Sounds like your builder is planning on a lot of crown molding if he is saying you have 42" + 7". Crown molding can cost as much as cabinets, and is purely decorative, rather than providing utility. However, stacked cabinets can also be very expensive. Maybe he is saying if you have 42" cabinets, a beefy soffit or crown molding will still cost less than stacked cabinets. 49" tall doors is a terrible idea. It'll look odd, and unless the doors are top-quality, will rack over time. This builder appears not to know that, or doesn't care.

Here is how you should figure it. You have a 9' ceiling = 108"

Floor to top of counters = 36"

Top of counters to bottom of uppers = 18"

Crown = 3" (you can have a thicker crown, it depends what look you want).

If you want stacked cabinets, assuming a 3" crown, that leaves you able to do 36" + 15" stack, or 39" + 12" stack, or 33" + 18" stack.

My parents' house has 9' ceilings and a single set of doors (with an extra shelf). Cabinets are a bit wider so they are proportional. Also they start a bit higher to give more headroom around the counters (we are a tall family). Crown molding is pretty generous, so stacking in their case would have meant two layers of stubby cabinets. You could consider visually breaking up tall cabinet doors with a two-panel design. I'd be worried about stacking with 9' + crown molding because you'll lose storage space dividing the cabinets and then you have to make sure the uppers and lowers are nicely proportioned.

The kitchen in my house has 9'8" and I'm not thinking I'll do particularly heavy crown molding, so I'll be able to do stacked cabinets, because a single layer would be TOO tall.

20" between the counter and the bottom of the uppers is going to make reaching into those cabinets more difficult. We used 16.5" and the access is comfortable. You could do a cardboard mock-up to investigate what works for you.

We have storage to the ceiling in our 9 foot kitchen ceiling. We have a fur down on the top 10 inches, and than we have NO CEILING at the base of the fur down. This allows us to place tall items like pitchers, boxes of small seasonal decoration on the top shelf that is taller than the other shelves. Saves alot of hinges and knobs too. In our first house, the cabinet maker engineered sliding wood panels that were stained like the cabinet, and slid in grooves at the base of the fur down, left to right. That was nice too, but it was an 8 ft ceiling, & it gave us about 10 inch opening, to the ceiling/12 inches inside the ceiling trim down.. but the wood paneling slid well in the grooves that were cut in the top molding of the cabinets. No hinges and door knobs to buy. This time we just walled it up, the fir down/fur down. But left the inner cabinets open to the 9 ft ceiling. It works great. We get the air space, and have 4 shelves inside the standard doors on the exterior view of the uppers, to the 8 feet level. We held the lower shelf up on one wall around the range, so the taller standing mixer would go beneath the upper cabinets, against the 'backsplash'. We did not pay for an 'appliance garage' or bring upper cabinet doors to the counter top height to hide the spices/appliances, like some have done either. They are 17.5 inches off the counter in the mixer area, and 16.5 inches off on the opposite side of the kitchen..So where Lisa A has her pictures, you would have an opening to the ceiling off her top shelf, but on the exterior it would look as it does now. Maybe that would work for you?

Amanda, the standard distance between the countertop and top of upper cabinets is 18". Can you provide a reason to make it 20"?

Do you have a light valance for under cabinet lighting? The builder is probably saying 20" between countertop & bottom of upper if you do as most LV's are 2". 36"+18"+2"+45" will give you a 7" space between top of upper & ceiling. Here in Ontario (Canada) our building code states a distance of 18" from countertop to combustible above, within 18" from your range (side to side). Combustible is referring to cabinet or light valance if there is one. Outside of the 18" from range, cabinetry can come right down to the countertop. No light valance, bring the cabinetry down to the 18". This is all assuming your building code is the same. Perhaps there is some reason, for the 20" spacing within your local building code?

