"none" wrote in message
ps.com...
Thanks for everyone's input so far. Yes, I guess not having a soffit
at all is one of the options as well. I've been told by both numerous
people though that in the kitchen that is being designed, a soffit
goes best because of the height of the kitchen in comparison to its
length. There is also a strong presumption against the whole "dust
collector" aspect of leaving it open above the tall cabinets. I
suppose shrinking the soffit to only a foot high would solve your
"soffit taller than it is thick" problem, but the original question
would still stand.

So putting aside the whole soffit vs. no soffit debate, if I did go
with a soffit, how would you handle the corners in order to accomodate
the corner cabinets?

Angle the corners, like you said, or maybe even (if you are ambitious)
radius them. Or make the soffit wide enough that the problem goes away,
leaving at least 3" of exposed soffit in front of the corners. Some people
avoid the problem by using taller upper cabinets (in this case, tall enough
to reach 8 feet), and just dropping the whole ceiling above the cabinets,
with a wall-color bulkhead facing the remainder of the open space. You can
lay banks of cheap lights in the dead space, for an extremely well lit
kitchen. Advantage of a drop ceiling or large bulkhead, is that it makes
routing the exhaust fans and any wiring for accent lights extremely easy.
Not that lighting counter surfaces from a 10 foot ceiling will be
challenging, another plus for a wide soffit or drop ceiling. With a tight
soffit or no soffit, you are almost stuck with lots of little spots with
hard to change bulbs, or some sort of hanging fixture plus under-cabinet
lights. The more I think about this, with sleep-deprived befuddled 0430
mind, the cooler a drop ceiling with a light well and skylight at the
ten-foot real ceiling sounds.

aem sends...