Unfortunately, my apartment kitchen is sickeningly small. Our top-of-cabinet storage is dedicated to appliances, picnic baskets and old pots.
We have mason jars of staples in a hutch next to the kitchen. It looks lovely.

I don't like it because I hate the dust and grease that accumulates on top.

I have to agree with Tamarind - it gets yucky up there.

Agreed on the yuck factor, you must have cleaner cabinets than me. I also want that type of thing in easier reach than having to pull out a step stool. Mine wouldn't look as nice cause there's a lip so anything up there is lower than the edge of the cabinet. Also lentils would probably be fine, but grains are better kept in the dark, no?

Also, unless it's organized and well-thought-out, it could cause your kitchen to look cluttered ... like mine =)

Count me in on hating the dust & grease. It works if you use the items often and need the storage space, but it's a pain as decoration-only.

dust and grease and 'too small to reach without a short ladder' makes this a big no for me.

I wanted storage on top of my stupid cabinets for the things we use a few times a year but the greasy dust is a big deterrent. I found some cardboard boxes that fit exactly on top of the cabinet (xerox paper boxes from the office) and made slip covers from pretty printed canvas. Now the covers can be pulled off and thrown in the wash and the cherry pitter doesn't clutter up the utensil drawer.

I'm not a tall person. If I want to get to the top of my cabinet, I'm going to have to climb on top of the counter and that's just not practical. There's nothing up there but one large, empty nesting doll and a Santa Muerte candle we received as a gift.

I store things up there out of the way in my tiny apartment kitchen to the distaste of my kitties, who use that area for high up cat naps!

I would love to store things I use a ton like flours and things, but I'm short and the cabinets are high so it inevitably involves me hopping up on a counter and getting things while my husband watches on terrified he's going to watch me fall!

haha some of us don't really have a choice, but I never considered earthquakes. That's a good point. We don't have earthquakes here.

the only problem with storing up there is that things collect a particularly difficult grease-dust pretty quickly. So if it's to show off your sparklies, they're not going to be sparkly for long.

I did this with pet food for the gerbil, rabbit and dog treats. It looks awesome. Now that my kids are older (9 and 15), I can do it.

I should say that the jars are on top of a 4 foot tall cupboard in hallway. The dog food and containers that hold larger amounts are inside the cupboard. It's a much tidier proposal than the kitchen, but my kitchen is so small, I keep it very clean.

I have a friend who got knocked out while trying to reach for a jar of flour on top of her fridge. Taught me to never store anything heavy up high unless I barely use it.

I have to agree with the comments about grease. I used to live with a kitchen that had space on top of the cabinets. I found that anything up there acquired a grease film that was hard work to remove. I have often wondered if this is worse with a gas cooktop, which I had. Does anyone know if a gas cooktop produces more of a grease buildup?

I agree with the whole dust and grease thing, plus I'd rather not have light causing deterioration of my food. Add in earthquakes and food on the top of the cabinets is a definite "no" for me.

I always had that gummy nasty grease up there til the apartment I'm in now. It seems to accumulate much much less and I have no clue why

Dangerous!

My freshman roommate in college used to put all of her condiments above the cabinets. They were large bottles of soy sauce, vinegar, etc, anything that wouldn't fit inside the non-adjustable cabinet shelves. One day, I opened the cabinet door, and the bottle of fish sauce fell and smashed on the floor. The smell of fish sauce remained in the apartment for a whole week.

I'm glad it didn't hit me on the way down. However, I never want to keep fish sauce at home ever since. I love Asian dishes with fish sauce, but I can't make them at home because I hate the smell of fish sauce too much to keep it in my house.

I have cookbooks, a vintage mixer, cookie jars, and other vintage items on top of my cabinets. I don't know how the greasy dust (the dust yes, tbut the grease?) gets up there because I rarely cook on my stovetop and only use the oven once a week or so. Most of my cooking is done in a toaster oven or outside on the grill. I do have a gas oven so I think, like some of the other posters that the gas has something to do with the accumulation of schmutz up there. I also get a similar schmutz all over my front and back patios as there is a large outdoor kitchen with two gas grills just outside my front door. I think the carbon or something is contributing to the nasty.

We don't have space over our cabinets, the doors go all the way to the ceiling, but I only keep empty jars and things I don't use very often up that high. Too hard to reach in a hurry, since I am but wee.

It also gets really, really hot up there when I've got the oven going.

I also agree on the weird dusty grease - and apartment I lived in for awhile (even though everyone used the hood, which worked pretty effectively) would have a layer of dusted grease on the vases and jars and empty baskets left on the cabinet tops.