As to the 7" of space left above the the upper to ceiling, you would normally use a frieze board (flat riser) that the crown would attach to and touch the ceiling. Using a frieze will allow the crown to "float" along the frieze to take up any discrepancies if the ceiling varies in height. If you don't use a frieze, you will notice the discrepancies as the crown can't float. In your drawing, it is only a 3" spacing with that 49" cabinet. IMPO, I wouldn't recommend it. Not only because of the crown not floating, but a 3" crown on a 49" upper will look out of proportion.

Although, a full 45" tall cabinet is less expensive than stacking 30" & 15" cabinets, do keep in mind you have one long door. These are more susceptible to warping.

Do you have a light valance for under cabinet lighting? The builder is probably saying 20" between countertop & bottom of upper if you do as most LV's are 2".

Then the builder would be incorrect. The standard of 18" distance between countertop and upper cabinets includes the light rail of 2". Furthermore, if the homeowner's undercabinet lighting (UCL) is using today's LED lights, they are so low-profile that the light rail no longer has to be 2", though many people install a 2" lightrail for the balanced appearance.

Shannon_WI....Yes, and not only that, but it looks from that drawing that the cabinets are framed which, if using low-profile lighting, would probably not need a light valance as it may tuck in behind the frame.

Cabinet contractor, builder....what’s missing here is kitchen designer. You need a person that can do drawings on 20/20 or a kitchen design program and advise you instead of guessing what might look good. Don’t depend on your builder or a “cabinet contractor”.

our last house had 9 ft ceilings. We had 42” cabinets and a frieze board with crown. If you want a stacked look you are going to need a shorter bottom than 42” for it to look right. But you need proper drawings to look at not guesses.

And even with this new house and 10 ft ceilings and a good kitchen designer, we went through 3 or 4 iterations (at least) before we got it right balancing the heights of the stacked cabinets. Sophie and Cooks Kitchen helped me with the final sizes and my kd plugged them in. Can you find a real design person that is willing to help you with your design?

My “light rail” is nothing but a tiny piece of decorative trim and the distance is still 18”.

Amanda...cabinet ht guide by GN Builders. Maybe this will help

[https://www.houzz.com/photos/cabinet-height-guide-contemporary-new-york-phvw-vp~42287300[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/cabinet-height-guide-contemporary-new-york-phvw-vp~42287300)

With 9' ceilings, decide on the size crown that you want first. 6" is the most common. Then cabinets. 48" H as a single door is risky for warpage. 36"+12" is too squat for the upper cabinets. Not every line offers 33"H cabinets, so the most often used stack will be 30"+18" because that is widely available, and if you are using muntins in the uppers, it makes for nice sized panes.

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Thank you, I've shared with my builder. I honestly have no idea why they made it 20 inches. Our current house is 19? We will have hidden outlet strips and lighting underneath. This is a Cabinet Builder. Like what they do for a living? Is that any different than Kitchen Design? I've shared The Cook's Kitchen Picture and ILoveRed's Cabinet Blue Prints. I appreciate everyones feedback. I guess we will see what drawings they provide next.

Cabinet Builder does not always equate Kitchen Designer, &, vice versa.

I was a Cabinetmaker before I was a Designer. I was trained as a Kitchen Designer later in life. Before my training, I did not in all honesty, know the true ins & outs of Kitchen design. I could build anything you wanted though.

Designing a kitchen is not simply dropping any cabinet into a any space and expecting it to function properly or look proper. Likewise, I know many Designers who will design something but have no clue how to build it, or, even if it can be built. The 2 need to work together in many cases when it comes to true custom items.

Now we are going back and forth over budget, The cabinet builder is saying he does 49 inch cabinet doors all the time and they don't warp or sag..... :-|

Even if that were true (which I doubt whether he's cared to check back on these 49" cabinets after a few years of use) it's not a great look.

Here's the same pic, but with a 5'5" and 5'10" person for scale. The 48" towers quite a bit. And i DO have experience with larger doors warping in humid summers.

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