It is a really cool look when done correctly, especially when the top tier doors are done with glass and lighted from within. It does add some expense though and, typically, unless your ceilings are at least 9', it can make the lower tier doors look too short and gives it an overall 'busy' look. On 8' ceiling, you can pull it off, but may need to sacrifice your crown molding to gain some extra cabinet height. A small trim at the top of the cabinet may be just enough. It really depends a lot on the overall style of the kitchen (traditional, contemporary where crown molding may not be as important, etc).

Cheers!

I have 9 foot ceilings and will be doing stacked cabinets. I currently have 47.5" tall uppers that look and feel too tall and heavy. I think the 15" stacked glass cabs will give the space a balanced and lighter feel.

My ceilings are 8', and I did 42" uppers, with a single door. It allowed me to add an extra shelf to each of those cabinets, giving me a lot more flexibility in storage.

I grew up with stacked uppers in an 8' kitchen, and while I much preferred that to a soffit or open above, I find the single door much more practical and versatile. But I'm much more a "function over form" kind of gal.

I agree, for function, one taller cabinet is way better. The stacked cabinet approach is almost always for 'show' only and 95% of the time, our customers want those top doors as glass for further accent. They are not even using that area for storage as they cant reach it without a ladder.

ak0402, I love stacked cabinets as well and design with them very frequently, especially in 9' or taller ceiling applications. My comment about 'show' was referring to the difficulty in reaching the upper tier of a 48" high cabinet, thereby making its use as a 'daily' storage cabinet rather moot for most of us. You mirrored this by saying you keep your seasonal items there. Many folks we work with just have said they prefer to keep such items in the pantry closet, in a blind corner cabinet, etc and take advantage of those upper cabinets as awesome decorative pieces. Every kitchen is different and choices depend on total available storage, but most kitchens employing 9 and 10' ceilings are generally larger and storage space is not at quite a premium, freeing the homeowner to be creative with those top cabinets. If you look at perhaps the majority of tiered cabinet photos even here on Houzz, you may see the upper tier is used as a glass door 'display' piece much of the time . Of course this is not the case in every situation and I did not mean it to sound like a blanket statement, but generally speaking, photo and design evidence seems to bear this trend out. As I said, I love tiered cabinets and design with them all the time, often designing with them as storage-only cabinets when the situation dictates, but the vast majority of my customers come to me with set-in-stone preferences to have many of those upper tier units in their design lit with glass.

My 'ladder' comment was, of course, in jest. Sorry if that did not come across. Trust me, I don't suspect most of us have ladders in our kitchen (we'd design in collapsible step stools that hide in the toe kick for these high reach purposes)! The point I was making (albeit poorly, I agree) was simply that, even at 6'4" tall, I cant reach the upper tier of a transom cabinet without some assistance of a step stool, thereby rendering it useless as a daily storage unit. My wife is 5'6" and can just barely reach the top shelf of our 36" cabinets without step stool assistance, so I certainly agree with your point about needing a stool anyway for 42" or taller cabinets. But, personally speaking, I just think the tiered cabinets really are done the most justice when they are used with some accent/display in mind and in situations where the overall cabinet stack is 48" or higher. At least a scattering of glass/open cabinets at the upper level can also help make the cabinets look less 'top heavy' as well.

The beautiful thing about design is that we can all have our opinion and not one of us is right or wrong. Personal preference is a wonderful thing! I have seen some really cool things I would not have thought of or done in my own kitchen, but they worked great and looked great for another person's space. I guess that is why I love seeing every one's pics and opinions here on Houzz!

Cheers!

The top portion of my 47.5" upper cabinets is inaccessible for the most part. In fact, most of what is up there are either seasonal items or stuff that will be purged in the remodel. I will have some solid 15" uppers that I will use for seasonal items, but it makes perfect sense to put decorative items in the glass ones. My kitchen will be black, white and gray, so maybe a little color up top will provide some pizazz.

Ak0402 my ceilings are 8' high. So I'll either be going with 42" uppers or 30/12. I could do 28/14 since I'm going fully custom and it provides the most balance

we have 9'4" ceilings and did 'fake' stacked cabinets- one cabinet box w/ 2 doors. I really like the way they look. We are not finished yet, but they will be more for decorative purposes- all of my decorative dishes which are now currently collecting dust and grime on top of our not-to-ceiling current cabinets :-).

I have 10' ceilings and did stacked cabinets (well, "fake" stacked, as the units were built as single cabinets with multiple doors). I did 42 lower (solid) doors + 15 upper (glass) + 9" crown molding. I did the interior lighting in the upper stacked cabinets and they are purely for display. I love them. I think it'd be fine to do some as solid doors for storage, too, but I have plenty of storage (big pantry and bigger basement), so I didn't see any need to stuff random items in such inconvenient and expensive storage, lol. They are lit (dimmable LED tape lights) and they look lovely. I'd do them again in a heart beat -- either for display (glass, lit) or storage (solid) -- depending on the needs of my kitchen.

I like the look of lighted glass front stacked uppers though I don't have them myself. I think they are wonderful for adding architectural interest and color to neutral kitchens. As well as a place to display items one wouldn't put into daily use: antique porcelain pieces, platters, figurines, etc. An alternative to a china or curio cabinet.

No one can answer the question though of whether they are worth the expense TO YOU. That's completely dependent on your budget and what you would need/want to store in them.

Stacked cabinets look great... if you have the height. Many of my clients like to pursue this option, however, ceiling height is an issue. With our type of cabinetry (inset) a 9 foot ceiling is required as the upper tier doors end up looking too squat in an inset application with lower ceilings. We rarely use solid panel doors in this situation... typically glass, and lighted.

This client requested two tiered uppers... she didn't have the ceiling height (a make prototypes to show on site) so we did some neat things around the fridge and pantry to give her the look she wanted...

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Cabinet Joint - your post was very well said! Thanks for clarifying. You made great points.

ak0402, yours were great as well. Matter of fact, that exchange led to a conversation about kitchen design with my wife where we talked even more about today's home designs that have such open floor plans and large windows that wall cabinets are sometimes sacrificed as a result, leading to storage space actually being at a premium even though the kitchen floorplan is rather large. I can certainly see the need to make them functional, not just decorative. Thanks!

I have 10' ceilings. My cabinet doors are 47" but the panel is split with solid below and a metal insert above. The insert provides a visual break in a tall door but also hides what I store up there. I need all the storage I can get! The higher the better as far as I am concerned. I like the look of taller cabinets and there are lots of clever ways to make it look pleasing to you.

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