The beginning of our story…
The year was 1980 and I was a newly minted Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force. My new bride Bonnie and I took on our first assignment as a married couple and we were posted to Washington D.C. This being our first time living on the East Coast we were excited to experience all of the sites and flavors this region of the world had to offer. But we soon learned that furnishing our new home and making the rounds to the D.C. restaurants was out of our budget. It was at that moment that we decided to take matters into our own hands and learn the crafts of fine cooking and furniture making and thus began a lifelong journey for us both.
As I busied myself in woodworking classes salted throughout my post-graduate program, Bonnie discovered the very affordable ingredients from the local fishmongers peddling the days fresh catch. Together we learned that we could eat fresh flounder for way less money than visiting even the area’s most humble restaurants. Through a little trial and error my wife’s culinary career was born, and I furnished our home by building furniture with the ample hardwoods available throughout rural Maryland. Our time on the East Coast taught us that life was too short to not enjoy amazing food and in order to cook for family and friends quality functional furniture was needed for the chef and the comfort of our guests.
Fast forward five years to a new Aerospace career in Colorado and we decided it was time to start our family. After many years of honing in our respective crafts of woodworking and cooking we quickly found ourselves with three voracious teenagers to feed. With hungry mouths and Bonnie teaching cooking classes in our home for extra money, my wife needed a serious, “old world” level of food preparation work-station. I studied several histories of kitchens and eventually designed our first extremely heavy and durable kitchen island. While installing the island in our kitchen, with all hands on deck to help with the heavy lifting, my wife said “Well, come the hurricane, we certainly know where to go” attesting to its quality and sheer weight.
We now offer this same high quality, heavy-duty kitchen workstation to new and expert chefs alike. Our hope is that your island, like ours, will become the heart of your home for generations to come. And not to worry; a thousand cuts on the maple top while preparing meals for family and friends, spilt wine, stray burn marks and the occasional not so perfect recipe can only add to the character of your piece as long as there is plenty of laughter and enjoyment in the room to accompany.
