I have always been inclined to the higher cabinets and have had them in my last few apartments and plan to use them in my upcoming reno. I just think it fills the space well and I hate the look of too short cabinets. I say go for it!

I can't think of any reason why you would regret them. Even if you don't end up using the top tier of small cabinets, if you love the look I don't think you will wish they weren't there.

This is not a huge kitchen. I don't think you will regret the extra storage space.

In my kitchen, I adjusted the lower shelves in most cabinets so I can easily reach (I'm 5'4"). I also ordered extra shelves for each upper cabinet, so I can store things without stacking, and minimize wasted space above things.

If the option is cabs to 9' ceiling or having an empty, dust-catching space above shorter cabs, then YES, go to the ceiling. That's what we are doing (in remodel phase now) because I hated having to climb up on a ladder to dust above my 42" tall cabs. We went with 46" tall cabs and 8" of molding above them. Love, love, love it! I nearly went with stacked cabs as you're planning but that's an expensive look so we opted to go for a similar but less costly version.

A step stool (stored in the pantry) enabled me to reach the seldom used items that I stored on the upper shelves. I'm 5'3".

We just had ours installed with 8 1/2 foot ceilings. I need a step ladder for the top shelves but it is a great use of space. Stopping them lower just creates a space for dust and I think visually makes the walls look shorter.

I'm having my cabinets to the top of 10' ceilings. :) I'm doing 42" uppers with 18" boxes on top for display items. I'll put my favorite vases, bowls, etc in the upper ones with puck lights.

One thing I noticed in your drawings is you have a lot of cabinet doors on the bottoms. You might want to consider having more drawers instead of cabinets for easier storage. Lots of threads about that here.

I love the look. If you don't get cabs to the ceiling, you end up with an empty, dusty space (or in many of our kitchens, full of junk that we store up there as visual clutter)

Thanks everyone! Was really starting to second-guess myself since it is not common around here at all, and I can't see it in person.

AnnKH - as you mention, not a huge kitchen, which is one reason I thought it might not look right, I didn't want a "bowling alley" of cabinets feel bc all the pics I see are of larger or more open kitchens than mine

cpartist - don't worry, I also have crammed as many drawers as humanly possible into my design based on the feedback here! : ) Island is full of large drawers for my dishes. Yet another thing my very nice cabinetmaker was not too impressed with, but I stuck to my guns there based on what I've learned here from you wise people! Although we are doing Amish custom, it is really "semi-custom" and I'm limited to what they do standard. To work around those limitations and keep the aesthetics relatively balanced I had to have doors with rollouts under cooktop and on double oven wall. Remaining is sink, lazy susan, 2 trash/recycling pullouts, cookie tray base. Definitely not as many drawers as I had initially hoped, but MUCH better than my current kitchen.

A good friend tried to talk me out of to the ceiling because her contractor told her not to do it. She now has about 8 inches filled with trinkets up there. This is a picture of ours- before the kitchen was complete. As I mentioned before 8 1/2 ft ceilings.

brdrl - your cabinets are gorgeous! If mine turn out half as nice I'll be very happy! What color are they painted if you don't mind me asking?

Thank you. The cabinet maker did a fantastic job. It is custom epoxy paint he has been using for grey requests but I think it is close to BM Silver Chain. It looks a little darker most of the day than in this photo. Good luck with yours. I found the entire project to be a very nerve racking process!

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Not sure how this forum likes this idea but if you don't take them to the top, you can add some up lighting which can create a pretty nice effect.

We have 9 ft ceilings in the house we moved into this year. I wish we had cabinets to the ceiling. It seems like a lot of wasted storage space to me, I would have used it to house my seasonal, lesser used dishes.

mshahmd - if we decide against taking to top we are planning on that, my sister in law has the uplighting and it does look very nice if they don't go to the top.

brdrl - thanks for the info. yes, I have put more time/effort into the kitchen layout/cabinet design/details/color etcetcetc than I have in the whole rest of the house combined. It's just one of those things that if I don't get "right" (or at least close!) it will drive me crazy for the rest of my life. : )

I think you need to consider how much you like to dust. :-) I'm not much taller than you, but I greatly appreciate the extra closed storage of cabinets that go to the ceiling; getting out the stepstool would be required even if they did not go to the ceiling (8' ceilings here), so even if I had 9' ceilings I'd want the extra closed storage (ie, stepstool requirement is a normal part of my life, so I would not even factor it into the decision).

When I moved into my apartment here in NY, I had to clean the kitchen. You would not have believed the grease buildup on top of the cabinets. It was disgusting, which is why I will never have cabinets that do not go up to the ceiling.

melle_sacto - you bring up a good point, I hate to dust. : ) I know this is something that is often mentioned, but I haven't really weighed too heavily in the decision because I have always lived in houses where there were soffits over the cabinets, so I haven't ever had to think about dusting cabinet tops before.

Sounds like it is unanimous - cabinets to the ceiling! Hopefully in my small-ish kitchen they won't look too boxed in or overwhelming with the white. I'll be sure to choose a warmer white paint (have been doing a lot of reading on this too here!) and since I think we will do glass in the tops with display pieces, hopefully that will help. You guys are so wonderful, thanks for the input!!

cpartist - oh yet another part of the cleaning I wouldn't have thought about! good reminder, ugh, grease is the worst! I'm in love with white cabs and they are appropriate for our farmhouse style home, but I'm afraid I'm in for a whole new world of cabinet cleaning bc I've always had stained cabs that don't show much dirt. With two boys, dogs, and white cabs I think I'm going to maybe have to get used to doing more cleaning on the cabinets....! worth it though!

