Kitchen Soffit Solutions

Every time I look at this post, (I cringe) my eyes go right to the unfortunate soffit that rests above our kitchen cabinets. Even worse is the unfortunate vent cover!  I recently had the honor of helping a family plan a kitchen in their new custom home.  The experience has my wheels turning about what to do above the kitchen cabinets.  If you have an open space above your cabinets, you might enjoy this post that I wrote a while back.  But, if you are like me and have that awkward soffit that chops up the visual lines of the kitchen, you might find something here to consider.

To further throw my own kitchen under the bus, here is the soffit I am referring to.

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This example shows how treating the space as one unit by painting it and adding a variety of mouldings can create a greater visual impact.

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Here is another example with a simpler trim detail.

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Here is a great example of cabinets that are recessed with the soffit extending past the line of the cabinets.  The moulding detail blends it all perfectly.

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In this example, I'm not sure whether there is a soffit or if the moulding was added to eliminate the potentially awkward gap that would exist without the moulding, but either way bravo!

So what do you think?  Hide the soffit or embrace it?