As I look at existing kitchens, I am thinking knobs above and pulls below with maybe one extra-wide pull for towels on a drawer beside the fridge. Do you have any suggestion? Send me a pic and I will likely do whatever you suggest! We got a regular depth fridge and paid extra for deep panels to wrap it. Cabinet sales rep recommended against this approach (just get a second fridge for the garage is a solution?!) but we like it. Hides the left corner of the kitchen where we leave out the appliances!

I was going to say open shelving would be nice, so I really like nosoccermom's pics. If you're going to do some sort of BS below the cabinets & don't want to take it up the wall, you can take it down the wall at the height of the bottom of the cabinets & put your shelves above, between the cab's. If you decide to put a cabinet there, make sure your face isn't directly in the cabinet!! You don't want to be uncomfortable while at the sink. Let us see what you end up doing.

This is probably too late to help but I just went through the same thing. My contractor's glass guy quoted $560 for 9 12" high doors with clear safety glass and 2 24" doors, with white laminate safety glass. I thought that was outrageous so did my own research. My local hardware store owner was willing to do it for $300. In the end I used an actual glass store less than a mile from home and paid $275 for a really great, professional job. The glass was installed with silicone instead of the unsightly clip/screw system.

I am embarking down this road as I patiently await my countertops. I am wondering if anyone who has done this can tell us what they spent, and whether it still feels like an easy-to-clean surface? I live in Utah, called four glass places, and two of them install glass backsplashes (two didn't answer their phone or return my call). The one who would give me an estimate said $35/square foot, and this includes sandblasting the back and painting with a specialty paint (like an automotive paint). Install would be another $85/hour. The glass type was not specified, though I could certainly call and ask.. I am looking at a 10-foot x 1.5 foot backsplash, meaning maybe $600 installed. I would love to hear about other people's experiences.