let the soffits hit the floor!

I have to admit, I've been anxiously awaiting the opportunity to use that headline. Slowly been making my way around knocking these down, because the wall cabinets will go clear up to the ceiling. I made the decision to eliminate the soffits because the built-in refrigerator and cabs on either side stick out 24" from the wall, and they'll both go almost all the way to the ceiling, whereas the soffits and high-mounted wall cabs stick out about 15", which would have left me with some things sticking out further than others. Thus I eliminated the issue by deciding to remove the soffits.

Anyway, the first section of the soffits I took out the other day was obviously not part of the original build because it had modern metal framing and intact ceiling above. Relatively easy to remove, but you have to very careful with the metal framing, because it's sharp edges galore. Happy to report that I escaped unscathed.

Just did the part shown above. It's wood-framed and unfortunately, open to the interior of the house, and the insulation is punctured and spitting noxious pink stuff all over the place (I have a breather mask, but it's currently floating all over my house). Anyway, I managed to weaken the whole thing by strategically knocking out the little 1x4's that hold the whole thing up, thus creating the "KABOOM" mess above, in the grand Vegas tradition of choreographed demolition. The secret is to make sure you're not under it when it's about to drop, but you knew that. And to remember to pull out the nearby fluorescent tubes because I don't care to make glass part of the cleanup equation.

BTW, my entire Ikea cabinet order arrived yesterday, and it's in about 527 boxes and bags in my garage right now. Wee!