Sure, you can complement every modal view with a non-modal version, but now you have 2x the views and users that are ambivalent about the duplication at best, c

Sure, you can complement every modal view with a non-modal version, but now you have 2x the views and users that are ambivalent about the duplication at best, confused and frustrated at worst. Just make a good non-modal view, with whatever transition is needed for continuity to/from the parent view.