Do I drop ceiling to hide beams

last month

We have opened up our kitchen, dining room and conservatory to create an open plan space. We are left with huge beams spanning both ways across the space. I don’t particularly dislike the aesthetic but I’m wondering if we should drop parts of the ceiling to make it look less chaotic.

The kitchen will run along one wall to the right in this picture and the island will go pretty much under where the two beams cross over and will face the wall where the chimney breast has been bricked up.

My thoughts are to drop the ceiling in the kitchen part of the room so the pendants over the island suspend from the same ceiling height and don’t have a beam between them.

The ceilings are 2.7m. We love the high ceilings in the house but equally could look much better to have to more uniform which is why I am so torn.

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Comments (13)

bigreader
last month
What finished look do you have planned for the whole space? It’s hard to visual the end when you’re in the middle. I like the beams but I also like the dropped ceiling over the kitchen. Depends on the finished product.
siriuskey
last month
can you show the floorplan.
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Gemma Brooke
Original Author
last month
Here is a picture of the layout
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Kim
last month
Dropping the ceiling height over the kitchen area would define that space better. You could also make a feature of a lower ceiling if you want with a stronger paint colour or wood panelling but does depend on your flooring and colour choices. There are some great space design people on Houzz but it looks like you could make your kitchen island a bit longer than it’s drawn? The excess of the beam that protrudes out over the dining you could just gib over/paint so it’s less noticeable. Alternatively, centre your dining table between the beam and wall/cabinetry and make the dining area a feature with colour/subtle wallpaper (only if kitchen ceiling is plain white like the rest of the living area. If you want a dining table pendant make sure you measure exactly where the dining table is going to sit (could tape out the shape on the floor). So many choices out there but am sure it will look fabulous! Love the sky lights. Looking forward to finished pictures.
Kate
last month
Is the stove in the island and exhaust fans in the dropped ceiling? Sounds good. Where is entry to living room? Can the dining table be shifted down so it sos within the dining section as defined by the beam? Will there be a pendant over table
Gemma Brooke
Original Author
last month
We are having a vented hob on the island. Living room is actually a double garage and incorrectly labelled. We are not putting pendants over the table. We will have some wall lights over the wet bar which are the cabinets on the back wall of the dining area and downlights. Do you think pendants would be better? Agree table could shift down so it’s sits within the beams.
Gemma Brooke
Original Author
last month
Image is just to show wet bar not the beams!
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Gemma Brooke
Original Author
last month
Thank you Kim, all good ideas / points. I completely agree about it defining the space I am just slightly reluctant to lose the wow factor of the high ceilings which was a bit selling point for us when we viewed the house. It may also slightly block view of the skylight when entering.
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dreamer
last month
My personal preference would be to keep the full height of the ceiling. 2700mm is not extremely high ceilings. Once you then lower the ceiling in the kitchen it would be 2400mm. All your looking at, at the moment, are steel beams in an unfinished room, so they are standing out more than they will once the room is finished. I would keep the whole space at 2700mm ceilings. All the ceilings in my home are 2700mm and once living in the home, they just feel normal.
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Gemma Brooke
Original Author
last month
Thank you for your POV! I am leaning more this way. The pendants positioning would be similar to your 2nd picture.
siriuskey
last month
last modified: last month
This basic Paint sketch, I used colour to make the difference between surfaces, I wonder about the ceiling as there are already different heights shapes. Do you have a designer/architect.
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Gemma Brooke
Original Author
last month
We used an architect who did drawings for us. We are not using a designer. The vaulted ceiling where the skylights was an old conservatory that we converted and knocked through.
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PRO
Kitchen and Home Sketch Designs
last month
Hello Gemma, If you like the look of the beams you could add a few more at equal intervals and incorporate them into the over all plan of the room. I personally think that might be the easier and better option rather than trying to hide or loose the beams in the drop down ceiling in just the kitchen. That would be fine but better to use them as a feature. IMO Margot
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