If you don't go all the way to the ceiling you will collect a ton of dust on top of your cabinets (I speak from experience) - but you have to decide which look you like better -- The cabinets in the picture have a large piece of filler molding to reach the ceiliing - do you like that look or do you want the actual cabinets to be taller? Does you kitchen ceiling exist - or are you creating it? Our architect talked about 10-12 foot ceilings but the rest of our house is 8 foot (historical house) and I thought that it would not be harmonious to have the ceiling be these soaring ceilings so we have compromised and brought them down to under 9 feet. One other thing I noticed about your kitchen - does it bother you that the sink is not centered under the windows? I can see not putting it in the center of the middle window if that makes opening other cabinets difficult, but is there a reason it isn't centered under the left window also? I also noticed that the range wall has uppers and lowers balanced and sink wall does not - do you like it that way? I bring it up because when we did our first kitchen I assumed the kitchen cabinet guy would think about these things because it was his every day job -- yeah, not so much - so we ended up with glass front cabinets with different size panes because he just filled the space. hth

Your kitchen designer sounds like a person who does not see all roads leading to home meaning there are many different ways to achieve the same goal... Most semi custom cabinet companies that are limited to be more Henry Ford like in production do not offer the 12" high cabinets in each 3" width from 9" to 36" or wider. They tend to offer them for the sizes used over the appliances which use them the most. So 30, 33, and 36" would be commonly needed. Your kitchen plan normally has a lot of other widths used that are not those sizes. The companies that have the stacked cabinets pre made are generally 42" or higher. I have 5 cabinets lines I offer. 3 of the 5 do not have stacked cabinets in the book.... One of the 3 has 12" high cabinets starting 12" wide but does not have a corner cabinet less then 30" high.... They happen to offer custom cabinets on a quote by quote basis which is why I like them. But you should see my point... Your kitchen designer should have explained better the reason why they did not offer you what you were looking for. It is either they feel a 27" under a 12" with a 3" crown over that is not a good use of space or.... they do not have a company they can do it at all or for the price they are planning to present to you.... That discussion would have been much more meaning full.... I can for example use a stacked cabinet that is 42" having 2 open compartments, with Showplace and shrink it 3" if you want the molding as most would... I can also with them as was suggested above just build the door with a glass panel in the top section of it. They are # 4 out of my 5 as 5 being the highest price in general.... 18" is the general rule of thumb for recommended clearance to the countertop. 15" is considered as low as you should go and 21" is pushing the upper side of reasonability for most projects... The codes as noted above are concerned with being able to set fire to combustible wood cabinets having appliances that generate heat under them... You should be able to do what you are looking for. You just have to decide what look you like, crown or no crown, and find who can offer it to you at a price you can afford...

Hi Everyone! What gorgeous kitchens you all have here! We don't even have 8' - more like 7 foot 8-1/2 inches, but it looks much taller since we ran the cabinets down to the countertops in a few locations. One thing, we didn't have to use the spacer because we had inset cabinets which have 1-1/2" of face frame on top so that's where we mounted the crown. With that said, we had 36" uppers which have a lot of storage. If someone looked closely, they could see that the reveal of the face frame is different, in different places because our ceiling was not level - but you really have to LOOK! Oh, yes, we did buy extra "paint grade" crown from the cabinet supplier and that is what we did at the wall. It doesn't exactly match what is in the rest of the house, but it is great in the kitchen. It probably cost a bit more doing it that way, but well worth it. Here's a during tear out and almost done, it's the only one I had that really shows both crowns together:

Amber S--I can see why you have made the decision to replace that top trim. So, all of you, what can people who have 8' ceilings and want the contemporary look of a slab door do if they want to install the 40" uppers? (I like fancy crown molding with traditional cabinetry, but it won't work with a modern look.) How about installing the uppers about 1.5" or so closer to the counter top than is typically recommended?