I have 9 ft. ceilings and my uppers were 48" and never warped in the 15 years I had them. My new cabinets are 30+18 and I think it looks much better than the taller door, plus on a day-to-day basis I only need to access the bottom 30" so a smaller door is more convenient. For the upper 18" I am doing a mix of solid for storage and glass for display. I would have preferred aesthetically 33+15 but the height of my refrigerator dictated the size of the upper stacked cabinet since I wanted the sizes to be consistent throughout the kitchen.

Thank you so much Sophie Wheeler! I was looking at it from a purely aesthetic basis - had not really considered longevity. This is very helpful.

melis918 - do you by chance have a photo of your tall door and then a photo of the 2 doors? I am torn......

I'm not home right now but will see what I can find this afternoon.

I had a house with 9 foot ceilings and tall single doors. The cabinets were as old as the 1911 house and hadn't warped (Shaker inset). But maybe (probably) they used better wood then than now.

We were originally planning on tall single doors for our pantry wall, but once we got it in sketch up, we decided the look overwhelmed the space and broke it up instead.

Unless there is something breaking up the vertical door, the vertical look may overwhelm, particularly in a smaller room.

Stacked cabinets:

- Cost more because you're purchasing two separate cabinet boxes for each spot.

- Gives you the opportunity to choose a solid door for the lower and a glass /mirrored door for the upper ... or vice-versa (whereas, I think a mixture on the same door would be ... odd). Remember that glass-front cabinets cost more because they must be finished inside AND outside ... so you might save by using glass only on the smaller cabinets.

- Less weight /less stress on the hinges, which will mean less chance of warping over the course of the cabinets' lives.

- You won't be opening the top cabinets all that often, so it's easy to forget what you've stored in them (whereas, if you're opening the tall-tall doors, things aren't so sight out of mind).

- Since you have more cabinet boxes, you'll need more hardware ... do you mix it up with pulls and knobs, or use all pulls? More choices to make.

One-piece doors:

- Gives you just a little bit more space because you have just shelves all the way up ... as opposed to a cabinet top + a cabinet bottom wasting space. If your shelves are adjustable, you'll have more flexibility if the whole unit can be adjusted to your needs (whereas shorty cabinets on top will always be shorty cabinets). We're probably talking about 4" total, so you might get one extra shorty self in a tall cabinet.

- Depending upon your overall plan and ceiling height, could be "too much" ... meaning, too tall, could appear to be out of proportion with the lower half of the kitchen.

- You'll need to use larger hardware to appear proportional to the larger doors. As the size of hardware increases, the choices decrease and the prices increase.

I am using some old random photos from my phone and quickly snapped some of the new (unfinished) ones, but you'll be able to see the difference I think.

old/tall doors:

New/stacked doors:

New/stacked:

melis918, your old, tall cabinets look old-fashioned ... I mean old-fashioned in a nostalgic and positive way. Something about the old glass-front cabinet I don't like, and I can't put my finger on exactly what.

Your new ones do look more contemporary.

Mr Pete: the old glass cabinet had heavy leaded glass and a very wide door. Also there was a plate rack under the cabinet and tiny, useless drawers. The cabinet finish was in bad shape and although the layout is mostly the same, there is less wasted space. The new cabinets are more contemporary, which is exactly what I wanted!

Thank you, that was so helpful. Mrspete- the breakdown of pros and cons include things I had not considered (like hardware size).

Melis918- the visual of the same kitchen with two different doors is extremely helpful. I think I am leaning more towards the two doors instead of one, now. BTW- the new kitchen is beautiful!!!!!!!

the old glass cabinet had heavy leaded glass and a very wide door.

Yes, now that you say it, I think it's the width that I don't like. It's so much wider than the other cabinets, making it seem like "odd man out". I'm not surprised to hear you say that the plate racks /small drawers were pretty much useless.

Interesting. I like to analyze just what it is that I like /don't like.

I like the old door set up better than the two cabinet set up.

I have 9' ceilings with 42" upper cabinets. If you go with painted cabinets, you can do MDF one piece doors. They won't warp or crack. I topped my cabinets with a older form of dropped soffit.

I have 10 foot ceilings and I'm doing 48" but I'm having a divider in the top third in the cabinet door - not another stack of cabinetry. So it will be broken up but still have nice proportion to my ceiling -- and be less expensive. Then there will be a flat type of trim and then crown on top of that.

busymom- Thanks, I think I will love my new kitchen if it ever gets finished! Counters go in on Friday and appliances on Monday, but they made the opening for the integrated fridge too wide and are scrambling to redo in time. This mistake means I will gain 2 inches in my pantry, but that is causing further delay. I just want this thing done already!

Did I say my counters go in on Friday? They made a mistake on the date and they are goi g in today!

melis918, I know I am resurrecting an old thread, but do you happen to have a picture of what you did above your refrigerator for your double stacked cabinets? I'm currently in the process of deciding on sizes and having a difficult time visualizing it!

Our fridge is a subzero with the two drawer freezer and the top cabinets above it line up with the other top cabinets.

melissa- your ceiling is 9 ft correct? what cabinet company did you go with? they look great...i just cant decide if i want to do the stacked or not.....

also melissa would you mind posting a few more pics?