I look at that and am mostly reminded that Schluter tile trim often looks sooooo bad.

But yes, the soffit cutout is weird. I guess it's more of a "put soffit where you need it" thing more than a "remove soffit where ever possible" situation. Just a matter of perspective?

Well many many times here there is actually no set down plan or instructions for ductwork and/or soffits and if there is a duct that runs all the lengh of wall except for the last 18 inches, you will get a soffit all the way except for the last 18 inches rather than just going all the way across. Or there will be bumpouts on bumpouts, they just frame right around any obstruction and drywall over it rather than trying to design it.

That just looks odd. If I was choosing to do that I would have put a shelf across that space. Is it just the angle of the photo or is the MW off center from the range.

There's a lot going on in that one picture!

Decisions were made. Mistakes were made.... Hot markets overlook a LOT of those things...

I think it's the angle of the photo.

I think it would have been less noticeable to just have the soffit overhang all the way across.

I also would have probably just framed out that vertical corner like a chase and lost that space, since they didn't put any storage there anyway.

Center the stove under the microwave, and it won't bother me so much.

I have no soffits, and I store stuff on top of my cabinets, if there is space and if they are not breakable. My kitchen in Cathedral City is too small not to use every available space.

1. It's the angle of the picture. The microwave hood is centered over the range, whe are just looking at a lot of different planes.

I feel like, if the range and microwave were centered under the soffitless section, it might have looked intentional. But perhaps that wouldn’t work with the rest of the layout.

I don't like or hate soffits.... but that chunk missing like that just looks odd. Guess I don't like partial soffit, lol.

I think it's funny most of us grew up and led fully, happy lives with soffits. But anyone who has remodeled a kitchen in the last 20 years has learned that soffit is a 4 letter word. I've taken it a step further .. I hate wall hung cabs and I only have one small one, which is in my house in Maine. I kept it because it is original to the house. It's very tall (and no soffit).

The soffit free zone is where the range and Hood used to be? I would have done something different there. Not sure what. A fake soffit might be the only choice.

Sfit it's the only way soffit could be a four letter word. 😊 Anyway they don't bother me.

Is there a drop down over the bar area too?

Following

I actually don't hate soffits and put them in intentionally in a number of rooms in our house. One is over the island with the same shape as the island and the transition in the floor. It was done to provide a visual break in the family room so it feels larger and feels like 2 rooms when it is really just one. Downstairs, rather than just hiding the duct work, we turned them into tray ceilings which add to the room rather than just having covered duct work which would detract from it.

In the example here, though, it's just poorly done.

Dang it, this photo reminds me that I have a dental appointment at the end of the week. I dislike both those gaps - cabinet end choice and soffit choice.

Because my house is a row, and has two bathrooms above the LR, and had full glass front and back with no real room for ductwork on the front or back wall, my house had a soffit that spanned from one side of the LR to basement stairwell on the other.

It was almost completely empty except for one small corner which was jammed with plumbing and ductwork. Some houses just have the pipes and ducts boxed in in the corner of the ceiling, and although it's much smaller, I think it looks more obtrusive and noticeable because it's obviously just hiding something they could not fit in the ceiling.

This is now going to end up in the kitchen so I have to figure out how to handle it.

I prefer soffits over crawling up a ladder to get stuff from cabinets to the ceiling or cleaning ontop of cabinets. My home has soffits:) Camp is open because the ceilings are vaulted:( Thanks for reminding me I have to crawl up there to clean them soon (sarcasm).

That cut out does look weird.

I had soffits only on one side of my galley kitchen. The soffits housed plumbing pipes. When I had my kitchen renovated, I used the same footprint, and the soffits were covered with moldings, so they looked like they were part of the new cabinetry.

kculbers LOVE when people disguise their soffits as you did!! I would have loved that but my soffits stand proud of the cupboards so DH said no. I think the OP's picture looks like a range hood was planned then for whatever reason things went wildly bad. Soffits are one thing but parts missing raises the level of unsightly.

I prefer climbing on a ladder to stooping down to get something from lower cabinets. Ideally, I prefer things at eye level.

This picture shows some things I have on top of the cabinets in the West Elevation. The pantry door shows the color that the rest of the cabinets will be after the renovation, later this year.

I think the 'sin' of the soffit design in the OP is that the odd/unattractive configuration draws unnecessary attention to itself

A pet peeve I've seen on design shows-- esp in basements, is when they build a soffit to hide something and it looks like some random box ion the ceiling when they could have extended it to look planned/cohesive. IMO, sometimes it's better to add more soffits for better design

I do get that sometimes that's not an option because of ceiling heights.

That said, I would rather have a soffit than open space above cabinets to avoid the maintenance. Unless you don't cook or like being on ladders, accessories on top of those cabinets are a nightmare to maintain

What really triggers me is when cabinets stop an inch or two below the ceiling and you have that open space.

Arcy_gw: thanks!!!

I don't love ladders, but I prefer them to stooping.

If I did not put those items on top of my cabinets in the kitchen, I would have to store them in the garage, which would be very much more inconvenient.

I cook every day, and so I like having as much in the kitchen as possible, and it is a simple matter to get on a step stool when I need to use my wok, mandoline, or plastic containers. There is also a lip at the top of the counters that helps prevent the items I've stored from falling off during earthquakes, which are reasonably rare (like once every 30 years) anyway.

I probably should store the coffee roaster that is stored on the upper left above the cabinet in the garage, since I do not use it at all - only my brother, when he is here, and he is not spending much time here, now that he has to go back to work at his office in Culver City. It doesn't bother him to use a step stool to get it down, however. The problem with storing things in the garage is that it gets very hot in there.

I've never liked soffits, and I did not grow up with them. The first time I saw them was when I moved to Austin from San Francisco in 1985, and I thought they were hideous. I only lived in one apartment in Austin (for a year and a half) that had them, and never again after that.

The all-over-the-place soffits are bad…but the off kilter pulls might be even worse. Hurts my eyes.