But in that house, with a bunch of roomates, we needed to make good use of all the kitchen space we had available, so a couple folks would keep jars of foodstuffs up there too.

I have space on top of my cupboards, but the are way too tall for me to reach, I would have to climb or have my 6'4" hubby come in every time I needed something. So up top I have various things like my small but growing cake plate collection, and cool bottles, and cool canisters and all that kitchenie stuff. And yes they are dusty, and no I don't clean them often. You can tell unless your right up on them though since their so high. Oh and I almost forgot, my copper mold collection hangs on the wall on above the cupboards.

I've been wondering what to do with this space above my cabinets. I've been considering putting a colorful wallpaper up there, and maybe some decorative vases and nice-looking storage boxes. Right now it's just space for random crap and I don't like the looks of it. :(

I'm about the size of a smurf, so my step ladder is ALWAYS out. I can't reach things IN the top cabinets without it, so it's not that big of a deal to put stuff on top of the cabinets. I tend to put things I don't use very much, like one of my crockpots - not something I use every day.

Not only is there dust and grease, but heat rises, and there are many food items what are affected by heat and will turn rancid and/or stale faster, so keep that in mind. My deal is, if I'm not going to use it a lot, then I won't buy a lot. I'll shop bulk and get just what I need.

And I do realize that people might store flour high up, but have you ever found a bag of flour and it smelled "musty"? It's from improper storage. Always store dry goods in a cool, dry place!

I live in Christchurch, New Zealand and we were unfortunate enough to experience a mag 7.1 earthquake a few months ago. We had large jars lined up along the top of our cabinets and they were the first things to fall. Luckily it happened at 4am so no one was hurt.
Love the look but would never do it again and if you live in an earthquake area it's a definate no!

I love to put stuff on top of the cabinets--but only if it's either decorative and doesn't need to be cleaned often, or it gets used so often that it doesn't have time to get dusty. Unfortunately, one of my roommates this time around is 5'2", so that's a no go. And it's a bit of a pain because she doesn't want to have to use a stool for anything, so we have to keep all heavily used items as low as possible or she'll whine. We haven't had the conversation about my bad back yet, but it's coming soon. Along with a friggin' stool.

I live in Japan (part of the ring of fire) and I keep a few pretty jars like in the picture on top of my fridge.

Most earthquakes don't do a thing to them, and the ones that would be big enough to send my jars over the edge would give me reason to worry about other things first. In other words, I'm not that worried about the jars.

Relax! Not that big of a deal.

Our current cupboard go all the way to the ceiling and so will the new ones we're putting in. I can't abide the grease that collects so I always chose tall units and put things I don't use often on the top shelves.

I don't currently have a space like that for jars, or any open shelving, but if I did I would use it and wouldn't worry--a quake large enough to knock them off that ledge is large enough to knock them off the pantry shelves or out of cupboard in the kitchen.

My grandmother lives basically at the epicenter of the 1989 Loma Prieta quake in the Bay Area. She always kept her dry goods and everyday glasses and dishes on open shelving between her kitchen and breakfast nook. The quake of course destroyed all of it (not the house or shelves, but everything on them), but she's put it right back there. The convenience of everyday outweighs the inconvenience of once or twice in a lifetime events. (Though I think they put extra railing on the pantry shelves)

The only place I worry earthquake-wise is above the bed. I won't put shelves above the bed, or any kind of heavy display. I have a small fear of being clobbered in my sleep should an earthquake hit in the dead of night.

Since our 9/4 earthquake here in Christchurch, New Zealand, I've been securing things on shelves with blu-tak. There's also a type of plastic mat you can get which stops things moving around inside cabinets as well. Only one vase fell in my house during the quake and it didn't break.

I don't think the combo dust/grease that "grows" on high in kitchens is choosy between gas or electric cooking. Have had both, have not seen a difference. Except here in Miami -- where there is an added component of sandy-like grit which requires great care to avoid scratches when cleaning items up there.

I have to agree with the others; it is indeed very dangerous. I used to store our liquor bottles on top of our fridge. During the Loma Prieta quake all those bottles came crashing down. Thank goodness none of us were in the kitchen at the time.

When we bought our fixer upper, I insisted on no wall cabinets. I am still happy about this~our top of fridge area is this:
a large decorative fabric "box". it's rachel ashwell so it has pretty roses fabric and the bones are simple wires. it's very lightweight and it stores the tupperware type containers we use.
also up there:
2 cake plates in colors that look nice with the fabric bin and one medium sized pitcher of dried flowers from our garden.
I really like the look, as it is functional and decorative. I've had jars of stuff up there before and never liked that~they look too small to be up there and they get really gross after a while with grease & dust.