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Beautiful Kitchen Makeover Photos with White Cabinets and Quartz Countertop

This 90’s kitchen got a HUGE upgrade! See our pretty kitchen makeover photos with white cabinets, white counters, & stained wood island.

Before and After White Kitchen Makeover Photos

Hi friends! I am back with another room remodel from our home in Houston, Texas. Usually, I DIY all of the room makeovers in our house.

Including, the Beautiful Home Office Makeover I shared last month. And, the huge changes I made in our Before and After Master Bathroom Remodel.

Image of white kitchen cabinets with chrome appliances in a large kitchen with a stained wood island. In a post with before and after kitchen makeover photos.
Here’s my WHITE kitchen in 2022. Keep scrolling to see how ORANGE my kitchen was when we bought this house in 2012.

UPDATE: See the 7 Beautiful DIY Kitchen Makeover Ideas I made in this kitchen in 2023!

But, I wasn’t crazy enough to take on all of the changes I wanted to make in our kitchen remodel. Especially since I had a baby and a toddler at the time.

And, this kitchen remodel was actually done about 5 years ago! BUT, I realized I haven’t shared the before and after kitchen makeover photos yet.

So, I gave my kitchen a quick clean so that I could grab new photos for you guys! Now, let’s get to those pictures of our kitchen remodel.

Before picture of a kitchen remodel.
Check out this 1990’s style. That flooring was actually incredibly popular back then. But, eventually, everything goes out of style. Especially orange kitchens with tile countertops. 🙂

White Kitchen Cabinets with White Quartz Counters

I went with Starmark brand white cabinets with inlay doors in this kitchen. And, I LOVE how these cabinets turned out.

Kitchen makeover photos of a large, traditional style kitchen with white inset cabinets and a brown wood stain kitchen island.
I went with a lighter, neutral porcelain tile that looks like natural stone. It works well with the white inset kitchen cabinets and that dark brown stained kitchen island.

The upgraded trim molding along the top and bottoms of the upper cabinets plays a huge part in making these cabinets look more custom

I spent a few LONG weeks working on the kitchen cabinet layout plans. Getting the cabinet and kitchen appliance layout right is one of the most important steps in any kitchen remodel.

Before and after kitchen makeover photos of a kitchen with Starmark white cabinets and Lusso quartz counters from Cosentino.
You can see here that I moved all of the appliances and the sink to the back half of the kitchen. That improved “kitchen triangle” makes cooking and clean up so much easier.

Really thinking about how you will use a kitchen, what kind of storage you need, and the flow of traffic through and in the kitchen is KEY to designing a kitchen you’ll LOVE.

Before I started working on the kitchen cabinet layout, I had to decide where to put the kitchen sink and appliances. Check out that post for 10 tips for planning your new kitchen layout.

Image of white kitchen cabinets and pantry with stainless steel appliances.
AND, moving all of those large, deep cabinets and appliances to the back of the kitchen makes the front of the kitchen seem much bigger and more OPEN.
Image of a 1990's kitchen with orange tile floor and tile counters.
Believe it or not, that fluorescent light box above the island used to be a popular choice in the 1990’s too.

Stained Wood Kitchen Island

I went with a dark wood stain kitchen island. That island also has a beautiful dark glaze over the stain that really gives that island a nice, high-end furniture look.

I used a similar glaze when I stained our kitchen stools to match the look of the kitchen island. You can see the easy DIY steps for that in how to Stain Wood Furniture Without Stripping the Old Stain.

Image of kitchen makeover photos of a large kitchen with an island and a small Dining Table.
I’m a big fan of rug runners in a kitchen. You can see this rug and a bunch of my favorite rugs in this post on the 17 Best Area Rugs on a Budget for your Floor. Check out Does Grout Renew Work to see how I keep my kitchen grout looking great, year after year.

I went with wide, deep drawers with 2 cabinets on the island. I LOVE deep kitchen drawers for storing everything; from plastic storage to cookbooks to baking tools, to pots and pans.

