When you ask how to ”do” this type of cabinet, what are you asking? Are you making your own cabinets? are you asking for cabinet lines that offer them? could you please clarify?

It’s in the details. In the second picture, there are stacked cabinets, and they are the same style as the solid lowers. And, glass on the side! I think they come down a little low to not have any support, though, visually. (I think they shouldn’t come all the way to end of the base cabinets, but maybe some a little shy of the length.)

In the first picture, the upper cabinet doors are ”fake” stacked, and not the same style as the lowers.

They are both pretty, but the first could have used a little more, well, probably $.

When you ask how to ”do” this type of cabinet, what are you asking? Are you making your own cabinets? are you asking for cabinet lines that offer them? could you please clarify?

Oh, that does require clarification: No, I have zero woodworking skills. Let me re-word: How to choose well? What details would make this type of cabinet most functional /most attractive?

It’s in the details.

- Yes, I was thinking about appropriate support -- is the post necessary? If you have the post, you can't have the glass sides.

- Good point on the same style as the solid lowers -- same style is 100% essential.

- Wooden shelves vs. glass shelves?

- Lighting inside the cabinet?

THANKS.

Funny you should mention functionality, because the first thing I thought of (well, the second thing; the first thing I thought of was those cabinets have to be kept very neat!) was lighting. You would probably want LEDs in the top and glass shelves below, or you could use wood shelving (as long as it lines up perfectly with your muntins) wired for LEDs beneath each shelf. Neither example did this.

If they are for everyday dishes that will be loaded, unloaded, used a lot, I would like the shelves to be wood. More practical, less delicate, a lot less cleaning to do. And I would not light the interior. If the room is well lit, I think the glass doors on each side will let enough light in.

If you are using them more as display (top picture looks more like display) then I would do glass shelves. I'd light the top inside of the cabinet and the light will spill through each glass shelf down to the bottom.

I like that the second pic posted has no muntins. The point of this cabinet is to see through to the other side and muntins are too visually distracting in this case.

The glass end panel is very beautiful.

We are building a house and we just did this. Our cabinets are custom built.

In our setting we have a 3' wide wall on either end so the cabinets are supported by the end walls. But because we have vaulted ceilings we had a beam built across to anchor them from the top. The beam is clad with wood and matches other elements in the area.

The glass doors are each one piece of glass and framed in black aluminum. We did anchor the doors on the dining room side so that they can't be opened. However the anchors can be taken off so that I can clean the glass and the shelves are wood. I hummed and hawed about lighting and decided against it.

The whole area is 9' across.

"...wood shelving (as long as it lines up perfectly with your muntins)..."

Actually, they will never line up for everyone. "Lining up" depends on perspective. A short person will have a different perspective than a tall person. So, if the shelves are lined up from a tall person's perspective, they will not be lined up with a short person's.

Stick with glass shelves.

Do you think the cabinets hanging from the ceiling like that will block the view? If you're trying to talk to someone on the other side you will both have to duck down to see & hear.

They look "pretty" but I wonder how functional they are for adults and day-to-day living?

As was mentioned above, you will need to keep them very neat all the time. They seem more suited to display, not daily-use dishes and the like.

I get that you will have access to both sides, but that means only one "dish deep" if you plan to access them from both sides.

If someone really likes it and is willing to live with possibly cluttered cabinets on display (or that person & his/her entire family are very, very disciplined regarding neatness), then they might be able to handle them on a daily basis.

How to do this?

Get a good kitchen designer and the right custom cabinet manufacturer or local custom cabinet shop.

My cousin had wall cabinets with windows to the backyard behind them. (They wanted the storage but also the light, and the cabinets turned out great.)

In her last house, my designer had double sided cabinets like you posted above, between the kitchen and a walkway. She's coming over to my house tonight (she's one of my dearest friends in addition to being an awesome designer) and I'll see if she has any advice. If she does, I'll update! (I'll try to ask before we have too much wine.)

If the cabinets will be used for china, or glassware, or serving pieces, there should be no problem with them looking tidy, no more than glass-door cabinets against a wall. I don’t imagine they will be holding sippy cups, or miscellaneous packets of Swiss Miss and bottles of vitamins and meds. And if they did, those mismatched items could go into cache baskets, or the effect will be reflected in a genrally homey kitchen, which is never Insta-magazine-photographer ready.

I did this set up after coming up with a plan of what would go in them. I have a collection of colourful pottery And at one end is a wine fridge and beside it a prep sink. Above that will go our wine glasses and bar glasses. I would never have done this sort of glass cabinets without a plan of what will go inside.

On one side is our dining room which is 15' deep and at the far end is a sliding glass door to a balcony. On the other side of the cabinets is a gathering area which is 10' deep and at the end is another sliding glass door. The doors match up and light will flow right through the area in the morning and then again in the afternoon.

