Double sided cabinets with glass doors?

[Sunflower]

In my planned kitchen remodel I'm interested in hanging a couple of cabinets from a soffit between the dining room and the kitchen. The lower cabinets would serve as a buffet and the upper cabinets as lighted china display that would be accessible from both the kitchen and the dining room. The type of cabinets I'm wanting to use in the remodel would be the European frameless style, (Kitchencraft or Ikea or something similar) and I know that most cabinets get their strength and squarability from the cabinet backing--which if I choose a door on each side would be absent. So, how would you go about achieving the necessary strength and rigidity in double sided glass doored cabinets? What about using glass shelving that rests on metal supports of some kind? (I would prefer the glass shelving for the display aspect.) Would that be strong enough? I was planning on using stock cabinets and doing the install ourselves rather than a custom cabinet builder, but if retrofitting stock cabinets isn't the best idea, then I think we've got enough tools on board to buy the doors and some end panels and fabricate whatever's needed ourselves for this one portion of the project. We just don't want to do the whole cabinet project when we're already going to be doing the install.

[igor]

[snip]

Will either end/side of these cabinets be against a wall or are both ends free/visible? IOW, is the top of the cabs the only place that the cabs connect to the house?

One thing to note: If you do buy readymade cabs to retrofit, the back edge is not finished and it generally has a rabbet so that the back panel can be recessed. So, there is no flat edge to which to apply a veneer strip - you'd have to alter it some way, maybe by trimming 1/8" off the back before assembly.

[Alan Bierbaum]

I have never been a big fan of euro style cabinets; I like wood kitchens. That being said; you can get around the lack of a back by simply adding a faceframe to each side to hold everything together and add rigidity to the structure. I assume that you are having custom doors made? A face frame of

1 1/2" width materials, with a 3/4" bottom rail would allow things to blend in very well.

[Eric Ryder]

You'll probably need to devise a decorative support frame that passes beneath the cabinets - simply screwing particleboard boxes to the ceiling won't cut it. Said frame would likely be hung from extended end panels (better go with the 'spensive plywood!). You could then probably integrate a shear panel into the frame below to minimize racking. I wouldn't be surprised if you wanted to bring 110v power down through the end panels for task lighting beneath - the frame could hide the lighting elements and start looking like a feature (not a f*up).