I like 36" uppers in general. My initial design included 42" but I changed it once I "lived with" (a.k.a. a good friend has, so I hung out in her kitchen for a few hours) them.

In your drawings, I prefer the first (30"), which doesn't help your goal of taller cabinets very much! I don't like the way the beam "sits" on the cabinet in the second picture and leaves you that unusable space (read: hard to clean), and in the third, the shorter cabinet on the right looks like an unintentional geometric statement. :)

BTW quick blurb on my 42" decision - how tall are you? I'm just under 5'11 and DH is just under 6'5. Neither of us felt that we could comfortably access items on the top shelf, so it was going to be wasted space for us because I'm not brining out a stool to get into my cabinets. And something about the 42" felt very "wall of wood" to us. And it would've meant sacrificing the space between ceiling and counters, which I like for decorating.

I think you could vary heights. I'm not sure how the size of the sink window would make a difference. Where is the window in relation to the corner cabinet (the corner to the left of your range)?

I'm of two minds - one mind says to make lemonade out of lemons. Strip all the trim from the tops of the walls and the beam and do as simple a drywall profile as possible and take the cabinets a bit towards modern - meaning at most plain shaker style with a simple crown on the cabinets instead of the wall, but preferably a nice shiny lacquer and Italian lines.

The other mind says to disguise and emphasize similarity. Lower the ceiling height in the vaulted area to match the other side and straighten the ceiling out as much as possible if you like traditional. The most expensive version, but clean and very traditional, would be to fake coffer and beam both ceilings to completely blend the structural beam into the coffer pattern.

As far as cabinets go - 36" all over, baby sofit in the shorter section if going traditional; taller sofit - just to the top of the cabinet crown in depth in the taller section. This would help the front edge appearance of the cabinets be the same in both heights.

I like the 36" ones much better. I think they work better visually to draw the eye up to your ceiling (an asset in my book) and also are more functional. While you won't use the top shelf for everyday stuff, it is easier to take an Xmas platter off a top shelf than have to drag it out of storage every year and put it away after. I'd also use pulls that went vertical to further accent the height of the room instead of knobs. Knobs can look too small when you use a taller cabinet.

I think your varied height ceiling is interesting and would be happy to not have things all symmetrical. I like your drawing with the cab over the hood. It seems to balance better.

For the window wall, I'd go with the 36" cabs, add a molding of sorts and then use rope lights behind the molding to give an up-glow at night.
You have some drama in the room because of your ceiling, so I would play that up.

We have a beam and a vault, too. I'll attach photos just for ideas. It isn't the same cabinet on either side of the beam, so different situation, but maybe seeing different heights will help you decide.

What if you did something totally different on the beam side, like open shelves? What kind of hood are you using?

I think I like the 36" all around best. I like that it maximizes storage and emphasizes your tall ceiling area. And I like that it leaves the vaulted area open to emphasize that feeling of height and airiness that you get with vaulted ceilings. The 30" feels a little short in your tall space and the 42" drawing makes the vaulted side feel a little "heavy" to me. I look forward to seeing you finished design.

Have you considered putting a full vent hood over the stove, rather than an under-cabinet one? I know that you would lose that little bit of storage, but it would really accentuate the ceiling height.

Another idea would be to do the 36" overall, but boost that cabinet over the stove up to 42".

Wow, so many great thoughts. Thank you all.

I'm glad that there seems to be somewhat of a concensus on the 36 inch cabinets, since that is what I have been leaning toward. While I certainly won't be able to reach the top shelf without a step stool (5'6" and getting shorter every year!), it would add additional storage and as several of you mentioned, it draws the eye up and accentuates the height. I will miss the display space on top of the cabinets, but I'm not very good at keeping those treasures clean..... Maybe a 36 in door with a bit of glass at the top of the door.

Avesmore, there is a 33 inch wide cabinet between the corner cabinet and the window. I would love to enlarge the window; I've got a great view, though my budget probably won't allow for it and it would take away more storage space. {{!gwi}}
You have to love the Tylenol orange counters,eh??!

Bmorepanic: although DH would probably prefer a more modern look, the kitchen is open to the family room which has a somewhat traditional look, including crown molding and more of those beams.

Re the hood, I have already purchased a DCS VS36 and a DCS 36 in all gas range. The hood is 18 inches tall, and will need something to top it off to bring it to the top the cabinets, not sure if a cabinet would be right (I guess there is not enough room if I use 36 inch cabinets) or a stainless extension to the top of the hood. Segbrown, you have a vaulted ceiling! I wish I had all that space! It is so dramatic.

Thank you all again!!!