Perhaps a series of door fronts on the soffits that you cannot get into? You would need 2 sets of cabs, but it would give you the look you are after and storage in two of the previous soffits.

Depending on how much you're willing to spend, you might be able to eliminate the soffits by rerouting the stuff in them elsewhere.

You can do false fronts up the soffits to make it look like the cabs go up to the ceiling (someone did that a posted pics but it was awhile ago) OR.... and maybe someone did this too... let the "stuff" run through the upper cabs but you'd still have the continuity of the cabs going to the ceiling. Staggered heights can look great but the "staggering" has to be placed right.

In a 1926 home we had, we discovered a vent stack that came out of the wall and took a diagonal turn behind a soffit. We simply hung the cabinet over it and cut out the back of the cabinet to accomodate it. The top shelf didn't hold as much as it could have, but it solved the problem.

At some point, this is what we'll be doing. Cover the soffits in the same wood as the cabinets.

If it is a look you are after, I think the matching trim in the photo above works nicely. We've seen another kitchen with the soffit trimmed out in a contrasting paneled look -- like white panels you would see below a chair rail in an over-sized crown treatment over stained cabinets.

My neighbors put open boxes above one wall to have the same impact as cabinets to the ceiling but they used the space for display and books.

I had 4 soffits, I removed two (luckily for me they were the most offensive ones), but had to keep two for HVAC and pumbing. The ones I left, I shallowed up as much as I could. It helps that I could get rid of them on my focal wall.

Here's a photo...I also have some other inspiration photos I kept just in case I needed to keep all of them.

My kitchen

My other soffit

My inspiration photos. I got them from here, but can't remember who they belong to.

People here are so creative! Here is the link to the kitchen/discussion about the kitchen, that was recently fitted with doors over the soffits. I think it looks fantastic!

Here is a link that might be useful: Joann23456's clever soffits

We also had a surprise in our soffits...our KD cut holes in our soffits to see what was inside and we thought we could hide those things we couldn't move behind the cabinets and crown molding.

Well, when we discovered a 7-1/2" measuring error on that wall and adjusted the cabinets accordingly, it turned out one pipe was too long...so we put in mini-soffits. Here's our "story of a soffit removal":

First, our old kitchen.
Note the soffit that wraps around. The soffit over the refrigerator side only held some electrical wiring that was easily moved into the ceiling. (Don't laugh at my refrigerator...my kids liked all those picture magnets...they miss them now!)

Waste Pipe that couldn't be moved

First cabinet installed
Note how the cabinets are installed just below the pipe. This way you don't have to cut into the back of the cabinet and void the warranty.

All 3 cabinets installed

Start of Crown Molding

Soffit between 2 taller upper cabinets, but not behind them

Soffit on either side of vent

Soffit to left of vent

All crown molding, full view

All crown molding, right view

Note no soffit outside of cabinet run

Kitchen Today

No, the soffit isn't invisible, but it's really not noticeable to most people...unless I point it out to them (I no longer point it out!). We had to make the best of a bad situation and I think it turned out fine....so much better than the original!

Our builder handles the soffit but doing a tray ceiling - I think it looks nice. I don't have photos of our kitchen yet (we are nearing the end of our build), but here is a link to our builder's website with a few examples.

Here is a link that might be useful: Soffit examples

Wow, buildinginva, that's a great idea. Here's one of your builder's photos for reference:

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For new builds or remodels of kitchens w/9' or higher ceilings a tray will work. but for remodels and only 8' ceilings, that won't work.

However, I have to say that some of those trays in the link look like standard soffits to me... The one above not so much (except over the refrigerator), but I'm betting that ceiling is at least 9' or 10'...

I'd do like Remodelfla suggests--just run all that stuff through the cabinets. Who can reach the top shelf anyway? Not me!

Of course some of these other techniques are pretty good too!

The only thing to keep in mind is that if you cut into the cabinets you will void the warranty on the cabinets. We were thinking of doing just that initially, but decided against it in the end. Plus, I like the staggered look and the substantial crown molding...so it all worked out for us...but YMMV!

If you can, the tray ceiling idea may work as well...but be sure it will go w/the rest of your house and the room can "support" it

Is the room big enough?

Does it open into another room w/out any "dividing" line like a wall or header? If so, it may be difficult to do it since there will be no place to end it...although perhaps it could create a separation on its own...

Thanks so much for al of these GREAT ideas! We are back to the drawing board- literally! Much more inspired now...

By the way- I have been lurking for a while and this was my first post. I can't believe how helpful you all are. We have finally decided on cabinets- meeting with the cabinet maker and general contractor next week to get final quotes and hopefully start working on shop drawings.

My youngest is off to college in 2 weeks so this was supposed to be my empty nester project for AFTER he was gone, but I got the bug and can't stop. I hope to have it finished by Thanksgiving! Do you think we can?

When we thought we would have our vent duct running through the upper wall cabinets, our cabinetmaker offered to make the uppers such that back of the top was shallower, leaving space to run the ductwork. If you opened the cabinet the top shelf would appear to be only 5" deep instead of 12" for example. If you are having them custom made they could probably do something similar.

I had this same delimma. In the end, here is what we did.

The problem plumbing:

Cut-out in upper cabinet for plumbing:

Valance above window:

My advice would be to go with a custom cabinet maker if you can. It might seem expensive up front, but in the end I think it saved us lots of money.