Photos: Woodworking & Kraemer Kitchen & Bath
Randy Kraemer of Kraemer Kitchen & Bath started in the family business when he was just a boy and he never looked back.
“You could say I learned the business in the business,” Kraemer says.
“My father Irvin started the business building cedar chests.
“His real business was being a farmer, he had a dairy, but he always wanted to do something else so he started building cedar chests.”
At first his father brought in kits from Tennessee, but then at some point he switched over and bought his own lumber and made everything from scratch.
“That was the start of it,” Kraemer says. “And as time moved on, he progressed to custom furniture. He added a couple of employees and by the time I was 15 years old and joined the business, I remember he had three employees.
By then the company’s product line had expanded and Kraemer says they were mostly manufacturing beds, “we had attached ourselves to the wholesale market and that continued for nearly 10 years, all the way to 2003.”
But then the market shifted and we had to pivot and added bedroom furniture.
“But it was still challenging to maintain our market share. That’s when we made the decision to add kitchens. Mostly retail at first, but we also had some larger projects with developers and contractors and it kept growing.
Today, Kraemer Kitchen & Bath is a multi-generational family business located in Waterloo Region, serving clients all across Southern Ontario including the GTA and Muskoka.
“We also rebranded and went from the original Irvin Kraemer Woodworking Inc., to Kraemer Kitchen and Bath Inc.” Kraemer says. And eventually, he ended up buying out his dad’s shares and also moved from the family farm to their new location.
In 2020 they’ve added a major addition to the new building, doubling the shop size, for a total of around 18,000 sq. ft. and now the company has 22 employees, including a few part timers and installers.
“We do all of our own installations to control the process from start to finish,” Kraemer says.
And speaking of employees, Kraemer says they are one of the strengths of the company.
“We have really good people working with us and that makes a huge difference and has allowed us to grow and be successful,” he says, adding that you can’t succeed unless you have a strong team.”
Kraemer Kitchen & Bath does mostly residential work, “but we also do some commercial and institutional projects, as well as custom millwork such as beams and stairways.
“But kitchens are our bread and butter.”
As far as styles are concerned, Kraemer says they do some modern and some traditional, but the largest part – the style most customers ask for – is what he calls the space in the middle, the slim shaker, or the mid-century modern.
“The majority of our kitchens are plywood interior, including the drawer boxes, which are either dovetail or plywood. That’s sort of our mainstay no matter what your fronts are,” he says.
“It’s a well-built, quality box. That’s the majority of what we do right now.
“We also build most of our doors right here, we only bring in doors with profiles we don’t have tooling for, but mostly we build everything in house.”
In the shop
Kraemer runs mostly HOLZ-HER machinery, an edgebander and two CNCs, “and then I’ve also just landed a Heesemann planer sander, so that’s very exciting.
“For finishing, we are running a Giardina flat line with an oven and we spray polyurethane and we also have a spray booth.
“We don’t have a robot at this time, but we are certainly looking at it for some time in the future.
“But as I said, we have really great employees who like working by hand, so we don’t have a problem as far as that is concerned. So there is no urgent need to add a robot, we are very fortunate that way.”
However, Kraemer says once they get more serious about that, his plan would be to adding to the human touch rather than to replace workers.
“Usually companies add a robot because they can’t find workers, For myself, I think its better to bring the automation in as an aid rather than replace the human job,” he says.
“So at some point robotic sanding is something we are looking to add, but we are not there yet.
“We are also adding a 40-hp, two-fan, variable-speed on demand Hoecker dust collecting system.
“We had a smaller system, but it was ultimately too small for us, not enough dust collection at the CNC and now that we are adding a planer sander it wasn’t enough. We are very excited about getting the new unit. It’s used, but in mint condition.
Kraemer says dust collection “is absolutely huge, if you want to do a good sanding and finishing job it is essential.
“And even more importantly, and that’s actually my biggest thing, is to keep your employees healthy. We’re cutting MDF on a CNC and you don’t want that dirt in your lungs.
“So this is very important to me.”
As far as finishing is concerned, Kraemer says since they’re fairly new to finishing everything in house, they wanted something proven with a very durable finish, which is how they landed on polyurethane for their flat line. But he is also looking into water-based finishes for the future.
“What sets us apart is our quality. Quality products made from quality materials and built to exacting standards.
Customers
The majority of Kraemer Kitchen & Bath’s customers come from direct sales and word of mouth. There is also a builder part, they have builders they work with all the time, a lot of that is home renovations.
They also work with designers.
And “last but not least” he added, “the wholesale market is where we build cabinets ready for installation. In this case the store has our design software, and we simply build whatever they sell.”
“For the long term we are also looking to have our own Kraemer showroom off site, but we are not there yet. But that’s certainly our long-term plan.
“And we are also always thinking about going north, towards cottage country, but that is for the future as well. It’s a big deal and big investment and since I am a sole owner, we have to plan for this carefully because you have to find the right location. And another shop expansion for the shipping and assembly area is next on their list of plans.
We’ve done this for over fifty years
As a multi-generational family business, relationships do matter. And for many years Kraemer Kitchen & Bath was known as a furniture company creating handcrafted bedrooms and other household furniture.
Today they have become a well-known partner with clients and their contractors, offering a full range of millwork services including stairways and other architectural millwork.
Their approach is to listen to what clients need and then bring those dreams to reality.
Kraemer says they work very closely with their clients and listen to their needs to ensure “that we design and create an inspiring, calming, and completely comfortable space. If you partner with us, our goal is to make sure that every design is a reflection of you and your unique personality. We bring your vision into reality.
Kraemer says they are committed to exceeding clients’ expectations and they offer a complete service package from design and layout all the way through to installation of the cabinets and countertops.”
