A pic will really not help I find just drwing tha wall to scale and drawing in the cabinets can give you a pretty good idea of which to choose but for me I would do the 36" if your ceing is pretty flat and the only way to figure that out is to measure in many places along the wall from ceiling to floor . The taller cabinet will make the ceiling look taller with mimimal trim

Check floor to ceiling EVERYWHERE for level.

You will have fewer issues with a 30 inch cabinet and a simple flat stock trim scribed to the ceiling. You can even give yourself a 20" back splash, versus 18" standard.

The most important? Show a flat on paper , two dimensional drawing with layout, all the feet and inches noted. For everything.

Our kitchen 15 yrs ago....old 1880 farmhouse, ceilings were 7'2". (easy to paint!)

We redid the kitchen with semi custom cabs that were 30"H with approx a 3" crown. Measuring at different points along the counter runs is a MUST before finalizing a design/cab choice. We had to do a little smoke and mirrors in several ways with the cabinets due to an out of level floor that was 1 1/4" off in just 9'; from the left end of this sink run to this corner. I could have done slightly taller cabs since they were semi custom but I wanted a substantial crown which I think makes cabs look more high quality/finished...esp short cabinets. Also, who can really reach to the top shelf with 36" cabs? I can just barely so nothing I use a lot goes up there and then I have to grab the stool.

You JUST have room for 36" cabs but you couldn't have a crown unless you reduce the space between cabs to 17" and that's only IF your floors are level; forget a crown if they're not. Doing that still only gives you 2" for a crown. If no crown, approx a 1" scribe would go above the cabs. That isn't a look I love but it might not bother you. 18" is average under the cabs but many people don't adhere to that. If you have taller appliances usually sitting on the counter, you can only go so short; measure those that you will always use. A new kit might offer more storage for appliances so they might not have to sit out. In this kit, we did approx 16 3/4 or 17". That space is where we made up some of the 1 1/4" floor diff and we fudged with upper cabinet placement a bit too; it wasn't noticeable to the eye at all.

So it comes down to aesthetics and what you want for upper cab storage. 36" cabs with a 1" scribe/no crown or 30" with a substantial crown and taller under cab space. Your floors will play a big part in the decision too if they're out of level.

Hope this helps!

We just did 42" cabinets with an 8' ceiling in our dry bar. We had crown and bottom trim, so it ended up reducing the space from the counter to cabinet by quite a bit. It's fine for our use (and it's only two cabinets) but if I were doing a kitchen I would want more space below the cabinet. All this to say, get 30" unless you have a very minimalist design/no crown/no trim.

Here's our 42" cabs with 8' ceiling (comparable to 36" cabs with 7.5' ceiling):

It doesn't LOOK off, but it feels low (these are IKEA as well so they're 15" deep). It would feel worse if the whole wall had cabinets.

Cabinets with a scribe.

I forgot to include dimensions of my babs above. ours are 33” tge trim at bottom is 1.75” to hide lights the top varies as its scribed to ceiling

Here are a few kitchens with low ceilings. You can create space by making trim and cabinets all uniform and the same color. I grew up in a colonial home with low low ceilings. There are ways you can make the space feel open by keeping colors and textures and maximizing light. My cousin is a woodworker in New England working with historical homes and has made creative solutions to many colonial homes.

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Thanks so much! This is helpful to see the differences. I'll be sure to measure a bunch first.