My kitchen was really grimy when I bought it. A reminder:
There were a lot of holes in the wood trim to be filled. I used a wood filler that has the annoying habit of drying out almost immediately, making sanding it afterward more difficult.
I have to use the spackle that goes on pink and dries to white or I try to sand it too soon. I'm not good at waiting.
Once I got the walls painted a warm off-white I felt like the counters looked too cool.
I grabbed the leftover paint from the failed first painting of the dining room and painted the soffit. I think it balances the warmth and coolness, even if I'm not totally crazy about the color. I still think it needs to be more saturated.
The final product:
The funny thing is that now the soffit paint is now pretty matchy-matchy with the tile. I CAN'T WIN.