Thank you for the responses, I think I will have him hold off on the shelves until the uppers across the room are installed and see how they will look at that height. Then maybe have the other placed about 18" higher! I was feeling rushed to make the choice, but I forgot to realize that I am in charge here and can just ask for a little more time!

Lining up of the shelves is always problematical as the alignment is based on your perspective. If the shelves are lined up for someone 5'2", they will not be lined up for someone 6'2"...the shelves are viewed from different heights and that means a different view of the shelves. This issue is one of the reasons all glass shelves (i.e., no wood frame around the shelves) work much better than wood shelves or framed glass shelves. Using glass for the door that has a "pattern" is also helpful.

I could understand having one shelf that's easy to reach and clean but multiple shelves are just there to make some sort of design statement. I would rather see the beautiful tile than a cluttered wall that is in need of cleaning. I neglect my chimney hood because I don't feel like getting out the step stool. I would not want to face taking everything off the shelves to clean regularly. Come to think of it, the other thing I dread cleaning is my bookcase, which has pottery pieces along with books.

I think your instincts about quantity are right on - 2 or 3 (depending on the height of the items to be displayed) feels right for the height of that space. You want to take a close look at the shelf images you posted and compare with your space. It's a little hard to tell without more images of your kitchen, but it looks like you have a "transitional" aesthetic, not quite modern but not quite traditional either. The shelf images you posted are both of very modern decor. The reason the long shelves look good is that they are very thick, and the reason the thick shelves look good is because the aesthetic is very modern. Floating shelves can certainly look good in a transitional setting, but they probably want to be thinner and therefore shorter. In addition, I would keep the layout symmetrical rather than staggered (again, staggered is more modern). Consider either a set of shelves of moderate length centered in the alcove or two sets of shorter shelves each centered over a pair of cabinet doors. If appropriate for the items you plan to display, you might also consider shallow picture ledges like the image below, rather than full depth shelves.