Farmdrmer - I agree that you should go up to the 9' ceiling. I have 36" cabinets, plus 12" stack above them, and 3" molding. Love the arrangement. I do not like big molding because I want more cabinet space, not more decorative molding. Just MHO.

However, you should think carefully about which cabinets are getting the glass fronts. Your OP mentioned the top stack. In my upper stack, I store my rarely-used things like holiday items, drawer liner, candles, extra tea pot, and the like. I didn't think these would be that nice to look at, so I chose solid doors for the top stack. I have glass fronts in 4 of my 36" tall cabinets. The glass is clear with bevelled edges, and no mullions (I don't like the busy-ness of mullions). Those cabinets store my dishes and glassware. Not only is it nice to look at, and adds "airiness" to the look of cabinets up to the ceiling, but it has the practical aspect that when family and friends come over, they can find dishes and glassware easily, and don't have to open all the cabinets to locate a glass.

Is there any positive aspect of stopping cabinets short of the ceiling? I can't think of a single good reason not to take them to the ceiling...from the extra storage space to the elimination of the dust and grease catching shelf...in my eyes it's crazy not to go to the ceiling. I guess it could be a budget issue because no doubt bigger (taller) cabinets or stacked cabinets will cost more but the benefits far outweigh the extra cost in my book.

dc - For us, it was a budget decision not to take the cabs all the way up (10' ceiling). We have only two sets of 33w + 15w, 42" uppers to extend 24". To add stacks above those plus crown moulding would've added 10% to the overall budget. I couldn't see spending that kind of money for storage I wouldn't use -- periodic dusting is free. :)

ak0402 - yes, I had more wood fronts before on the upper stack but switched to glass at last design. I have a lot of "pretties" I could display in the tops that aren't really used much (pitchers and plates from grandma, etc), and I have a lot of storage in our walk-in pantry and adjoining mudroom for the seldom used items that aren't pretty. I wanted to do a few glass front cabs to show off my dishes, but it wasn't working out well with the design. Plates are going to end up in a drawer in the island. We have little kiddos, so the glasses cabinet is still full of plastic at this stage of life. : ) The microwave cab threw things off on the other wall to put glass there. The design you describe is really more what husband and I would prefer, but just didn't seem to come together that way for our kitchen that I could figure out.

kpcogs - thank you so much for the pic! your layout and size appear to be very similar to ours. You are right, with the white cabs and glass, it actually does make it look bigger and more spacious. I was afraid in my design it would feel closed in or like a "bowling alley" of cabs, but yours doesn't look like that at all, beautiful! do you know what color white your cabs are?

thanks to all the great info here, I think we are definitely going to stick with taking them to the ceiling. I just have to figure out if we are doing all glass, only a few glass, or a mix. the double oven/microwave wall sort of makes it weird to not have all glass due to mixed door sizes.

Ours was Benjamin Moore vanilla milkshake. I didn't want them too cream and I didn't want them stark white. The color is perfect. Warm muted white. Good luck with it all.

we went all the way to the ceiling with 9'+ height and no glass doors. i don't regret it a moment. most of them are empty...but that's ok. i'd rather have available storage then collecting dust.

Think of all the dust that would collect if you didnt go to the ceiling. I vote for going to the ceiling everytime. However, I did like the upper lighting if you must go shorter.

brdl...Your cabinets are beautiful!!! I would love to see more pictures if you have any available. Thanks!!

My kitchen is smaller than kpcogs, and I more than doubled the cabinets in there, yet everyone comments on how the space seems bigger. I think that the cabinets to the ceiling (just under 8' for me) add to the spacious feel instead of detract. (Changing the layout helped tremendously too!)

If you decide that glass won't work, what about perforated tin? Like old radiator covers. Would give some texture and visual interest yet still hide things; and can be painted to match the cabinets.

I'm all for taking cabinets to the ceiling! As many other people mentioned, the other option is to have a dust-collecting empty space at the top of your kitchen.

The only negative about cabinets-to-the-ceiling hasn't been mentioned yet: It's more expensive.

One off-topic note: I've decided to use mirrors instead of glass fronts. That far "up top", no one will really be able to tell the difference anyway, and a mirror will be cheaper. Why? Because when you go with glass, the cabinet maker has to finish the INSIDE of the cabinet to the same quality as the outside ... and it vastly increases the amount of cabinet surface -- it's actually more square footage than the outside of the cabinet.

And, by the way, I'm a tad shorter than you, so I can totally relate to being unable to reach anything above the second shelf. Just because it isn't fingertip convenient doesn't mean it isn't useful storage!

Kelli- thank you! We love them. Some unique shapes in our old house and they did great custom work for us. We are getting SS appliances which will look so much better. Looking at my kitchen now and it isn't quite this sterile. I should probably take some "real life" reveal pics.

I am considering doing something similar to this. To the tall ceiling and a shelf or two at the bottom. Just an idea. Easier to clean the dust down low ;)

kpcogs, I just love your kitchen!

There is not going to be grease on top of your cabinets if you use a range hood. I have two cabinets that don't go to the ceiling and its just not an issue. I like my not to the ceiling cabinets, but they are next to a to the ceiling pantry. It depends upon your unique space.

A few yrs ago someone on here suggested lining the top of your cabinets with waxed paper and just changing it out a couple of times a year. Seems like a good suggestion if you choose to not go to the ceiling.