Soffit Solution with Our Ikea Cabinets

One thing I’ve been meaning to post about is how we did the trim above the cabinets.

We ripped out part of the soffit over the peninsula because we chose to not replace the cabinets that were previously there, and instead we put in a hood.

I like the look of a soffit over the cabinets, not to mention it is a ton of extra work to rip it out and repair the ceiling, so we decided to keep that part of it intact. And, oh man that light is not working in this space. I have lighting plans that do not involve this guy.

In browsing kitchen inspiration, I have noticed in a lot of the higher end kitchens that have soffits, that the soffit doesn’t protrude out further than the cabinet, but rather it appears more custom built to the depth of the cabinet. To try and give the illusion that the soffit and cabinets were the same depth, we used some trim pieces to extend out past the top of the doors to the edge of the soffit.

We accounted for this trim when we hung the cabinets so there would be space enough for the trim. See the gap above the cabinets? That was intentional.

The trim for the cabinets over on the right was pretty easy to do.It was a straight 45 degree cut, then I glued it together before putting it up with some wood glue so the joints would line up properly.

Then in the gap we left for the trim I slipped in the trim. This is before caulk:

And this is after caulk.

It doesn’t get any weight or pressure, so I just dabbed a little caulk in there to hold it in place, let the caulk dry, then did a final bead of caulk around where it meets the soffit.

The left side cabinets were a bit more tricky to measure and cut with the corner cabinet being at an angle. This is where I would recommend using some scrap pieces to test first to make sure your measurements and angles are correct.

See in the before photo how the soffit was at a 90 degree angle to match the old cabinets in the corner? So it didn’t match the new angle of the corner cabinet.

We  built out the soffit to match the new angle of the corner cabinet by cutting a small piece of drywall and using some liquid nails to glue it in place.

Then I used some joint compound to patch up the seams and primed it.

I also want to mention that the soffit is only primed right now. We do plan to paint it when we install the crown molding. There are more pressing things to do first, though, like finish our backsplash and peninsula molding that I talked about in my previous granite post.

And on a backsplash related note, I finished putting it up this past weekend, so hopefully next weekend will be grouting (woo hoo!). That’s why you can still see spacers around some of the tile. I’m totally a DIY Weekend Warrior. Darn job getting in the way of all my DIY fun :)

Here’s a quick pic of our backsplash, and I propped up our little trim mock up there on the end of the peninsula (that we’re going to install all the way around) to give a better idea of things to come. I’ll of course be back with more details once we grout the tile!

Linking up to: Funky Junk Interiors, Savvy Southern Style, Remodelaholic, The DIY Show Off, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Home Stories A2Z, Thrifty Decor Chick