Hi pinkelephant. This is a pic of the kitchen in our previous home (2001). If I remember right the upper cabinet unit was about 56" tall, and there is 15" between the counter and the upper cabinet. Hard to break down the height of each upper unit as it was one piece (custom cabinets), not stacked, but a similar look to what you want. We put glass and lighting in the upper part, we didn't use it for storage. However, if you were going to use it for storage, I think a 12" space could hold quite a bit. Notice there are actually two cabinets over the fridge, so the top part with glass lines up all around the kitchen. The ceilings in the old house were a little over 9'. Don't remember the exact measurement.

During construction, before backsplash

We took up the tile (hated it), and put down new floors, and added brick to the old chimney.

I have a taller ceiling, so mine are 15s on top of 42s. Similar proportions, but what I wanted to tell you was that I would not want 12" tall cabinets. I wish mine were more like 18s. I've found that some of the tall things I'd like to display up there are too tall.

Here are mine 36 + 12 and they look fine usability wise I have no idea because it's still in the process of getting done.

What decision did you make?

You've got 53 1/2" to work with here. The ideal proportions are thirds, which means 30" + 15" with 7 1/2" as molding if the kitchen will be a more ornate door style. If it will be simple, do the 18" in glass on top of the 30" with 4 1/2" molding .

I was just going to say to do 30" + 18", for the reason that GD just cited. 30/(30+18) is very, very close to the Golden Mean, which is aesthetically pleasing.

pinkelephant- there are a number of semi custom that offer 33" walls as a standard. There are also several which have stacked cabinets avaiable as a standard which is a real cost savings. I carry Showplace and they have both- I'm sure there are several others out there. I don't know which ones but would be surprised that SWP was the only brand in the price to do that.
Inset or overlay makes a difference btw. But if money is an issue I'd use the standard available from someone. The SWP standard stack has a 12" OPENING at the top, it can be modified at cost, still cheaper than two cabinets.

Jakuvall has a very good point. I used custom, so I was able to get what I call "faux-stacked" cabinets. This is a single box with two doors, and a fixed shelf between the doors. In this case, custom was probably cheaper than semicustom and true stacked cabs.

I whole-heartedly agree with not doing anything that's 12". If you really care about function (and not just form, that is) you're far better off to do 30 + 18. I like the look of hope's cabinets because they're not glass in this case. They don't interrupt my eye with a tiny cabinet border. To me, it's all glass up there or nothing!

I have 8' ceilings (and given the sag, some lower where I have to cut the ceiling out to accommodate my cabinets. (re: shoe horn comment)

Anyway, I'm going 30+12 simply because that's all my ceiling will allow. I have absolutely no plan to try to wedge anything into those dumb, 12" cabinets. But I like the stacked cabinet look.

I believe 18" is standard between counter top and cabinets, though, not 15".

CEFreeman, Are you planning on putting any molding above? I'm also planning on doing 30" with 12" on top (with glass in the 12")- and given the standard 18", we have no room for molding. I also have 8 foot ceiling. I'm afraid it won't look good.

I'm probably going to do something extremely simple, such as batten molding, just to hide the sag in the ceiling.
I'm also making my cabs inset, so I'll have a full 1.5" to hook the batten to.

There are a few places I left the cabinets lower, just the 30". That'll get an extremely simple crown, just to finish it. I'll probably make both match the light rail I plan.

We're kind of stuck with these low ranch ceilings aren't we?