Designing a soffit

Question from Henri: Jake, With an 8' ceiling and standard 12" deep upper kitchen cabinets, what is the minimum total depth for a soffit with 4" diameter recessed lights AND minimum depth from center of lights to wall? I don’t want lights too close to cabinets or too far away either. Thanks, Henri.  

Jake's answer: Henri, It depends if you are putting some sort of trim, like crown, from the top of the cabinet to the bottom of the soffit. Lets assume you are going to use a 3 ¼” crown. The projection out from the face is 2 1/16”. I would allow 2” to the edge, or 4” to the center and 4” to the face of the soffit. Make the soffit 22 1/16” finished depth.