Using standard height cabinets and standard height distance from counter to bottom of the upper cabinets, would take you to about 8' (36" + 18" + 42").

How do people get their cabinets to the ceiling? Would I be able to add another 1' cabinet on top of them later? How do you get it to look right up against the ceiling?

I really don't want to have space up there to catch dust and gunk from cooking, iykwim.

You could do stacked cabinets. A 30" high topped by a 12" or 15" (or whatever it takes). Then put crown moulding on top to the ceiling.

You can stack the cabinet, and then use molding to bridge to the ceiling. At what height you stack will depend on your refrigerator choice, corner cabinet choice, cabinet line choice, and a whole host of factors that an experienced KD can help you to sort through.

If you like open shelves, you could do a single open shelf underneath all of your uppers.

Thanks. I'm mainly trying to figure out if there is anything I can do now and add to later or if that's totally impossible to make look right. I'm probably not making any sense. LOL

In addition to the difficulty in trying to make the math work out, I think you need to consider the difficulty of getting the finishes to match. Things wear, fade, change over time and different lots of materials will be different colors. So unless you plan to paint all the cabinets when you add more on top, they probably won't match.

hi tammyte, your making sense no worry. what you are looking for depends on the size (height) of the wall cabinet you want.

start from the high point of the finished floor and measure up 54" (standard height). that is the bottom of your wall cabinets. after that its just math.

108" = 9 ft. minus 54" gives you 54". 42 wall + 12" on top = 54". any combination of wall cabinets and tops would work. but you have to stay within the standard sizes for both. like soffie wheeler said a good kd is needed. this was just a reference for you.

Other things need to be considered as well, like light rail. If you use light rail, you might want to raise your upper cabinets an inch or so to allow your tallest appliance on the counter to fit.

Standard height of cabinets: 34.5"

Average thickness of counters: 1.5"

Standard backsplash area*: 18"

Light rail is usually 1" or so (if you use it)

Then the rest is the distance to the ceiling. It's a good idea to leave several inches for crown molding to help conceal uneven ceilings and accommodate the lowest point in the room. Ceiling heights are rarely the same throughout a room. 2 or 3 piece crown molding will help make it look right.

* Regarding backsplash height: It should be a minimum of the height of the tallest appliance you use on your counters (with top or bowl up/down...whatever makes it the tallest) + 1"

E.g., if you have a 17" tall stand mixer or blender (at its tallest point), your backsplash height before the light rail would be 17" + 1" = 18"

A good Kitchen Designer can help you with these details.

Thank you all. :)