I've got some on my kitchen board on pinterest. One with colored glass and some that are clear.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen board

Obviously not completed:)
{{gwi:1419527}}

We did exactly what you're thinking about I think - not sure why your cabinet guy can't understand what you're asking for.

Ours are plywood cabinets with birch veneer, and the sections you can see through the glass are painted.

I should mention our uppers are 46 inches tall. The divider between the glass/non glass section is fixed in place with adjustable shelves below.

Those are exactly what I was looking for. I think cabinet guy was confused because I did not want ALL glass doors. I want only the top to be glass.

Question to Toronto Tim. Are you glad you put glass cabinets over your sink?

Currently, I have 2 recessed lights in the ceiling above my sink with a window. The window is 48"W by 36" tall. I am thinking about enlarging the window to a taller one since I have to replace it anyway.I thought about glass shelves up high for plants so the light would still get through.

Then I saw Toronto Tim's cabinets and how they go across the ceiling over the sink. I would have to do something with the two recessed lights. I guess I could put different lights in the glass cabinet pointing down to the sink like Tim's.

So...advice needed. More cabinets or bigger window and more light. It would be my only kitchen window.

What do you think? Peke

I should have said that my ceiling is on an angle. It is the roofline so no room above it by the wall or window. Here is a picture of the window and the header above it. Should I put in a taller window or keep it the same size? peke

can you have a skylight in your kitchen? the natural light from the top is great and you don't have to give up as much cabinet space.

In my kitchen you can see two approaches. The opening above the sink is actually a pass-through to the dining room. The only window we have is in the corner, where you see there is a light box stretching across, providing a continuous link between the uppers and a platform for the crown molding to continue on.

In hindsight (never thought about it till you mentioned it) maybe it would have looked better to echo the treatment over the window in the area above the sink. But one of the reasons we didn't do cabinets over the window was the distance resulted in oddball door sizes. We tried to keep the door sizes / glass sections as close to the same as possible. In my full reno post you can see initial drawings with 3 little doors above the window.

The lights in that section and over the sink are tied to the lights under the cabinets. The lights inside the cabinets are on their own dimmer.

One idea for your tall window would be a fixed transom section at the top, with a shelf positioned at the break between the fixed window and an opening window below.

We did an awning window, as it's easy to operate from over the counter and we can pop it open when it's raining out vs. a casement (I don't like casement windows).

Michoumonster, DH is against skylights so that is out. It would bring lots of light though.

TorontoTim, I see the passthrough now.....I think your kitchen is beautiful just as it is. I am with you....I hate casements.

Your awning window doesn't open very far does it? I have heard they open about 5-6".
Peke

Question: if going through a new build instead of a renovation, is it possible to get this type of cabinet or is this only something a cabinet maker can do on-site?? I really love the look of this but I am not sure if it is offered in the builder's showroom. Do you think it would be easier for the builder to order the stacked upper cabinets instead of the cabinet door with the glass on top ( like TorontoTim's cabinets)? The ceiling height will be 9ft. Also, I know there are so many variables and depending on the builder, but about how much of an upgrade for this type of cabinet ( either stacked or the custom cabinet like TorontoTim)??

Toronto Tim...how wide is your trim around the window and pass through. In our new kitchen plans they have left 11 " free of cabinets and to me that seems like a waste of space. Peke..I like the look of glass in the upper cabinets, so this thread is interesting to me also. Not sure if all the top row should be glass or not! Decisions decisions

ali, I know what you mean. Too many decisions.

My upper cabinets are 15" deep, but I have 2 floor to ceiling cabinets that will be 24" deep. One is a pantry and one is for the dishwasher which will be at waist level.

I can't decide what to do about those 2 - 24" deep upper cabinets. Do I put glass in them? They will be really deep. I am leaning towards NOT putting glass in them and just use them for storage not decorative dishes.

Peke

The awning does not open very far to be sure. But we get lots of airflow from it.

The trim around all our windows is 4.5" wide, but in the area above the sink I cut the casement to fit tight against the cabinets. You can see in the picture there is only about 1" or so of casement between the window opening and the panel on the side of the cabinet. I replicated the trim that would normally be around a window, as though the cabinets were slammed down on top of it.

So bottom line is the distance between the upper cabinets is no more than the width of the sink cabinet below - 36" or so in total I guess? Might be a bit less. I've never felt cramped washing all the pots and pans my wife won't let me put in the dishwasher :P

The pictures are before the trim was all complete - there's a small crown molding on the top of the tall board across the top of the exterior window.

You can see we chose to do 2 cabinets in all glass, with Starfire glass shelves (don't have the dark edge to them) and I doubled up on the LED pucks in those cabinets to light them up. Mix it up - kitchens look good when there's some interesting incongruities.

