I have 42/15 with a 10 foot ceiling, and I don't think 36 would look too tall at all. I wouldn't do upper cabionets less than 15 -- you find that once you take out the box itself, some of the things you would like to display either won't fit or barely fit and you can't raise them so that you only see them for about the top 1/2-2/3.

I did ours based on what we wanted to store in them---for or 108" ceilings we have 4" of flat moulding at the very top, and then roughly an 18" cabinet on top of a 32" cabinet. That happened to make it so that I could reach the top shelf of the 32" cabinet standing on tiptoe, but needed a step stool for anything in the cabinet above. It also made it work out so that the doors on the top row of uppers were basically square---but this would depend on the width of your cabinets. (Our top doors are about 15" x 15" since the cabinets are flush inset.)

The short answer: for 3" molding with 108" ceilings the top of the cabinet would finish at 105" nominal and wall cabinets would be 51" total height set at 54" AFF nominal. The long answer. Standard for bottom of wall cab to finished floor is 54". With stone counters you have about 3/4" of play there but most often 54 is used. NOTE!! In some places inspectors measure 18" from the range to the undercabinet molding though. In every case I know of where that is the norm installers will put the undercabinet molding on after inspection but YMMV so find out. Then if it were me I would be looking at: How level are the floors? 54 is taken from the high spot in the run. If floors are out more than 1/2" it might be wise to adjust the base cabinet height to compensate. Now how level are the ceilings? and is the dimension 108"? I've seen "9 foot ceilings" that measured anywhere between 105 and 109". (Just today was speaking with an architect who was saying 9 ft ceilings- when I asked about finished hgt it turns out it will be 106 1/2 to 106 3/4 finished) New construction you have to assume reasonably level (and pray), if they are using TGI joists all the better. Since you are doing a remodel you can determine this ahead of time, with new construction we have to guess. Are you changing the floor out? If so will the finished height change? If things are out more than 1/2" over the run things get very tricky. Inset or full overlay? If inset- many brands have a wider top rail to allow some overlap for the molding while maintaining consistant rail height. Does the brand or maker you are working with do that? For instance a 2" top rail on an inset placed at 105" with 108" ceiling ht. needs 3 1/2" of molding. Are standard sizes important? (at this point usually not) I don't know of a standard wall cabinet that comes over 48" high. Taller cabinets mean an "increase height" or "combine cabinets" modification... or two cabinets simply stacked. With IH and (often) Combine you can usually specify and exact size. Either is better (and usually more cost effective after labor is accounted for) than just stacking two cabinets. Molding size- really should be determined on a case by case basis. Size of room, style, how level things are, and proportions. In most cases with that ceiling height and a room large enough to go to the ceiling with cabinets I am using more 4"-6" of total molding. AND almost always using a two piece stack and usually 3 (really short mounting pc, flat(ish) vertical and crown). That starts to allow for variation in level of ceiling and floor while not letting it show too much. If things are way out you need taller molding stack than if they are close to level. I will only specify a single piece molding if the client really wants it AND the installer agrees ahead of time. Over 90" total height you not miss a couple of inches in storage height. You will notice a bad molding job...forever. If the room itself is crowned? Will it match the cabinet molding? Or not? IF different, then: plynth blocks will be needed and the relationship of the moldings to each other must be accounted for.

i couldn't afford stacked. i had to the ceiling cabs in old kitchen with one cabinet looking stacked...double doors on single wall cab. don't be afraid to mix it up. doesn't all have to be stacked. Here is a link that might be useful: my kitch