Wood.

If you run xenon lights up the edge (1 light per shelf) it will be lovely and practical at the same time.

Wood! : )

A! Use wood. Even if I didn't have 2 kids, I like to empty the DW quickly and grab plates out of the cabinet quickly -- I would hate constantly feeling like I had to be careful. Glass shelves are fine for the china cabinet because I don't have to deal with it everyday. Plus, wood shelves can look great in glass cabinets.

Wood is best for kids. And most adults. Except in the frou frou cabinets.

Better than Xenon lighting is the tape LED lighting that you can run behind the face frame and only has 1/8" protruburance. It's virtually invisible except for the light it puts out. If you put a molding "lip" on the shelves, you can also run it across them (as long as you give up their adjustability)

A. Wood!! Even if it was just me always emptying and setting the table (well, it is me who always empties the DW, and I have my DS set the table now but he can't reach the higher dishes in the hutch cab), I'd still do wood again. I briefly thought about glass but didn't want to always hold my breath when grabbing or setting down a plate on glass.

Edited to fix some wackadoodle ipad autocorrected words.

This post was edited by breezygirl on Tue, Feb 5, 13 at 13:10

Thanks for posting this! Glass shelves came with our cabinets and I thought the same thing. I can't imagine placing dishes on glass every day but also wondered what wood looked like. Anyone have photos? If you have some with the lighting as well that would be great!

B to C. :) With some wood thrown in.

For stacking items, no problem. Just have a sacrificial dish on the bottom of the stack.

Glassware and mugs though--I'd prefer wood. Or glass with a clearish plastic shelf liner which would allow light thorough and maybe be only a little cheesy.

If you're really wanting some experience with glass shelves on everyday cabinets, may I suggest asking Ikeafans? Some of the (discontinued) Ikea wall cabinets were equipped with glass shelves--I think it was the Varde line. I have some in my mudroom holding canning supplies and pet stuff so I don't personally have knowledge of how well glass and dishes play together. If they fight, though, I'm pretty sure the shelves will win and the dishes will be chipped. :)

Thank you for all the input. It definitely makes sense to use wood to simplify emptying the DW. We tend to rush through the chore sometimes, too. I think we can happily forgo glass shelves.

I was thinking of skipping the lights inside. I looked up some threads on this and it doesn't seem to be too big of a deal. I'm not sure how much we'd really use them.

Here are a few pictures with solid shelves behind glass doors, and a picture that makes me happy when I see it that has a set of glass doors with divided lights. All are from Houzz.

[Traditional Kitchen design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by href='http://www.houzz.com/professionals/general-contractor/atlanta'>Atlanta General Contractor Renewal Design-Build

[Traditional Kitchen design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107)

[Traditional Kitchen design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by Minneapolis Interior Designer Martha O'Hara Interiors

[Traditional Kitchen design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by New York Architect Smith River Kitchens

[Traditional Kitchen design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by San Francisco Interior Designer Jane Ellison

[Contemporary Kitchen design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2103) by Burlington Architect Smith & Vansant Architects PC

Definitely wood. I know we're too quick and sloppy to use glass around here. And the sound of things crashing on or scraping across the glass shelves... Yikes. You'd probably want shelf liners and then the whole point of glass would be defeated. If you don't like to see the solid shelves, and you want divided lights, you might be able to line them up so the shelves don't show so much. But I like seeing the shelves in your above examples.

Ya know, even china cabinets, made for nothing but display, almost always have wood shelves. Especially the traditional ones.

Are you asking about a gorgeous, light granite?
What's the difference what the shelves are made of when they'll drop the stuff on the granite countertops and shatter it all over the place?

Not to throw a monkey wrench into that thought, but....
Maybe you could put cabinets with wood shelves over a butcher block countertops?

Or over mattress counters, a baby crib mattress ought to fit well. ; )

The thing to consider about having glass doors with mullions ... Many people say they feel too constrained in not being able to adjust the shelves to the best heights that work and feel they need to line up the shelves behind the dividers

Wood they will be. No glass shelves. I like the idea that the wood is traditional, too, since our house is pretty old.

Good catch, Christine. DH looked at the light granite today. It was a no go. He didn't like it once he saw it in person. (Said they did have a pretty green, and the Uba Tuba was very close to our current laminate.) We're thinking of sticking with laminate around the cleanup sink. We could actually reuse the piece that's around our current sin; it's not quite 4 years old.

Nah, mattress counters would be, well, too bouncy. ; ) LOL