Kitchen business to feature at home and garden show

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This article was published 06/04/2022 (1586 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

RIVER HEIGHTS

River Heights business owner Al Keith was looking for change when he stumbled across kitchen design.

Keith, owner of Tenten Kitchens & Contracting, always enjoyed working with his hands — but it wasn’t until an acquaintance pointed out his talent that he decided to make it his full-time job.

“Their comment was moving. They said, ‘When you’re not working, you seem to take a lot of joy from building stuff that’s exceptional,’” he said.

Keith started by building decks before moving onto renovating the kitchen at his old house. Most of what he learned came from his father, who he says with always building things or making renovations to their family home.

“He let me make mistakes; he didn’t tell me what to do. I watched what he did and mimicked things,” Keith added.

Now, he manages an award-winning team of designers and contractors.

The majority of Tenten Kitchen’s work focuses on kitchens, but it doesn’t stop there. Keith and his team also design and build bathrooms, walk-in closets, basements and entertainment units. They can remove and re-design a room’s existing layout, install counter tops, tile, flooring, windows and back splash.

Keith says the process starts with a phone call about a client’s interests and whether or not they’re looking to do a full kitchen renovation. Following that, they have their first meeting with the customer where they look at the space and talk about their ideas.

“We try and discover what their best kitchen could look like and what their vision is because, ultimately, its theirs; it’s a statement, it’s an extension of who they are,” Keith said. “Your kitchen needs to be yours and reflect who you are and how you live.”

Once a design is finalized and a price has been agreed upon, usually in the third meeting, Keith sets a date to start the renovation. Right now, Tenten Kitchens is building between six and eight months away, although it takes only roughly 12 weeks to complete a renovation.

“We want kitchens that are aesthetically beautiful and inherently functional,” Keith said. “We want to add space if the customer is thinking about entertaining on a regular basis, so we take into consideration what that might look like. We love what we do, and we try to put that passion into every kitchen we build.”

Keith says white maple kitchens have been dominating the industry in recent years, and that accounts for more than 90 per cent of what Tenten Kitchens has built.

“It’s the little black dress of the kitchen business,” Keith said. “It’s always a nice choice, and it’s never going to go completely out of style.”

Grey tones and marble are also proving popular, and people are beginning to introduce more elements of warm wood, like floating shelves in teak, walnut or maple.

Tenten Kitchens will be at the upcoming Winnipeg Home + Garden Renovation Show, which returns to the RBC Convention Centre from April 7 to 10 after a two-year hiatus. The team will have a display space where it’ll be looking to chat with customers about any projects they’re thinking of pursuing.

Keith will also be on the Ikea main stage on Friday, Saturday and Sunday talking about how to design your best kitchen.

To learn more, visit www.tentenkitchens.ca