I use a fair spacer stack under the stems of all of my bikes just to have the bars about 3.5 cm below the saddle. I have relatively long legs and a short torso for my overall height (5'9"). and a smaller frame, 55 cm or so, puts the bars way too low because I need so much seat post extension. A frame that lets me have a reasonable amount of seat post extension (57 cm) still requires about 30 mm of spacers plus a 6° up angle stem to get the bars at my preferred height.
I can only imaging how much of a spacer stack or how tall a quill stem I would need if I wanted the bars even with the saddle as many riders desire.