Before & After: The Evanston Kitchen That Left the 1990s Behind — And Never Looked Back
I want you to look at this kitchen for a moment before we talk about what it became.
This is what we walked into. Honey oak cabinets running the full length on both sides of a galley layout. A fruit and vine wallpaper border circling the entire room at the ceiling line — and below it, full floral wallpaper on every wall. A large fluorescent light box in the ceiling. Beige 12-inch ceramic tile on the floor. Gold hardware on every door and drawer. White appliances that had been there a long time.
This was a kitchen that had been lived in — really lived in. You can see the birthday sign on the door in the background of one photo. Kids, gatherings, meals, life. That's not a bad thing. But the family was ready for the space to catch up to the way they actually live now.
They came to us with a vision. Clean lines. Ample storage. Modern convenience. A kitchen that felt current and warm at the same time.
Here's what we built.
What Was Working — And What Wasn't
The bones of this kitchen were actually good. The galley layout gave us two full walls of cabinet and counter space. The square footage was there. There was even a connected eating area with a built-in shelving nook that had real potential.
What wasn't working: the wallpaper was overwhelming every surface and chopping the visual space into pieces. The cabinet style — arched door profiles, honey tone, gold hardware — had aged past its moment. The fluorescent ceiling fixture was doing all the lighting work for the entire kitchen, and doing it flatly. And the open upper shelving areas had become catch-all storage that made the kitchen feel cluttered even when it was reasonably tidy.
The Design Direction: Warm, Modern, Two-Tone
The homeowners knew they wanted something that felt contemporary without feeling cold. They wanted warmth — but a different kind of warmth than honey oak and brass in 1994.
Our answer was a two-tone cabinet design that's become one of the most requested looks in our Lake County and North Shore projects: crisp white upper cabinets paired with rich navy blue lower cabinets.
The white uppers keep the kitchen feeling open and bright. The navy lowers anchor the space with depth and sophistication. Together they create contrast that photographs beautifully and lives even better — the navy doesn't show everyday wear the way a light lower cabinet does, and the white uppers bounce light around a galley that needs it.
The Details That Made It
Cabinetry. Full overlay construction, soft-close doors and drawers throughout, and hardware in brushed brass — warm, current, and a completely different feeling from the original gold tone even though they're in the same color family. New hardware is one of the single highest-impact decisions in a kitchen remodel, and this project proves it. Same metal tone, thirty years of difference.
Countertops. Quartz with subtle veining — the marble-inspired pattern that reads classic and current at the same time without any of the maintenance anxiety of real marble. Quartz is what we recommend for busy family kitchens: it handles the reality of how people actually cook without requiring the care of natural stone.
Backsplash. White subway tile — clean, timeless, and the right call for a kitchen that wants to feel updated without being trendy. Subway tile works with the two-tone cabinet palette without competing with it.
The Coffee Nook. This was one of my favorite decisions in this project. We built a custom coffee nook with a built-in pot filler and matching subway tile — a contained, intentional moment that serves a daily ritual and makes the kitchen feel designed rather than just functional.
Lighting. We pulled out the fluorescent light box and replaced it with recessed lighting throughout the kitchen — even, warm, and appropriate for a space that transitions from bright task lighting during cooking to ambient glow during evening gatherings. LED strip lighting under the upper cabinets brings brightness directly to the countertops where the work happens.
Appliances. High-end stainless steel throughout — double oven and French-door refrigerator — with the cooktop positioned for an efficient work triangle between cooking, prep, and cleanup.
The Transformation
Look at that before photo again. Now look at this.
Same footprint. Same two walls. Same windows. Completely different home.
The fruit wallpaper is gone. The fluorescent box is gone. The honey oak and gold hardware are gone. In their place: a kitchen this family will cook in, gather in, and feel proud of — not in spite of how much it's changed, but because of it.
This is what we do at Lotus. Not just install cabinets and countertops, but figure out what a kitchen needs to become so the family who lives in it can fully inhabit it.
Thinking About Your Kitchen?
If your kitchen still has the wallpaper border, the honey oak, the fluorescent light box — and you've been living with it because you didn't know where to start — this is where you start.
We serve homeowners throughout Lake County and the North Shore: Evanston, Skokie, Deerfield, Northbrook, Libertyville, Vernon Hills, Grayslake, Gurnee, Antioch, Highland Park, Wilmette, Lincolnshire, Buffalo Grove, and beyond.
Come see us in Grayslake. We'll figure out what your kitchen needs to become.
Contact Lotus Home Improvement to schedule your kitchen consultation.
— Camille Johnson Lotus Home Improvement | Rose Hill Cabinets | Emerald Fern Finishes 641 Barron Blvd, Grayslake, IL 60030 | 847-421-0847