Coffered Ceilings: Everything You Need to Know

Coffered ceilings are three-dimensional ceilings, often in square or grid patterns, that add interest and texture

Coffered ceiling in luxury living room
Photo: bmak / Adobe Stock
Coffered ceiling in luxury living room
Photo: bmak / Adobe Stock
Margaret Wack
Written by Margaret Wack
Contributing Writer
Updated Dec 19, 2022
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If you’re bored with your flat white ceiling, a coffered ceiling could be what you need to liven up a room—but what exactly are they? These ceilings help make your room look more unique and put together. You can customize coffered ceiling designs according to your taste, and you can choose the type of wood, beams, embellishment, and paint to enhance the appearance of your room.

What Is a Coffered Ceiling?

A coffered ceiling features three-dimensional grids that create the illusion of space and introduce texture and architectural elements. These unique ceilings can open up a room, provide visual interest, and contribute to your home’s overall aesthetic. Coffered ceilings are usually best suited to rooms with tall ceilings since the beams of the ceiling take up overhead space.

What Types of Home Decor Work Best With Coffered Ceilings?

Coffered ceilings mesh well with traditional design aesthetics and formal rooms, but the sky’s the limit when it comes to incorporating coffered ceilings into your home. 

You can customize your ceiling to fit in with the aesthetics of your room, including paint colors, embellishments, and design. Coffered ceilings are popular choices for rooms including kitchens, dining rooms, and living rooms.

Coffered Ceiling Considerations

Before you dive into a coffered ceiling installation, consider these additional factors. 

Ceiling Height

Part of the appeal of this unique ceiling design is that it expands into the room. However, its construction is best suited for a room with tall ceilings—at least 9 feet tall. That way, the coffered ceiling doesn’t cause the room to feel cramped or overpowered by its design. Save this ceiling type for living rooms, dining rooms, or bedrooms with ultra-high ceilings.

Faux vs. Functional Beams

While you may love the look of coffered ceilings, don’t rely on its beams for structural support. Most coffered ceilings are not load-bearing, so they aren’t meant to support the weight of the floor above it. Although most of these beams are hollow, you may need to hire a structural engineer to ensure that your existing ceiling structure can handle the new weight distribution.

Coffered Ceiling Installation Costs 

It likely won’t surprise you to learn that installing coffered ceilings is a labor-intensive process that requires the expertise of a local professional carpenter. With that in mind, you can expect to pay at least $25 per square foot to install this ceiling type.

4 Benefits of Coffered Ceilings

Dark wood coffered ceiling
Photo: Iriana Shiyan / Adobe Stock

Coffered ceilings can instantly upgrade the aesthetic appeal of any room. They can also help to make spaces feel roomier and even boost your home’s value. Now that you know what coffered ceilings are, here are a few benefits to adding them to your home:

1. Increases Your Home’s Value

Aside from aesthetic considerations, coffered ceilings can increase the value of your home. They help to add a touch of luxury to any room and make your home more attractive to prospective buyers. To add even more buyer appeal, consider adding a crown molding trim to your coffered ceiling.

2. Creates an Illusion of Space

Boxed-beam coffered ceilings create an illusion of additional space. To further enhance the feeling of spaciousness to a room, you can install narrow beams closer to the ceiling and paint them a different color to the recessed panels of the ceiling. This additional step will help the coffered beams pop against the flat areas of the ceiling, creating the appearance of extra height.

3. Absorbs Sound

Coffered ceilings also add audio comfort by absorbing echoes and excess sound in the room. This helps to reduce unwanted noise and makes rooms with coffered ceilings great areas for work or relaxation. This type of sound-absorbing project is the perfect solution for quieting a home office, music studio, or other work space.

4. Offers Aesthetic Appeal

Coffered ceilings definitely add texture and elegance to any room. These unique ceilings can help transform plain rooms into visually appealing, architecturally interesting spaces. Coffered ceilings are also a great opportunity to add colorful accents to your room by painting the recessed areas or the beams.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Coffered ceiling beams are typically made from wood. The better the quality of wood, the more expensive the cost. The recommended types of wood for coffered ceilings include poplar, maple, red oak, and cherry. There are also all kinds of molding, trim, and beams to choose from.

Labor for coffered ceiling installation costs an average of $10 to $25 per square foot. You’ll also have to pay for materials, supplies, and framing, which can cost between $8 and $30 per square foot. The cost of installation will increase if you add embellishments to your ceiling, such as lighting, tin panels to reflect light, or wood trimming. On average, you can expect to pay about $109 to $129 per square foot in total.

Since a vaulted ceiling can be very labor intensive to build, especially if your home has high ceilings, it’s a good idea to hire a professional ceiling contractor to embark on this project. You can benefit from the contractor’s expertise and creative ceiling design suggestions, while still being able to select and customize designs and materials to suit your vision. 

Since the cost of ceiling repair can run upwards of $700, going with a professional also helps to prevent expensive repairs down the line.

Coffered ceilings often come with additional embellishments and accessories, including tin panels, medallions, trim, molding, recessed lights, and finials. Whether you’re looking for a simple grid pattern or want an elaborate, decorative ceiling with all the bells and whistles, there are plenty of options to choose from.

A coffered ceiling typically features a three-dimensional grid pattern, whereas a tray ceiling has a single raised area along the edges of the room. Plus, coffered ceilings can be made from a variety of woods or other light materials, and tray ceilings are made with plaster and drywall.

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Learn more about our contributor
Margaret Wack
Written by Margaret Wack
Contributing Writer
Margaret has written for publications including Bankrate, Investopedia, and Wander New Mexico. She covers topics including home repairs and renovations, personal finance, and travel.

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