Putting those things, and more, in drawers makes pulling them out and putting them away so much easier than cabinets.

Adding so many drawers to the kitchen island also adds to that built-in furniture look that I LOVE in a kitchen island.

Image of a dark brown wood stain with a brown glaze on a kitchen island. Kitchen island design ideas.
Adding baseboard and fluted trim onto this island adds to that high-end furniture look I wanted for our kitchen island.

The few lower cabinets that I do have hold big items; like stand-up mixers, bread makers, and pitchers.

Lusso White Quartz Countertops

We picked a white quartz countertop for our white cabinets. This white quartz also has a pretty, but subtle, grey and gold marbled design. So, it looks like marble.

But, since it’s quartz and non-porous, it’s super easy to keep clean and more resistant to staining than a natural marble countertop.

Stainless steel fridge, oven, microwave with white inset cabinets in a large kitchen.
I went with just 1 oven in this kitchen. Mainly because I knew I’d barely ever use 2 ovens at once. I went with more food pantry cabinets to the right of the fridge instead.

The exact name of our quartz is Lusso quartz by Cosentino. You can see in the photo above just how subtle that grey marbling is.

New Tile Backsplash and Floors

The backsplash is a pretty, subway-style tile with a crackle finish. I found that tile at Floor & Decor. It comes in a few great colors.

Image of a 90's style breakfast nook in a large kitchen.
Here’s the original view of our Living Room from our kitchen

I had the old 90’s-style orange and black tile replaced with an off-white, light beige porcelain tile that is designed to look like stone.

That new kitchen floor tile has a pretty matte sheen too. I’m a big fan of matte sheen tiles. I think a matte finish on porcelain makes wood-look and stone-look tile look more realistic.

Image of a traditional Living Room from a kitchen with arches separating the rooms.
That’s our Living Room beyond the kitchen. Behind those French Doors is the home office. You can see how I built that Teal Green DIY Console Table with Drawers or the DIY Geometric Wood Table Top on the kitchen table in previous posts.

Check out the pretty wood-look porcelain tile I installed in our Beautiful Before and After Family Room Makeover.

There’s just one more of my white kitchen makeover photos.

After carefully planning the layout of the appliance and cabinets, I was also able to design a large drinks and coffee station that wasn’t in this kitchen before.

Image of a Dining Room seen through a large white kitchen.
And, I was able to design a large drinks and coffee station at the front of the kitchen.

You can see our Dining Room through that large archway next to it. I showed how to install that Easy DIY Coffered Ceiling in a previous post.

We had our kitchen remodelers replace a small door that used to be in that wall with that large arch, to match our other arches and open up the space.

You can see How to Remove an Arched Doorway in a Wall in a previous post. With beginner tips for How to Cut Drywall & Hang Drywall in another post.

Image of a remodeled kitchen with white cabinets a wood island and white quartz counters with text that says "Before and After Kitchen Makeover"

What do you think? I am LOVING this Kitchen Remodel with white countertops and white cabinets. Here’s a few more remodeling posts you might like.

More Home Remodeling Posts For You

You can see more BEFORE and AFTER Makeover posts on this site. Like this Before and After Family Room Makeover On A Budget!

I am LOVING this Before and After Family Room Makeover Transformation! Check out the amazing pictures and budget friendly DIY projects.

You might also like this post on How To Get Rid of Cable And Still Watch TV: Easy Guide.

Image of woman smiling for post about how to get rid of cable and still watch TV.. Text on image says "Quit Cable! Save Money?"

Check out this Beautiful Before and After 2 Story Foyer Remodel.

White trim molding finish carpentry in a large foyer with stairs with a black railing.

Here’s 16 Great Ways to Repurpose an Open Formal Living Room.

Image that says "16 Ways to Repurpose an Open Formal Living Room".

And this post on 14 Best Ways to Renovate A Living Room on a Budget!

Image of a Living Room with text over it. Text says: 14 ways to update a Living Room on a budget.

Feeling inspired? That’s it for these Before and After Kitchen Makeover photos! Let me know if you have questions.

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