We always called ours overhead or over-the-counter cabinets in my parents' house growing up. They did remove theirs and it made a HUGE difference in opening up the room. They also removed the peninsula and put in an island (along with other major remodels). It's so much nicer now.
To make it look a little nicer (we had those overhead cabinets for 20+ years before the remodel), my mom hung decorative cookie-mold type things (don't know exactly what they were) on the family room side. It was much nicer to have something to look at up there than it was to just see the blank back of the cupboards.