Use Your Benefits to Build Something Beautiful: A Glenview Guide to Custom Eyewear in the Optical Kitchen
Why Year-End Is the Best Time to Create Your Next Pair of Glasses
Every December across Glenview, families rush to use up insurance allowances, FSA funds, and HSA dollars before they reset on January 1. The calendar fills with school concerts, holiday gatherings, and last-minute errands through The Glen, but it is also the one moment of the year when investing in eyewear feels both practical and exciting.
If you have been thinking about updating your look or creating a pair of glasses that truly feels like you, the final weeks of the year are the perfect time to step into the Optical Kitchen. Your benefits apply to most custom builds, which means you can turn unused dollars into something beautiful that you will wear every day.
The Optical Kitchen: Where Craft Meets Style
The Optical Kitchen is where eyewear design gets hands-on, personal, and surprisingly fun. Instead of grabbing something off a rack, you get to shape the process from start to finish.
Choose Your Shape
We guide you through classic shapes, modern silhouettes, and signature designs that look great on Glenview faces. Whether you like a timeless P3, a bold rectangle, or something more playful, we help you find a base shape that suits your features, your personality, and your daily life.
Pick Your Color Story
This is where the artistry begins. You can choose from our ready-made color plates or mix your own combination of recyclable acetate chips. Think of it like choosing paint for a project. Subtle gradients, rich tortoise, bright pops of color, or quiet neutrals — you decide the vibe, and we help make it real.
Watch the Craft in Action
Once your colors are chosen, the acetate goes into our custom mold, heated and pressed into a plate. You cannot see inside the mold during the press, but the magic happens as soon as the plate is released, cooled, and prepped for shaping.
Next comes the CNC cutting stage. Some families gather around to watch their frame front take shape, and we even let people push the button that starts the cutting cycle. It is a small moment, but it is a thrill to see your design turn into something physical.
Handcrafted Finishing
After the frame front and temples are cut, they move into hand-finishing. Our artisans sand, smooth, and shape each piece before sending them into tumblers for polishing. This process takes days. Each stage rounds the edges and adds shine until the acetate reaches its final finish.
Finally, the front and temples come together, engravings are hand-colored, and your name is added discreetly inside the frame. Your prescription lenses are installed, and your custom eyewear is ready.
This is not mass production. It is personal craftsmanship brought to life right here in Glenview.
Why Custom Eyewear Is the Smartest Use of Your Year-End Benefits
You are spending money you have already invested
Your insurance benefits, FSA, and HSA dollars are meant to be used on eyewear, and custom glasses qualify. Instead of letting that money disappear, you can put it toward something designed just for you.
The value lasts long past December
Custom eyewear is an everyday upgrade. Long drives on Lake Avenue, busy days at the office, weekend trips to the Glen Town Center, evenings out in downtown Northbrook — you will use your glasses constantly. This is an investment you feel all year.
Good eyewear changes how you feel, not just how you see
When you build a pair of glasses in the Optical Kitchen, you get something that fits your face, your lifestyle, and your wardrobe. They become part of your identity. That feeling is worth far more than a generic end-of-year purchase.
How Glenview Families Are Using Their Benefits This Year
The “Work and Weekend” Strategy
Many people choose one pair for the office and one pair for home, errands, and weekend life. Insurance often helps make a two-pair system much more affordable.
Custom Sunglasses for Winter Glare
Snowy mornings near Techny or along Waukegan Road can be bright. Custom polarized sunglasses are one of the best ways to use expiring benefits.
A Fresh Look for the New Year
December is when people rethink their appearance. New glasses designed in the Optical Kitchen feel like a personal reset.
Book Your Year-End Custom Eyewear Appointment
Your benefits are already paid for. Let’s turn them into a pair of glasses you will love every single day. Whether you want a classic design, a bold statement piece, or something completely custom, the Optical Kitchen can make it happen.
👉 Book your appointment today
Beat the holiday rush and get your custom frame in motion before your benefits expire.
Why now is the moment to create custom eyewear
Your benefits and FSA dollars reset on January 1.
Custom frames qualify for most plans.
The Optical Kitchen lets you design your own look.
Handcrafted details make your glasses last longer.
You walk into the new year with something that feels meaningful.
If you are going to use your benefits, use them for something beautiful.