Kitchen Designs
Written by: Nick Brandi
It’s tempting to think that an economy like the current one would rip through an upscale kitchen-and-bath business like a Ginsu knife through a Dixie cup, but for the folks at Kitchen Designs, what these times have brought instead is expansion… of the Delawarean kind.
“We’re pleased to announce that we recently opened a satellite location in Seaford,” said Kitchen Designs’ manager/designer Alex Smith, “which is able to offer full-service, turnkey solutions to the people of Seaford and the surrounding communities.”
Solutions and expansion have been keywords at Kitchen Designs from the time Dave Johnson founded it in 1992. His talent for this is undeniable, though it’s a fairly safe bet that Johnson is the only kitchen-and-bath pro in the region who not only was a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne division but also has a college degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Maryland at College Park.
It was, in fact, shortly after those glory days that Johnson took a job at a relative’s cabinetry business, ultimately realizing that his future dreams were dappled with stars of the terrestrial, as well as the celestial, kind. Seventeen highly successful years later, Kitchen Designs continues its unrelenting march toward its apogee.
One big reason for this is the move Johnson made in 2006; into, a 10,000-plus-square-foot showroom located in Salisbury’s Twilley Centre. With enough room to accommodate more than 18 distinct vignettes and a fully functional kitchen center, the showroom boasts more than enough space to ignite anyone’s imagination with all the endless possibilities that can become a reality within their own home.
“There are certain things that must be experienced in three dimensions,” Smith asserted. “Catalogs and Web sites are great for giving someone a general conceptual sense, but wood, stone and many tiles have to be perceived in reality and immediately — not just visually but tactilely, too.
“That’s why we will not cut stone like granite or marble until the client first inspects it, interacts with it and approves it,” continued Smith, who obviously ponders these issues the way a concert violinist ponders a Vivaldi sonata. “Same goes for the wood we use for the doors and elsewhere. It must be approved by the client in terms of stain color and species before we have it made.”
But when it comes to interior design, all the displays, samples, setups and simulations in the world don’t amount to a hill of beans if the right people aren’t behind them when they arrive at your house.
“I look for certain traits in the people I employ,” Johnson declared resolutely. “Professionals who take a cookie-cutter approach to their jobs don’t interest me. Our designers and craftsmen approach every new project as a unique challenge, insisting that every design be an original work of art.”
That’s why he hired and retained talented professionals like designer Lisa Ulm, who’s in her 11th year with Kitchen Designs, and Erica Wolff, who’s hit the decade mark. There is also designer/tile-and-flooring specialist Susan Banks, now in her fourth year of service, outside sales reps Melanie Meeks and Paul Donohoe and, of course, Smith himself.
“I have unequivocal confidence in every one of our designers as professionals and as individuals, which is why we love to give them the ball and watch them run with it,” said Smith, a master craftsman himself who comes to Kitchen Designs after seven years as an independent custom cabinetmaker. “We don’t throw a bunch of people at you here. You get one designer, assigned to you specifically, who will be there to serve all your needs and answer every single question from the planning stage to the completion of the project and afterward.”
But lest you think their services are reserved exclusively for the rich and famous, the pros at Kitchen Designs take great pride in their availability for all projects great and small — from the most exotic, one-of-a-kind, built-from-scratch custom cabinetry job to the most straightforward bathroom-tile job.
“We’ve completed jobs recently that ranged from $3,500 to a quarter-million dollars,” Smith shared. “And though it may not seem like it, what these jobs have in common is that they were both fun and a stimulating creative challenge in one way or another. That’s how we feel about all our projects.
“And the reason we feel this way is really quite simple,” Smith elaborated. “We’re not going for individual sales as much as we’re forging long-term relationships. That’s why so many of our clients come back to visit us, just to say ‘hi’ and see what’s going on. That makes every day great for us because we’re not just working hard and exceeding the expectations of our clients, we’re making new friends.”
Kitchen Designs, 307-A Civic Ave., Twilley Centre, Salisbury, Md., 410-742-9909