"using 30 inch and 12 inch uppers, (plus 6 inches of moulding to the ceiling and leaving 18 inches between bottom of cabinets to the top of countertop). Our ceilings are 108 inches high"

Something is wrong with your math.

36" for base counters + 18" to upper cabinets + 30" + 12" + 6" = 102". You said 108".

Not knowing which dimension is incorrect in your post, the one thing I would advise is to reduce your crown moldings to 3". Crown moldings are very expensive, and reduce storage space just for decorative effect. But do you need that kind of decorative effect in a kitchen? Though if you want more elaborate moldings, that is your choice; just wanted to offer my viewpoint.

Regarding the glass front question. The 12" cabinets on top if in glass will then be solely for decorative purposes not storage. Is that what you want? Usually people install interior-cabinet lighting when a top stack is glass fronted, an added expense. Is that what you are planning? Or do you want that top stack to be used for storage of rarely used items like holiday dishes, candle sticks, or similar? Another alternative is to have 2 or 4 of the longer upper cabinets (what you said is 30", but again, not sure which of your dimensions is correct) in glass. You could use those for your glassware and china if you want.

Thanks for your response! And sorry about the numbers error. I've got 103" ceilings.

I was planning to install interior cabinet lighting if I go with glass. I don't care about the storage. The estimates with the glass and the upper cabinet lighting have come in and they are within budget--so really my question is purely aesthetic. What will look best, the glass front or wood front?

I think the stacked cabinets look best (and really pretty!) with glass. I have seen some stacked with wood and I just personally don’t think it adds enough to pay for the extra cabinets vs making it one taller cabinet. I am sure that other probably like it though.

If you want to use them for storage not just decoration you can get different types of glass that aren’t see through. Our last house had glass that you could see vague shapes and some colors but not the actual items being stored.

Your ceilings are too short to pull off stacked well. 12” H cabinets will have tiny little squares of glass, and no muntins will be possible. 15”H is where stacked cabinets start to not be squinty. 18” is better.

You will get a better, and much less expensive, look by just doing 42”H cabinets with 9” of crown.

Crown moldings are very expensive, and reduce storage space just for decorative effect.

To be argumentative, stacked cabinets are expensive too ... but I think your argument is that although stacked cabinets are expensive, at least they provide storage.

If you want to use them for storage not just decoration you can get different types of glass that aren’t see through

I like seeded glass very much.

Your ceilings are too short to pull off stacked well. 12” H cabinets
will have tiny little squares of glass, and no muntins will be possible.
You will get a better, and much less expensive, look by just doing 42”H
cabinets with 9” of crown.

I kind of think the same thing.

Thank you all for responding! Sophie Wheeler, and others, may I ask you one more question, as I was hoping for those glass doors on the uppers? What do you think of 30", 15" glass, 3" of crown? Does anyone have any pics about how that looks?

You still lose storage space compared to a 42” plus crown. You have to count the floors and tops of the cabinets, and the space in between, in your space utilization calculations. It’s also still a LOT more expensive vs 42”H with a stacked crown.

3” of crown would be proportionately small compared to the overall cabinet height.

48”H is where stacked start to make sense. That’s a 30”+18” + 6” of crown.