Not that i'm suggesting this, but would track lighting solve your problem? You could have the individual lights point where you would like. You can buy kits to convert can lights to take regular lights.(Did that in previous master remodel switched can over tub to chandelier) I am not sure how much clearance you have with your fan but they make a light with 3 individual lights that you adjust where they point.(Think I saw them on lightinguniverse.com)

I wish I had a suggestion on the lighting, but I think glass shelves would ruin the look of those built-ins. They're too pretty to mess with.

You might want to look a flexible LED strip lighting. I just installed some in a couple kitchen cabinets with glass doors and for over cabinet lighting with very good results. The LED's come in WW and NW, three different lumen levels and even an RGB version. I used WW, standard output. There is adhesive on one side of the strip so you just cut to length and stick to the cabinet face pointing towards the back. THe strips are 0.3' wide and only 0.1' thick and I had no problem with clearance between the front edge of the shelves and the tape stuck to the cabinet face. On the outer shelf units, you could run strips down both the wall-side face and the inner face. For your middle unit, you could only light from one side. The space over the TV, just a strip run along the top. And I'd light over top of the built in too...it really would look great. I would just lay the DC transformer on top of the built in as it appears you have a nice crown lip to conceal it.

A couple learnings for me. THe WW color temp is reported as 2700 K. I have to think that they have a very narrow spectrum as the light can appear quite yellow in certain situations. Also, the standard output strips in my cabs are actually too bright. I do have a dimmable transformer but have yet to install a dimmer. On a do over, I'd use the low output in my cabinets in conjunction with the standard output over the cabinets. I might also go with the NW, color temp of 5000 K.

All purchased from Elementalled.com.

If you can tell me how to do it, I'll post some pics!

Here is a link that might be useful: Elemental LED

Here are a few pics:

Disconnected two of the four strips inside cabinets:

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

bh401: I think the issue is the angle of the lighting and the affect it has when it hits the shelves. It creates shadows.

robj: I completely agree.

Joe: Thanks for the pictures. The rope lighting seems like the best solution however, we don't have verticle moldings to hide the lights behind. I am sure, however, we could have the guy who built them change it up so the shelves are cut to make them a smidge more shallow, and then install moldings to hide the lights.

We do have rope lights above the unit on a dimmer, and I think we'd do the same with any cabinet lighting. Seeing your pictures helps a good deal. thank you.

Sue