings on your main floor, the difference will be even more extreme.

If you truly love high ceilings, 12 feet will add a lot of drama and looks and feels very different than 10 feet. You should visit houses with 12 foot ceilings to see how it feels. And if you love the look and feel, don’t let anyone shame you out of it. A house with such high ceilings can be gorgeous and wonderful to live in. If you go that route though, don’t neglect your window heights...high ceilings need high windows.

Either way, really give some thought to those 9 foot ceilings on the second floor. When we designed our home I just went on auto pilot with that decision (10 feet on main, 9 feet on second) kinda like, that’s just how you do it. It was the wrong decision for me....but I like high ceilings, so that’s a factor.

Thank you all for the answers. The extra stairs someone talked about, are they a lot to climb? Not sure if 11 feet is a good compromise. Good points around spider webs and all, since i will have to do all that cleaning. we are thinking of second floor 9 ft since we have county height restriction on how high the house can go, which i guess is 26 ft total above grade. If we go 11 ft that might be an option, but even with 9 ft 2nd floor we will still have 8 ft doors throughout the house. The windows am thinking will be at least 7/8 ft tall and the piano or pocket doors will be 10 ft high and if we do 10 ft ceiling then of course other sizes would change.

does 2x4 work on 12 ft vs 10 ft and currently living in a 10 ft ceiling house and that is decent height and i am sure these are made with 2x4's.

That decision will be made by your architect and depends on the required insulation values in your climate. 2x4s, even with XPS (extruded foam board) on the exterior, are usually inadequate. Our next build, with a 12' main floor and 10' second, will likely be framed with LVL [manmade] studs. The last time we used dimensional 10 footers, many had to be rejected or replaced before drywalling. (More twisting than Chubby Checker!)

@David Cary This is in the atlanta area and the area is a RIOD in the specific county, so there is a 28 ft limit on house height and since the existing house being demoed has X height there seems like a limitation to how hight my house can go, which is 26 ft in this case. Without RIOD there is a 35 ft limit. Building on a basement here, the gap between floors is roughly 18 inches as you mentioned. So this will be 3 stories with a basement, first and second floors. Great point around a flat roof so this might push me to be 10 ft on main with living room at 12 or so and couple of steps in the room above the living room for access. On the second floor being a transitional house, hope not to add too much of a crown molding to keep the lines looking narrow and clean, hope they are able to achieve that or we reduce door size ofcourse, i did see the builder build a 9 ft 2nd with 8 ft doors and it did not look bad, in fact looked nice. Depending upon how my architect designs the roof up, and if I go back to 10 ft main, perhaps will do a 12 ft basement :) just to satiate the my height need.

@Ta Qu what did you end up deciding?