 <p>The <code>LayoutAnchorablePaneControl</code> (or any <code>TabControl</code> for that matter) has a property <code>TabStripPlacement</code> which you can set to <code>Top</code>. See the VS2010 <a href="http://avalondock.codeplex.com/SourceControl/latest#Version2.0/Xceed.Wpf.AvalonDock.Themes.VS2010/Theme.xaml" rel="nofollow">Theme.xaml</a></p>