I just read the thread about what to put in the empty space above the cabinets. Right now I have a soffit above all my cabinets (9 foot ceiling). I am redecorating the kitchen and the ceiling will have to be redone b/c of new lighting, so now is the time to do it, but after reading about how it collects dirt, dust and grease I'm having 2nd thoughts. Should I keep the soffit or get rid of it

Depends on several key things.
One, is the soffit concealing pipes/wires or duct work? (upon investigation of our recently, we found this was the case...repatching the test area went well however).
Two, how large is your kitchen? Removing the soffits will visually enlarge it.

Re. the catch all for kitchen dust/grease, this is true. It will require routine cleaning from time to time. For this reason, I'd recommend fewer (and larger) accessories w/ void spaces between groupings. Often, homeowners w/ space above cabinets tend to fill this void w/ lots of little items and faux greenery. Nothing attracts dust/grease like faux greenery.

Personally, if given the option, I'd prefer to get rid of my soffits because it would enable us to install a beefier/richer crown atop our cabinets and open our space.

Keep in mind tho that soffits can be embellished too. Examples are w/ papers, faux treatments including trompe loi, framed prints, dishes, www.wallwords.com, stamping/stenciling, lattice (also a problem to keep clean however), a collection such as wall clocks, decoupaged labels, signs, etc..

I have soffits above my cbinets because they contain a alot of infastructure. Just the soffits are wallpapered in a very neutral design.

My last house had empty space above the cabinets which required cleaning 3 times a year. I finally got smart and lined the top of the cabinets with heavy duty plastic wrap. 2 layers of wrap made cleaning the space a piece of cake.

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My friend took out the old soffits & had the cabinent maker make storage cabinets above her regular ones. She had doors on them & put up large platters, Xmas dishes, etc. They looked great & gave her a lot of extra storage. I've also noticed that cabinets now on "Designed to sell" have kitchens with cabinets that go all the way to the ceiling or close anyway. They've used moulding on top of the cabinets to reach the ceilings & they look very fancy. I believe the cabinets now are higher than the ones I have in my kitchen which I will be replacing. A soffit justs wastes space that could be used for enclosed storage. That's what I'm going to do --double wide cabinets with doors on top of my kitchen cabinets. They'll be matching ones of course.

My hubby just completed building all new kitchen cabinets...we're remodeling an old 70's built cement block Fla. 3/2 model...bringing it up to ~current~! Anyway, YES, the Gawd awful soffit was fortunately just cosmetic, & so OUT with it! WHAT a huge diff! He built the cabinets to go ceiling high and topped em with a gorgeous detailed crown molding. The extra space has easily tripled our cabinet capacity(well, he did add a pantry too!). I'm so very glad we were ABLE to take them out. All that wasted space, now put to good use!

Ours conceal duct work, otherwise I would have put in glass front doors to display pottery.

Thank you everyone for your comments-very helpful. Basically, I would be removing them for the added visually space. It wouldn't look right to raise them b/c they are the shorter cabinet and I have a 9ft. ceiling. We would raise the cabinet over the stove and add a decorative hood. Carpenter is coming tomorrow morning to give me an estimate. If the price is too high, I'll probably forget the idea, I'm on a budget and trying to get the most bang for my buck! I'll post some photos later.

Your idea of raising the hood over the stove is a good one. In the newer high-end homes the cabinets often have varying heights, some to the ceiling, some not. It creates more visual interest and looks more like a "furnished kitchen" rather than box store cabinets. They've been doing furnished kitchens in Europe for years, and when they move, the kitchen in its entirety goes with them along with their other furniture. That's why you're seeing alot of new kitchens with islands or other areas in a different color than the rest of the room. It makes it look as though the pieces were acquired over time like you'd decorate the rest of your house. Good luck with your project!! I'm in the middle of remodeling my kitchen right now too.

Almost two years ago, I replaced the cabinets and countertops in my small 70's kitchen. A friend and I took out the soffits which had some electrical wiring that had to be moved by an electrician (won't mess with electrical) and water line for ice maker had to be moved by plumber (don't do plumbing either). Then I hired a drywall guy to finish off the wall and ceiling before the cabinets were installed. Some of the new cabinets go all the way to the ceiling and others are 6" from the ceiling with nice moldings along the top. I do not store anything on the top of the shorter cabinets since there is not that much space on top. All my cabinets are taller than the old ones providing much needed usable storage space. If at all possible, get rid of soffits in a kitchen. My kitchen is far more attractive without them.

Thank you for your comments. I am waiting for an estimate from the trim and drywall man. I have wanted to get rid of them for a long time. I am not getting new cabinets but I do like it will make my kitchen look bigger and better. I let you know how it goes!

The soffits are gone!!! I'm so pleased. It only took about an hour. There was 1 plumbing pipe they had to run a narrow chase around it, it was no problem and looks great.
They added 3 1/4 in. crown on the top of the cabinets and a light rail mold around the bottom. The cabinet above the cooktop was raised and a decorative hood is going in tomorrow. I wish I would have done it years ago!

I wanted to keep the original cabinets in my kitchen, which would have been impossible if I removed the soffit.

There is nothing in the soffit, so I made the best of the situation: I had an electrician install pot lights in it. Talk about opening up the kitchen! It's wonderful.

The only way I'd get rid of the soffit would be if I had cabinets that went up to the ceiling. Just MHO, but a kitchen where the wall cabinets have that space between the top and the ceiling always look unfinished to me, no matter what crap people put on top of them.