The Kitchen Kingdom

Founding story…

Our beginning blossomed from humble roots… and in short, is about a son carrying forth the legacy of his father. It’s a story about old doors closing and new doors opening, where opportunities would spring forth within a world of uncertainty. In the end the master would paint the canvas for us to look back and marvel at the masterpiece.

After attending college in pursuit of a degree in business administration, the owner Chris went to work for his father’s local cabinet and countertop company. There he would spend early mornings and long evenings working the family trade. He remembers sweeping rocks in the parking lot when he forgot to set the alarm clock…and unloading tractor trailers of cabinetry in the scorching heat of summer. In those days nobody went home until the project was complete, and if you were standing with your hands in your pocket, you weren’t getting a paycheck. Not even if your father ran the company! He remembers spending countless days drenched in sweat using his hands to perfect a craft with a group of God-fearing men. As he recalls it, there were times where this was a less than pleasant experience… he recalls the constant sneezing of 2×4’s from his nasal cavities that would collect from the massive amounts of dust from the fabrication shop…and the long shards of laminate splinters that found their way beneath the surface of the skin. As the son of the owner, he’d get the occasional, “Heir to the kingdom” comment as one would expect. The guys would often joke about the young kid having, “The keys to the kingdom.” They’d nudge him jokingly and remind him that one day he would be running the show…it’s funny how true those comments would later become.

After developing the trade in cabinet fabrication and installation, his father’s company would soon be sold due to the economic pressures of the 2008 recession. Chris would stay at the company and continue even after his father moved on. It was a few short months later, after closing on his first home (with his first child on his way) that he would learn about the termination of his position within the company. With a new mortgage and a new family about to start, Chris took a position with a new company. A local big box retailer that supplied a vast array of building materials. He was young, eager, motivated, and equipped with knowledge that would prove in-valuable at his new position. In just 6 short months…at 21 years old, he received a promotion to manager of the company. This role would later extend to the companies store manager. He spent the next decade learning the inner workings of the supply chain, building relationships with vendors, sourcing domestic and import products and building well rounded product selections that offered value. The company found sustainable success and continued growth in the kitchen and bath industry, grossing more than half its volume in the space. Chris managed the store, the kitchen and bath department, built the installed sales program and would lead the company in sales over the course of the next decade. He personally oversaw hiring, training, and development of dozens of the company’s kitchen designers. His background in installation and extensive knowledge of the product categories proved valuable at ensuring designers would design kitchens that were functional! It’s one thing to have a kitchen on paper, it’s another thing to make sure it the kitchen gets installed properly and functions the way it was intended.

As the company scaled and opened more stores, the family environment soon turned corporate. It became impossible to hire good people and pay fair wages, profits soon became more important than people, and the stench of corporate greed began to spread. Every Saturday and Sunday became mandatory to work, and much of the core values.

within the company would start to diminish. Chris and many of the company’s staff went and started ventures of their own and alas the “Heir to the Kingdom” would start his own business. The Kitchen Kingdom was born.