I recently had the opportunity to visit a number of kitchen and bath showrooms, and one thing I noticed was the lack of complete kitchen and bath displays. This got me thinking about how kitchen and bath dealers use showrooms to entice homeowners to make a purchase.

The showroom is the most expensive part of your business. To maximize its effectiveness, you must consider the square footage, and understand the significance of what you display in that space.

Don’t assume homeowners will figure out by themselves what you do. For instance, I visited a company whose name did not say anything about bathroom remodeling or products. The showroom had a few vanities and one nice whirlpool tub on display, but that was it. Not surprisingly, the firm’s bath business was not very good.

I suggested they add “baths” to the company name, and then we found a wasted area with low margin products on display to use for a couple of bath displays. It really made a difference in bath sales.

When adding displays, it’s not just what you display, but in what context. For instance, almost all homes have a 5'x8' bath in them. So if this is the market you’re looking for, you want to show a bath of that size. In our new showroom we put three 5'x8' baths on display. The first one is a very basic bath, standard fixtures, white in color, cultured marble panel walls in the tub area with a shower curtain, vinyl floor tiles, basic 30" vanity, a plate glass mirror and a light fixture. A ceiling fan and painted walls complete this display. The cost of this bath is shown at $11,250, installed in an average first floor 25- to 30-year-old home.

The next bath display shows a bit of an upscale bath, with a whirlpool bathtub, cabinets over the tub area in the soffit and a tall storage cabinet on the wall opposite the vanity, which has two working drawers and has been raised to 34" high. There is a banjo over the elongated toilet, as well as a ceramic tile floor, upgraded wet water fixtures, a fan and a light in the tub area, onyx panels in the shower/tub area and a medicine cabinet with a commode cabinet. This bath is shown at an installed price of $32,000.

The last bath is the same layout with a full custom bath. The tub has been removed and replaced with a 60"x32" shower, a beautiful shower wall with ceramic tile and inserts, body sprays, hand-held fixture, clear glass shower by-pass doors, Silestone vanity top with a banjo, same vanity as in the second bath but with a rub-through look and distressing, a warm floor system, tri-view medicine cabinet the full width of the banjo with special lighting, a small flat-screen TV, a special finish on the fixtures and a steam unit. This bath is shown at $42,000.