I have glass cabs for my daily dishes, mugs etc and I don't have a problem with it. I got some pretty decorative mugs, pretty teapot, sugar/creamer, salt/pepper shakers, and they show through nicely. I have clear glass cabs, but not all of my uppers are glass. Those hold my "not so pretty" items. I do not take any extra care closing my glass cabinets. They have been fine and I don't have soft close anything.

I plan on doing a remodel soon, and I am planning on getting some glass cabs again, not sure if they will be clear though. Still have to work through all that.

My two main uppers are glass. 36X36 three shelves clear class. They flank my sink. Daily use for past five years. Dishes and drinking glasses. Clear glass glasses and all white dishes.
I like them. I keep them clean and tidy not a big deal. Not fragile in any way. Many people comment on how nice etc. I do not have them lighted. Dont miss it.
All that said I am not doing glass in my new kitchen for the uppers except for small display cabs under crown on top of 48" tall cabs.
Just got tired of seeing the stuff in the cabs all the time. Even tho I keep it looking nice and tidy. It seems to make the kitchen busier and seems a bit trendy to me now.
Also the cabs were pretty spendy at the time even with plain glass. Just not worth it to me this time around. YMMV
Its not a matter of having to treat the cabinets any differently. Altho I do find that it helps me to be more "organized" in those cabs.

My uppers are all glass. They store my dishes by which I mean glasses of all sorts, plates, lots of kinds of bowls, mugs. And in one I have oils, vinegars, and other jarred ingredients. You can also tuck things in at the frame edges (like my hand lotion and such)... they won't show behind the frame.

I think most anything looks fine in a glass upper AS LONG AS IT ISN'T TOO CROWDED. If you pack a cabinets with too much stuff of any kind, it doesn't look good.

I think it depends on the cabinets. Ours are inset with magnet catches. The cabinet that houses all of our glasses and dishes are glass. We have no problems but they are somewhat "furniture like". I would never have this type of heavily used cabinet if our children were still young. On the other hand, if we had glass inserts in our old cabinets, which were frameless (full overlay) and much heartier, the age of the user wouldn't matter.

Oh, one other thing... I think glass uppers make a kitchen seem less closed in and bigger.

One of the first things my DH did when we moved in was to replace all the upper cabinet panels with glass. It made such a difference to us in how the kitchen felt.

We are talking taste here. It may or may not be the same for you. Look at lots of pictures and real kitchens to figure out how YOU feel about it.

The majority of our uppers are glass. We keep our glasses, dishes, cookbooks and most of our serving pieces in them. We have clear glass. No lights, wood shelves, green cabinets.

It makes our kitchen feel more open and I happen to like my stuff. The food, misc. household and outdoor stuff is behind solid doors. Keeping the dish cabinets neat is easy - they have to be neat in order to fit everything in.

Love my glass cabinets but I was overloading the glass shelves so had to modify the glass arrangement for a better balance I use it everyday!

I have only had a completed kitchen for about a month, but we have two glass uppers and they house all my everyday glasses and mugs. I really enjoy them. I do not have to shut them gingerly. They feel solid. Mine have gothic styled mullions that are quite thick so it seems to give the glass door a solid feel when I shut them.

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thanks for all your feedback everybody!
ppbenn, thanks for bringing up the cost issue. i guess i should see how much more they will cost to do.

donaleen, 1929spanish, and cookingbuff, glad you are all happy with your glass cabs. i do agree that the glass seems to open up a kitchen more, which is why i lean towards getting them.

cheri, my big concern is that I do have small kids, also live in earthquake country... i do plan on doing frameless cabinets though. do you think that makes more of a difference from a safety perspective?

a2gemini, i was just going to do wood shelves and have the glass fronts be obscure, so i figured it would be easier and more economical to skip the glass shelves inside. sounds like glass shelves can be a little bit trickier to use.

annsch, your mullions are so pretty!! lit up, they are gorgeous. i have to rethink the lighting (which i was thinking of skipping) and maybe mullions are the way to go too for a little more added safety? i have to see if that look will work for my kitchen though, which i am trying to make modern-looking..

Go 4 it! Can't wait to see pictures

I think you will be fine. We had frameless cabinets before the remodel and they were abused but held up very well. I agree with a previous poster using clear glass for dishes and glasses. They always look tidy. Our cabinet has wood shelves and no lights and I love it.

We put 2 all-glass uppers in our small kitchen. One is in a separate section of cabs that are on their own and will be used for our 'finer' crystal etc. The other is beside the window and we use it for our drinking glasses.

The other cabs all have glass uppers ostensibly for displaying 'things' but with 9 foot ceilings and the relatively small glass panes in each door, they're not terribly useful for that.

I had dimmable LED recessed pucks put in all the cabinets, with 2 in each all-glass units. I had them use the StarFire (sp?) glass shelves in those cabs as well to minimize the dark edge you get with typical glass. They allow the light to pass right down through the entire cabinet.

Just wanted to add that we used wooden shelves because I was worried about the durability of everyday use. We added strip LED lighting on inside edge of the cabinet, so the light reaches the whole cabinet. Going to try and take a pic to show how this works, we'll see...

Unless you are using them for a display cabinet, I wouldn't use lights or glass shelves.

hi - just wanted to add my 2 cents - we have all glass uppers and love them. I do not feel like I have to treat them any differently than my other cabinets, they seem just as solid as the others.

Since all of our cabs are glass - I use the bottom of the cab for my everyday dishes and glasses since it is within easy reach and the wood bottom makes it all very stable. I have lesser used items above on the glass shelves, which I find to be stable and not as delicate as I feared.

We have lights in all the cabs and I really like the glow we get at night. I say definitely go for it! :)

hi michou...

I don't have enough time to read all the responses so excuse me if I am repeating advice..

My glass cabs hold all of my everyday glasses, dishes, etc..

They have soft-close hinges so I don't have to worry about closing them gingerly...Soft close on everything is my advice..

KA:)

thanks everyone for the advice and eye candy! all your glass cabinets are beautiful and inspiring. i think i will go for it!

torontotim, gorgeous lighting arrangements! your lights look like they are different colors too. i love the warm yellows mixed with the whites, or maybe it is just from the angles/shadows? can you share what brands/ colors you used for the lights?

kitchenaddict, thanks for the soft-close advice. that sounds like a must-have for me.

oh, one last question, did you do laminated or tempered glass?
for safety since i am in earthquake country with young kids, i think i should do something, but not sure which type is better.. thank you for your insight!

I am not in earthquake country so that was not a concern. But perhaps they use, or you could ask for, safety glass? When safety glass breaks there are no dangerous shards.

More generally, I would use as much glass as the budget allows. It looks nicer. As long as you have pretty dishes and they match (why wouldnt you, if you are redoing the whole kitchen).