Our Soffit Spot

I'm thinking about adding some interest to our soffit with color. The paint colors in our open floor plan consist of Wheat Bread (a light gray) and Mochachino (a light olive-sage green). All our ceilings in the house are pure white.

Goals:

• Make kitchen as large as possible
  
• Make soffit simulate skylight window
• Hide the fact that the kitchen ceiling is lower than the rest

Possible cons by painting soffit:

• Make overall kitchen ceiling feel lower and room feel smaller, darker
  
• Call too much attention to low ceiling

Possible pros by painting soffit:

• Soffit creates frame for kitchen (it is an 8' x 8' square)
• Make the highest point of the soffit appear higher (like a skylight)
• Create visual interest via attention to detail (like the effect from crown molding)
• Unifies kitchen with rest of open area
  

There seems to be more pros than cons (although the first 'con' is a major one). Here are various color experiments, done digitally (I love technology). Any preference?