The kitchen soffit may need to be redone if you are remodeling the entire kitchen. However, it can also be done when you simply refinish kitchen cabinets. Either way, this would simply mean removing the soffit over the cabinets.
First, you may need to check if the ceiling is original or was added later in the kitchen. If it is not original, there is a possibility that the lathing and plaster ceiling will cause some problems when removing it. To verify its originality, it is enough to make a small hole and look.
If it’s original, it may not have a roof, so you may need to replace it, but if it was installed later, there’s a chance the roof is there. This means you can choose to remove it and use the space with taller booths.
When removing it, you may be left with old water damage in some corners, especially where the plaster had come completely loose from the ceiling batten. You can simply remove the plaster so you can add a recessed light and use sheetrock.
One option for placing the soffit is to do it around one half of the kitchen and let the kitchen cabinets reach the ceiling in the other half. Just leave a gap of about two inches between the ceiling and the cabinets.
Then you can put crown molding on the cabinets to make everything look finished. Just put it all around. If there is not enough room for the crown on the soffit, simply use a cove.
