Vineyard Chic to open new cabinetry showroom in Geneva

GENEVA – Vineyard Chic, a new kitchen and bath cabinetry showroom, will be opening at 211 James St., Unit C, Geneva, in the space formerly occupied by Beauté by Sylvie.

This will be a new cabinet and fixture showroom as an addition to the business’ current cabinet resurfacing and remodeling business at Vineyard Chic Cabinets, 761 N. 17th St., St. Charles, said Pamela Coslet, who co-owns the business with her husband, Bill.

“We are a kitchen makeover company,” Coslet said. “We do everything from designing kitchens to installing – custom woodworking and custom finishing on refaced cabinets. The Geneva location will be known as Vineyard Chic.”

The new space is being built out as a showroom, so it will probably not be open until the end of July or beginning of August, she said.

The name Vineyard comes from the couple liking to drink wine while they travel the world, Coslet said.

“We love the feeling of wineries,” Coslet said. “It’s warm and fun, and people are drinking wine. What is more fun than drinking wine?”

Coslet said she and her husband got into the cabinet refinishing business in 2008 after they lost their St. Charles home in a fire.

“We were not home. By the time the fire department got there, it had burned to the ground. We lost everything,” Coslet said. “After the fire, it kind of helped us re-evaluate.”

Coslet said before she retired, she had worked for United Airlines as a manager for 30 years, moving around every three to four years. Her husband followed her, learning to buy older houses, fix them up and “flip” them.

“He was so talented and creative … he would gut the place and do it all by himself,” Coslet said.

So, when it came to redoing the inside of their rebuilt house, Coslet said she went to cabinet painting school and learned how to do glazes and old-world finishes.

“We made our kitchen look like we spent $100,000, but we only spent a third of that,” Coslet said.

They incorporated as Vineyard Chic Cabinets in 2008, at first working out of their home, then opening the St. Charles location in 2010, she said.

Coslet said it was her plan to open up a new cabinet showroom and add new cabinetry to what the company already did.

“He goes, ‘You’re killing me. … We can’t open a showroom.’ I said, ‘Give me nine months.’”

As it became a reality, the next question was where to have a showroom for new cabinetry, Coslet said.

“We had to go where the customers are hiring us,” Coslet said. “I said, ‘It has to be Geneva. I get my nails done on Third Street, and I can’t find a parking space.’”

Coslet said they are planning a grand opening in September.