Space Above Kitchen Cabinets

[readandpostrosie]

i have my cabinets as tall as i can................i use EVERY SINGLE space!

[SlackJacket]

Put some silk vines up there. Like this:

[Manster]

I agree with you Harry. Having had upper cabinets both ways I prefer a soffit over the cabs rather than open, or have the cabs go up to the ceiling with smaller compartments and doors along the top; which catch all the stuff you tend to forget about :-)

Another consideration is to lower the entire ceiling and have recessed lighting and add the cans as well. Like this:

[Jeff]

Ha. My summer project ended up ripping this ceiling out of my kitchen and putting in a regular height ceiling with pot lights. In my case the middle recess was filled with two fluorescent fixtures and there was another little fluorescent fixture recessed above the sink.

Now in our case the kitchen is fairly small at about 10 X 10. On top of that the entrance into the kitchen was cut in half by a peninsula containing the dishwasher. It was very bright so I wouldn't say it was cave-like but I felt that the drop ceiling made the space feel even smaller than it was. We have standard 8' ceilings so the kitchen was only 7"4". (I also cut out the peninsula and moved the dishwasher to beside the sink, so the room is now an open U rather than semi closed in.) We think the kitchen feels much bigger now, part of that is the visual effect of seeing the top of the walls behind the top cupboards and that it is less demarked as a separate space from the adjoining eating area. It's a visual reminder that the room is 10 x 10 even though 3 sides of the room are occupied with cabinets and appliances reducing the floor space almost in half.

So for your consideration, think about the visual impact closing off this space will have on the room. A larger space or higher ceilings would impact the decision.

I do like the rope light idea suggested earlier, I think I'll be giving that a try. Jeff