If you're in the dining room eating you will not see any kitchen clutter. (well maybe some wine bottles on the far side of the counter.

We're not in the house yet but the whole thing came out just as the designer and I envisioned.

An unrelated 2-sided cabinet story: I worked as a house manager for a wealthy family, the husband was a Swiss engineer. He built a 2-sided base cabinet in the kitchen next to the sink. Each shelf was for a different kind of recycling. The other side of the cabinet was outside. You'd go outside, open the door, each shelf pulled out and could tip so the recycling could spill into which ever bin you placed below it. It made my job easier as I was the one taking out the trash daily!

I’ll bet he was Swiss German!

“Actually, they will never line up for everyone. "Lining up" depends on perspective. A short person will have a different perspective than a tall person.”

Your brain typically adjusts for perspective when seeing things in person. Muntins that are on the same plane as the shelves will appear properly aligned with the shelves. On the other hand shelves that are not on the same plane but visually aligned from your perspective will likely be noticed as a peculiarity.

There are several brands that will do two sided cabinets, they are just not that unusual. I have done this by modifying IKEA cabinets and a good finish carpenter can do an acceptable version of this with any cabinet maker.

All this glass is lovely, but I wouldn't want to keep it clean, given everyday use. I can barely keep up with the glass shelves in my medicine cabinet.

Open wood shelves would win the motion study prize. (Not lovely.)

My cousin had wall cabinets with windows to the backyard behind them. (They wanted the storage but also the light, and the cabinets turned out great.)

I've never seen that style in real life, but I'm sure it's wonderful.
She's coming over to my house tonight (she's one of my dearest friends in addition to being an awesome designer) and I'll see if she has any advice.

Great! I can't wait to hear.

If the cabinets will be used for china, or glassware, or serving pieces, there should be no problem with them looking tidy, no more than glass-door cabinets against a wall. I don’t imagine they will be holding sippy cups, or miscellaneous packets of Swiss Miss and bottles of vitamins and meds.

Exactly. These will not be the only cabinets in the kitchen. These cabinets can hold china and serving ware, while the closed cabinets on the other side hold necessary-but-not-pretty things.

I would never have done this sort of glass cabinets without a plan of what will go inside.

Well, that's just good sense.

If you're in the dining room eating you will not see any kitchen clutter. (well maybe some wine bottles on the far side of the counter.

That's a good point -- except that I don't like wine. I'm not classy enough.

the husband was a Swiss engineer.

My husband's an engineer -- well, a retired engineer -- and he'd love that.

All this glass is lovely, but I wouldn't want to keep it clean, given everyday use.

That's a consideration.

This is kind of funny, since this style was ubiquitous in late 70's/80's kitchens (peninsulas with cabinets above), and people ripped them out for islands with unimpeded views. What goes around comes around! The house I grew up in had this set up, and we were constantly squatting down to look under the cabinets to talk to people on the dining room side. I'm not sure it would be my choice, but that doesn't mean it can't be yours!

Obviously the late 70's/80's cabinets usually weren't glass, so that makes all the difference. Although you still might be squatting to talk/see.

To do this well I think you need to take stock of how much "nice" dinnerware you have and make sure you can arrange it so it looks nice and not too overcrowded. That, to me, is the biggest issue with glass cabinets. If you actually want to store a lot of stuff they tend to look cluttered. I just did this with barware and my cabinets filled up fast. Also note that your inspo pictures mostly hold glassware and not plates so the look will be different if you actually want to store dishes.

I would put lighting in regardless - if you don't like to use it you can just leave it off, but it's hard to add in later.

I suppose it helps if the person who cares is the one who puts the dishes away. That term comes to me from a chat when I was getting married. We said, ”whoever does cooking, the other will do the dishes.” A cousin replied, ”the one who cares will cook, the one who cares will clean up.” That turned out to be somewhat true.

With the glass cabinets, it definitely matters if things are put away in a pleasong manner.

As to the cabinets over peninsula, they can be higher, so as to allow freer conversation. (I toy with the idea of removing ours, but then where would I put the plates and mugs and glasses and bowls?)

Mint Milano cookies are best stored in cabinets without glass doors so nobody else knows where you hide them.

Merry Christmas everyone!

I think these work well between a formal dining room and a kitchen, I think they work less well as a divider for an eat in kitchen, which is largely what we saw in the 70's.

I don't think you have to be any more neat or coordinated than you do with any glass front cabinets. You need to be aware of how the things placed in them will change the feel of the room. For a while we had a formal space that we wanted to make more casual and we filled ours with Fiesta ware. I don't think anyone can claim that a cabinet filled with Fiesta is really that neat. It was more carefully coordinated mess than neat. Having said that, it doesn't mean it will fit with every room. Some rooms may need neat and certainly there needs to be some coordination.

This is not far from what we had only ours was two sided.