I think as long as you have a window in your kitchen, you don't need to have glass cabinets. You can also break up a run of uppers & lowers with a pantry, appliances with a different finish, possibly an upper that goes to the countertop. Are your cabinets going to the ceiling? I have some pics of GW kitchens without glass cabs but have to post them from my iPhone. I'll try to do that tomorrow.
Also, drawers on the bottom add interest as they look different from an upper & frequently have different hardware.

This post was edited by romy718 on Wed, Sep 24, 14 at 0:12

You can have some of the doors painted a different color to highlight a section. A common one I've seen is having the pantry/hutch a contrasting color (and style), or a swatch of uppers that's a different color. Sometimes just one upper and one lower immediately below it to create an interesting vertical line of color.

There is some really beautiful and unusual hardware. Carved pewter, vintage drawer handles, cool old-style hinges. I've long considered getting glass knobs in rainbow colors just for fun.

You could do frosted glass that can't be seen through or a couple stainless steel doors or some kind of decorative metal mesh like what some radiator covers have:

You can include a bookshelf -- cookbooks all lined up are sort of naturally orderly.

Talk to a carpenter about adding bells and whistles like this arch:

or molding or setting pieces out more.

We're putting in 3 glass cabinet doors for interest, but not plain glass. It was described to me as a kind of "ripple" glass that you won't be able to see through, but light will shine through with the lights we're installing and the glass shelves.

In some layouts, you can bump the upper cabinets out to 15" and make it look like a hutch area. You could also put a 12" or larger open cabinet between cabs or at the end of a run for cookbooks and display items. Post your layout--we're visual!

I love rattan inserts instead of glass. Also fabric, in the right kitchen.

You don't have to put glass in the cabinets. There are companies which make decorated tin or copper inserts to put into the door frame instead of glass.

thanks, guys.

shamefully, i don't know how to post my floor plan - if i did, would have done it ages ago for feedback! it's a PDF file...

our cabinets are going to the ceiling with upper molding, etc at the top. ceilings are either 9 or 10 feet, and i think the cabinet guy i was meeting with yesterday is suggesting going no higher than 9'. like the idea of the arch over the sink, but we're going to have a window there, so that won't work.

we don't have a ton of windows/natural light, unfortunately.

we are planning for many drawers at the bottom, which will break things up a bit. but i was thinking to maybe do something different with the second set of uppers...but what, i'm not sure. and i can't figure out terms to search to find images to consider...

Just look through photos on Houzz. Lots of ideas will pop up.

Our remodel will begin in 2 weeks! We are using metal screen inserts in a few of our cabinets to add a little interest. My KD used them in his kitchen and they look great! Our cabinets are white and the inserts will be painted white also.
You could paint them the same color of your cabs or use a different color. Using a metal finish would be fun too. The possibilities are endless. I should mention that the inserts come in many different patterns.