The Jackson Kitchen Designs showroom in North Andover, Mass., measures 3,000 square feet, but an innovative storage system allows the staff to show more products than would usually fit in that amount of space.
The showroom, a branch of Jackson Lumber & Millwork, displays a variety of products, including hardware, cabinets, windows, wood floors, and countertops. Along with vignettes of kitchen displays, it houses smaller displays and a closing room that looks like a dining room and holds a working fireplace and television.
With all these demands on the space available, the staff uses rolling wall panels to display different cabinetry door selection. These allow the doors to easily slide out of the way, while always remaining organized.
"It seems like people these days want to see more and more," says Dick Conte, kitchen manager. "Because of our limited space, we don't have a lot of room to store things."
Jackson also mixed the practical and the creative in the way that it set up its displays. Because of quiet color schemes used, most settings appear at first glance to show the same styles of cabinets and panels. But on closer inspection one can see a variety of design options, thus helping a customer choose the one that appeals to her most. Likewise, the edge of a granite countertop has been cut in close to a dozen different ways, providing the customer with a clear side-by-side view of edging options.
Conte owned a business installing and fabricating countertops. He became manager of the Jackson Kitchen Designs showroom while it was part of the yard in 1998, then guided the design of the new showroom in North Andover, a suburb of Boston. It opened in 2008. Now Conte oversees the designers and ensures planning and implementation go smoothly.
