I can't comment on glass shelves; I just wanted to relay what I did for my glass doors. BTW, what style is your kitchen? The style would really make a difference in determing what would be a good choice for your glass doors. I have a "transitional" kitchen style - neither contemporary nor traditional, but somewhere in between. I chose clear glass with bevelled edges. The bevelled edges really add a luxury look to the glass - they ought to, because bevelling the edges nearly doubled the cost of the glass. But for me the cost was worth it because I love the appearance. I use my glass-fronted cabinets to store (well, show off) my "good" china and wine glasses. If however you are going to be storing cereal boxes, sippy cups, and the like in your glass cabinets then perhaps you should get some type of pattern.

I don't know what to call the kitchen style... It's not Ikea contemporary, or modern. I wouldn't call it traditional, or country either. What else is there? I guess I'm really not up on kitchen design terms and styles. The kitchen is fairly simple, I suppose, maple cabinets with a light stain, dark granite counters, white appliances (matched old kitchen, not replaced during remodel), wood floor. Would you call that *transitional*?

I definitely won't be storing sippy cups (!!), nor packaged goods since only two cupboards have glass fronts. The ugly stuff can be hidden in other cabinets. ;)

At this point, I don't have much in the way of *good* china or glasses to show off, so I was figuring I'd just put a few decorative items on those shelves for now. OTOH, someday I may well have glasses and plates that would look nice displayed there. So I guess I should allow for the shelves to be holding pretty heavy stuff.

I agree, if you go with clear glass, it really looks good with beveling.

I'm thinking that I might go with lucite shelving and then be able to get fancier glass in the doors. I won't have to worry about the shelves breaking that way.

If I put that clear, padded shelf liner stuff on the plastic shelves, it would stop it from getting scratched but still let the light flow through, right?

Any more opinions?

I recommend viewing the myriad choices of glass available at the bendheim glass website. I purchased from them. I didn't want totally clear because I didn't want to have to worry about having everything "perfect" inside but I wanted light to shine through. I also wanted an organic rather than industrial pattern--but all were available at bendheim. Here's a pic of mine:
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Here is a link that might be useful: Bendheim Cabinet Glass

O.K. the shelf itself must be tempered/safety glass, but the cabinet glass fronts come in a wide variety of decorative choices. Don't believe they're tempered though. I went to a local glass company for fronts and shelves. Here's mine (doors weren't spaced correctly at this point).

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I think the doors should also be tempered. Many decorative glass is offered in Tempered and laminated glass. I know that laminated is also okay for the glass doors. I wonder if Kompy or Livewireoak can answer the reasons why a little better. I remember this question was asked some years back and the answer was that it was required to be tempered. Bendheim glass offers a lot of its options in tempered and laminated glass.

Best of luck!

FWIW-my doors are not tempered--mainly because I was shaving off every penny in price I could at the point I made that decision. It made installation a little hairy for sure, since I did it myself with the help of my cabinet salesman. Tempered would certainly be the best decision from a safety standpoint.

The thickness of the shelves depends on what kind of things you'll be putting on them (a stack of plates or a few stem glasses), and their overall size. For eg., 12" deep shelves for glasses don't have to be as thick as 18" deep shelves that may have plates stacked on them.
Your local glass store can advise you on the correct thickness, and usually will custom-cut tempered shelves for the same price as any cabinet manufacturer.

Plastic thick enough for shelves would break just about any bank. Those are cheap and any glass store can do them with measurements.

But for the doors...I'm kind of like berf...I like unusual glass and something a bit organic. In my master bath I had glass blown for me specifically, and they resemble berfs a bit, just a bit more opaque. But in my kitchen, I went down to a local stained glass glass dealer and he installed sheet glass from their collection of thousands of colors. They were cheaper than a glass store, and much much prettier (he got even with me on the hand blown stuff LOL)

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I have all sorts of plain and beveled glass in 6' high curio cabinets and cocktail tables. All of which had no problem with the big earthquake back in '89. When did anyone require them to be tempered? I know you need it for glass doors and windows that someone could walk through, but not for cabinets. Can someone explain?

-Babka

Tempered glass cannot be cut. It has to be custom ordered to size. So, it will take a few days to get it AND you need to be absolutely sure of the exact size you need because it can't be cut, ground, adjusted, etc....

IIRC, laminated or tempered glass is req'd in base cab doors but not in upper cabs. But, especially if there are children in the house, it would be a very good idea to use it in the upper cabs also. Could be something subject to local codes, etc., too.

Thanks for the link to Bendheim. Nice to be able to see online the different options available in glass styles.

I ended up getting Optix acrylic for the shelves, but still need glass for the doors. The Optix is pretty thick, I think it's 3/8 and the label claims it's much stronger than glass, so I don't think I'll have to worry about it bending.

It was also much cheaper than plain glass -- I got four shelves out of one sheet for $43, but I needed an extra sheet for the additional two shelves, so it ended up at $86. Still much better than the quote of $120 for six shelves in plain glass. I'm going to try and see how it looks with the clear shelf liner to keep it from scratching.

Berf and Igloochic, I love the glass you chose. And love those knobs Igloochic!

I'll try checking into a stained glass place for the door glass.

Thanks for all the replies!