Not sure why your cabinet guy would be confused. Even if he's not online looking at houzz, so many home magazines at the grocery store checkout have cover pictures showcasing glass front cabinets on top or just in certain parts of a kitchen. I have two and love the look. If you do go with some that are glass front, don't forget to light the inside of the cabs. We have lights on a dimmer. Definitely makes the space!

Not sure why your cabinet guy would be confused. Even if he's not online looking at houzz, so many home magazines at the grocery store checkout have cover pictures showcasing glass front cabinets on top or just in certain parts of a kitchen. It's just the doors that are different, no biggie. I have two and love the look. If you do go with some that are glass front, don't forget to light the inside of the cabs. We have lights on a dimmer. Definitely makes the space!

Dusty, did you choose direct wire or low voltage? We are using direct wire, but haven't chosen the lights yet for inside the cabinet. We are thinking about putting them on the inside front of the cabinet so they will shine at the dishes we put in there. What kind did you use and where did you place them? Peke

I showed him a picture and he understands now. He just thought all were going to be glass.

Just thought I'd chime in with my lighting plan for the interior of my cabinets.

I did LED pucks all around, dimmable. The controllers are mounted in the cabinet above my range hood, which of course is more or less useless given the 8" duct running through it.

So I have regular 'Romex' 14/2 wire running from the 2 dimmer switches on my wall to the 2 controller units in that space. Then I ran Romex 14/2 wire and stubbed it out of the walls under each section of cabinets and above each section of cabinets. You can see it stubbed out of the walls in some of the pics.

One dimmer controls the interior lighting, one the under cabinet lights.

You can't run low voltage wire inside walls, so I roughed in standard 14/2 from the controller units above the range to each isolated section of lighting. The controllers send low voltage current across that full size wire, and then I pigtail on the low voltage wire/LED pucks. All of that wire is just strung from one hole to the other drilled through the cabinets and can be pulled out etc.

The under cabinet lighting is all enclosed in light boxes mounted to the bottom of the cabinets - no exposed wiring.

The 2 dimmers have to be designed for low voltage lighting - no big deal. But 'digital' dimmers tend to not work - you need the mechanical slider type.

In each upper section of cabinet I installed a single puck, in the center. So it's more or less hidden behind the door stiles. In the all glass cabinets I put 2 pucks at the top and they have glass shelves.

19 lights in total. I also have 10 recessed lights in the ceiling, which almost never get used.

I wanted LED's for the lack of heat. They're warm to the touch but you can put your hand over them and keep it there - just warm, not hot.

2 years in and the lights have been trouble free. in hindsight I would have skipped the whole dimmer business - we never use the dimmers - always just full on. If we entertained and wanted ambient lighting I suppose dimming them would be nice, but we don't do that often.

Tim, Thanks for the info. I wonder if I will use the dimmers much too. We do entertain a lot, but usually just dinner so we would not be dimming the in cabinet or under cabinet lights for that. That gives me something to think about. The only reason I would dim them is to use like a night light while watching TV. Can't think of any other reason.

I think we are getting LED bar lights for under the cabinet. We may do the same for the in cabinet lights or we may do LED puck lights if we do not have to have a transformer.
Peke

Peke, I can't remember what kind they are. I know they are not LED because I wanted a warmer light with my white cabs. I have the lights inside the cabs, up top. We replaced the regular cabinet shelves with glass shelves, so the light shines down through the whole cabinet. The dimmer is on a wall with other switches, convenient within arm's reach when I'm working in the kitchen. The dimmer also controls the under cab lights. I use both on high for task and dimmed low for ambiance at night.

Thanks Tim, I scrolled back to see your puck lights. I think they will need a transformer so I need to keep looking for LEDs that do not need transformers. David Tay in the lighting forum told me about one or two.

Thanks, Dusty, I bet they are Xenon. They do not get as hot as Halogen pucks. I love your cabinet colors. Is that a touch of blue with the gray? Love the look. We are not getting glass shelves though since only the top one has glass in the door. Yours are pretty nice though!

I think Tim's cabinets are one piece...not stacked. We did the same thing...all one piece. However, my kitchen is on an outside wall and the ceiling is the actual roof line. So the back of the glass cabinets are 9" tall and the front of the glass cabinets are about 15" tall because of the angle of the ceiling/roof. He built them in all one piece like Tim's. I knew I didn't have much room, but by using the angled roof I could gain more space. Cabinet guy loved the idea once he figured out what I wanted. Every time he sees me he says, "I ain't never seen nothing like that and I have put kitchens in million dollar lake homes here." He put two of the cabinets in today. He was sure worried about that angled cabinet fitting. It was perfect with one inch to spare. He is a great cabinet maker. He made them in his shop and delivered them here today.

I just adore the look of the glass uppers. I have many lovely items that I would love to display but my kitchen, though largish, has a triple door and 96 inches of window over the sink. With that much unusable space it makes top cabs done in glass a no go! Darn I wish i could have that look!