Today we’d like to introduce you to Steve Bailey.
Steve, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
While remodeling our kitchen twenty two years ago my wife and I stumbled on an Amish cabinet dealer out of Orion Illinois. We never expected we could afford custom built Amish cabinets but was convinced to let them price out our project. To our surprise, they came in cheaper than Home Depot and Menards. Without seeing their product we decided to take a risk and order the Amish cabinets. The cabinets were beautiful, custom-built, handmade and the best my carpenter had ever installed.
I was working full time for a local utility but saw an opportunity to help pay for upcoming college tuitions. Who wouldn’t buy these cabinets if they knew about them? There were a few small local General Contracting firms using Amish cabinets in Chicago, but not well know. Decided to take a risk and start my own part-time company designing kitchens and selling the Amish made cabinets.
At first, the Amish were not open to an outside unknown “Englishman” selling their cabinets. Originally, I had to buy my cabinets thru the dealer I used from Orion, but over time they began to trust me and allowed me to buy direct. Started in 1996 working in 1st floor home office. Within three years the business grew too large to be “part-time”. With wife’s support, I was able to quit my management job of 17 years at local utility and moved office to basement. Two years later opened a small retail store on Northwest Hwy in Norwood Park. Five years later we grew out of that facility and into our current location at 6756 N. Harlem Ave in Edison Park. We are now the Midwest’s (possibly the US??) largest dealer of Amish made cabinetry. We supply cabinets throughout the Chicagoland and Indianapolis areas.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Handling growth has been largest challenge.
Please tell us about Amish Custom Kitchens.
Specialise in kitchen design and quality custom built cabinets. Proud of our customer service and respecting the proud Amish cabinet builders we work with.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Hired original staff with kitchen designer experience.
Contact Info:
- Address: 6756 N. Harlem Ave.
- Website: www.amishcustomkitchens.com
- Phone: 773-774-2804
- Email: amishcustomkitchens@gmail.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=amish%20custom%20kitchens
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
