No mullions. You want the items you display in the cabinets without any obstructions

Don't do any display cabinets. I did it and regretted the cost of the cabinet face and the wasted energy lighting them.

I think you are referring to muntin, not mullion.

In addition to the lighting within the cabinets, the interiors of the cabinets must be “finished”, too. In your case, painted. So, price out the additional cost of having the cabinets with glass and interior lighting. That said, what is the fenestration pattern of your windows? Will that fenestration compete with what you choose for your upper cabinets?

The pictures are doors or no doors but display space either way? The no doors is unusual. Not sure I would want either for many of the above reasons.

do you have things to display? will you have lights in them and finished interior?

looks like you have plenty of storage. so the issue is "decoration".

if you have a beautiful pottery display or whatever else goes up there, and interior lighting, either door works. It's a personal choice for YOU.

Either looks good to me. (and I do like what they've got displayed in the picture)

To answer some questions, yes the interiors will be painted for the upper glass sections and they will be lighted. Idea is not storage but decorations to add a pop of color. Doors on the cabinets are shaker with a bead on the inside.

I don't really agree with @ptreckel about interior lighting. I had that a couple of kitchens ago, and ended up never turning them on after the initial couple of times. For me, it was not a worthwhile expense, and I never would do interior cabinet lighting again. If you feel you would use the interior lighting, you should get it. Just make sure it's something you would want.

I had to go look at a bunch of pictures to see what looks good.

What if you did them only over the stove area?

Or, better yet, stove area, with glass in the doors too.

maybe did a few of the doors w/ glass too?

having a few glass doors in the regular cabs seems to break it up a bit.

I like this set up. a few open by the stove, the rest solid doors, and a few upper doors w/glass.

Or upper glass doors w/open glass storage above it.

This display is pretty, especially with the glass doors below it. Out of everything shown, I like this the best.
But what's being displayed has a lot to do w/how this looks.

Or, maybe try something like this if you have particular dishes you want shown.

one section of glass upper and upper doors?

Frosted glass?

leaded glass?

another wrap around with lit glass. I'm not really feeling this compared to some of those others

another one that's meh.

We have 18” stacked uppers using German New Antique glass and no Muntins. I love displaying holiday and seasonal decor. We have white cabinets, danby marble counters and slab backsplash and wood island. I love that pop of color I can add so easily and I don’t have to clutter the counters.

Shasta, sounds lovely. I love Danby. How has it held up for you?

No muntins. I have similar display cabinets and my kitchen is more traditional than yours.

No mullions.

The Danby has held up well, Beth. We've had it about 5 years.

I love using these uppers with interior lighting (typically without a muntin option), but with reeded glass so they can still be used for storage but also light a kitchen after dark. My clients often say that's the first switch they turn on before dawn and the last they flip off as the house closes down in late evenings. Great, soft and diffused area lighting when not in major task mode. Cheers!

The lighted display of items is stunning. Very little practical use is made of cabinets at the very top of the whole system near the ceiling. I happen to like muntins in exterior windows, and I have them in displays in my kitchen, but The displays (no muntins)in the kitchen in question are very eyecatching. Keep them.

Mixing it up with glass fronts on the larger uppers is a good idea. Makes the design more organic and integrated looking.

Grease rises and I’ve never deep-fried anything in my life and rarely even saute on the stove top. Unless you’re a far more enthusiastic cleaner of glass cabinet fronts than I am (which wouldn’t be hard, in all fairness), I wouldn’t do glass up there at all, especially since you’re looking at a ladder and bending over your counters to clean them. But that probably means cleaning your collectibles anyway.

Dunno. I’ve done glass cabinet fronts and open shelves twice and I won’t again, but you do you.

Far too fussy to have a skinny little 'display' which is so out of scale with the size of the solid cabinets and so high up you can't really appreciate what is in them anyway. If they have no doors they will get absolutely gruesome with greasy dust, carried up by the heat of the kitchen. (Check the top of anyone's overhead cupboards which don't go full height!) And if you have glass up there you have other cleaning hassles. You can introduce colour in other ways.

Personally I'd rather have a narrow open shelf below one or both of the cabinets on the far wall in your photo. You can put carefully curated colourful or even fun objects there which are relevant to the kitchen, not just a random art piece for the sake of it. Some stunning china worth displaying, perhaps, and change it around whenever... Or maybe a set of salt and pepper shakers you rarely use but which look fabulous. I have a pewter bud vase on one of my shelves and it adds a lovely touch - even a humble geranium in it looks lovely. You're not living in a display home, it's good to 'humanise' what might otherwise be a sterile looking work environment.

Well, there are a few thoughts here-

Should or should there not be glass front top cabinets in the kitchen.

If there are glass front top cabinets in the kitchen, should the glass panes be divided to match the windows?

Well, I think if you are going to have the glass front cabinets, the purpose is to "show" the contents, so no, I don't think you want to have muntins, mullions, or whatever is the proper word.

There was a post (by nidnay, I think) in which she commented that she ws having difficulty changing the bulbs in her top most glass front display cabinets of the type you want.

I don't really understand this.

After purchasing the new LED bulbs I remarked on their price to a friend who knows about these things and he said something like, "Never mind the price, they will outlive you."

I am not sure why nidnay is already changing bulbs in her new house.

In any event, do know that as your glass front cabinets are on display (even from that height) you can't put very much in them, really one thing per cabinet, or they look messy.

No muntins, to obstruct the view and lighting, even if you don’t end up putting anything in them. I would like the ambient light when the kitchen is not in use at the end of the day. May I ask what cabinet manufacturer you are going with? We’ve been trying to remodel our kitchen going on two years now and the price for just the cabinets, perimeters only, for a similar corner sink layout, no demo or install, is more than the price of our first house.

@mjcosgrove We are using conestoga cabinets through cabinetjoint.com. This gives us a blend of semi custom sizes down to 1/16" and a quality factory paint finish. We started the with full local custom but couldn't justify the additional cost in our HCOL area. The hardest thing to get right now are the appliances, ordered in September and they are now saying July for the Subzero refrigerator.