nonstaff-nonstaff spacing control?

[Kieren MacMillan]

Hello all!

I have many situations where I need to ensure a certain amount of 
nonstaff-nonstaff spacing, e.g.,
   1. between the last Lyric context in a ChoirStaff context and a ScoreMarks 
context underneath;
   2. between the PianoPedals context in a PianoStaff and a MeasureCounter 
context underneath;
   etc.

There doesn't seem to be a setting to control nonstaff-nonstaff spacing — Lily 
appears to only consider the spacing between the last staff and the next 
context (essentially ignoring the extent of the intervening nonstaff context).

Am I mistaken?
If not, what's the standard workaround?

Thanks,
Kieren.