We originally saw glass on some high-rise patios near the ocean in California. For similar reasons of not blocking the view from our kitchen. When constructing a porch onto our patio, we installed tempered glass between the posts and below our railing rather than balusters. We used 3/8" glass, had a local glass shop cut to necessary dimensions and send them out for tempering. We also have a dog. Because ours is on an egress porch, not a full patio, there isn't much activity near the glass. As far as cleaning, it really has never been a problem. Maybe once or twice a season. Here's a photo. Look behind the pergola to the egress porch. Glass is below the railing - practically invisable.

We stepped our main deck level down one step (a small landing outside the door and then a step down to rest of deck) and then used a combination of black wrought iron vertical railing joined with wood decorative posts. I don't know the style of your home, and the overall "color" of your view (ie, if it's light, you may want white railing), but this worked very nicely for us. The white painted corner posts tied in with the traditional style of our home, and the iron blended with the trees/forest so that it is practically invisible from inside, yet the overall look makes the outside area a focal point rather than a railing distraction. Just an idea. I'm not sure if it was all that affordable. My husband did the woodwork, and brought in the iron guy to measure and fill in the railing lengths. Reeha

I have been working on building a deck on my house for five years now (it's a big deck), and I'm finally to the point where I can finish up the decking this year and maybe move on to railings. We want to install one of the 1/8" stainless cable railings. My priorities are: 1. Cheap. 2. Meets code. 3. Cheap. There seem to be several systems out there, but it seems like everyone prices theirs differently, and anchors them differently too. Anyone have any experience with one brand or another they care to comment on? Feeney seems about the easiest to find (even at Lowe's if I recall), there's also Atlantis, and even eBay and Amazon kits. I have every tool under the sun and don't really concern myself with the whole "ease of installation" thing (if you saw how I built my deck, you'd understand) so I'd rather buy a big spool of cable instead of those silly pre-cut lengths that I have to cut to fit anyway. Any thoughts? Thanks, Darel

Ontariomom, I wonder with the set up that Ice has if that still might work for you because the panels are not solid up to the railing. I think the opening above the frosted glass makes it much less a barrier than frosted glass all the way up. I don't think it would appear to block the house like other, more solid choices would. And it would give you a bit of privacy on that deck, plus solve the cleaning issues. You could explore the code for how much space above the glass to the railing you could have.