I love the look of taller cabs and the all glass will elongate the lines. I am sure there may be times that the split could work as well. It would depend on context and the style of the kitchen. If your kd could do mock ups both ways in your proposed layout, it would really help.
Of course, I really love some open shelves, esp ones up high on a tall wall and that would eliminate some of your problem ;)

I have this one saved as an example:

I agree with dianalo, ask your designer to do a mockup so you can see the differences between the two in your space. In general I think it would be nice to have the glass go to the top.

Mine are the original 80 year old cabinets. The glass goes all the way up.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Hi Bee~

I should be getting our final drawings this week and can offer some measurements, but we are doing all glass cabs with the solid panel at the top. The ceiling height is about 9 feet. I don't think you can go wrong, really. Sayde's is beautiful! Here's the look we're going for.

Katie

Bee, I'm sorry I don't have a better picture and with the glass in.

The glass is something like four feet long. That's a big reason why you don't see it very often--shipping the glass! If I'd gotten it from the online source I found the pattern at, I would have had to pay for it to be crated in wood like fine art. That would have cost as much as the glass! Equally, getting it made locally would have cost a similar fortune because of the transportation issues. JDesigns from this forum found me wholesale sources an hour away where my contractor could have picked up the glass, taken it to be tempered, and taken back to be cut, then brought here, which he would have done. Fortunately, he thought to ask his glass source, who were installing my mirror in the butler's pantry, and they could get the glass...and because they were bringing the mirror, I didn't have to pay the hundreds of dollars to transport the cabinet glass which was so long it had to be crated or on a glass truck (or between boards in the contractor's pick-up, with prayers for no potholes).

Make sure the KD costs it out and is 100% sure it's not going to cost you a lot extra in the shipping.

If your designer is going to source the glass and have it arrive installed and ready for you to love, there's no reason not to go all the way up. Then it's just a matter of what you want it to look like. Some people have glass over glass, some (including me), have wood over wood, some have glass over wood, some have wood over glass. Whichever does it for your design is right. I did split cabinets on the perimeter because of the breaks for the hood and window, and because I didn't want to see the stuff that one needs a ladder to get at. I also felt like the cabinet would loom over there if they were solid. OTOH, in the butler's pantry (one side pictured above), food pantry and laundry, they go all the way up and don't loom. It's all a matter of what balances in the design.

Both looks are great. However, closed space like katiebob's picture also offer storage for unsightlies that you rarely use, like the odd heirloom fondue set or the Valentine's Day apron with flashing LED bosoms. Depends on what you need.

I have an all-glass cabinet that basically sets on a mantle & goes to a 11' ceiling - probably over 6' tall - & it looks balanced.
Not a particularly good photo but you get the idea.....

My ceilings are 10 1/2 ft and the glass doors are 4 ft tall. They are reclaimed Arts and Craft windows . I love the look of the old wavy glass and way less expensive than new. At least gives you another option.

The examples above are wonderful.c

I like both looks - agree with posts above - depends on what you will store and if you want to hide versus show

To my mind, solid on top of glass seems odd. The visual weight seems like it should support the glass, not sit on top. My 2 cents

thanks for the input, I might just have to ditch glass cabinets totally. I just got back the cost for the kitchen as the KD originally planned it. It was laughable. My builder was a bit shocked and disappointed. I told the KD to follow through with all the changes I made last week and then give me the cost again. In fact I want 3 different quotes for the same stuff, but 1. with inset doors, 2. with inset on top and overlay on bottom, and 3. all overlay. I want to see what kind of savings that will bring.

I think glass all the way up looks better. Here's a photo of the glass door cabs in the butler's pantry. Seems this Christmas photo is the only one I have of the doors! We also have 9 foot ceilings and they provide so much storage when the cabinets go all the way to the top. Otherwise the cabinet tops are just colossal dust collectors! And running them all the way up looks so much better than soffits with all that wasted space.

I love katieob's inspiration picture.

glass all the way - and I'd suggest glass across the uppers as well. ours are 9' ceilings like yours and go all the way up with crown.

Exceptions were the full height pantry cabinet and the cabinet above the range hood, which has the duct work and a bunch of electrical for all the LED cabinet lighting.

We used starphire glass shelving in the full glass cabinets to allow light to pass through to the bottom.