Kitchen & Bath Business April 2021 - 14

HAPPENINGS
" The industry has lost a great icon, " said Suzie Williford, EVP and chief
strategy officer of the NKBA. " Long before 'influencer' was a term tossed
around so easily, Ellen had tremendous impact on our industry. She was an
outstanding contributor to NKBA, writing the technical manuals that serve
as the foundation for the industry standards in kitchen and bath design. She
was inducted into the K&B Hall of Fame in 1992. More than that, she was
a role model for aspiring young professionals and a dear friend. "
ACHIEVEMENTS AND ACCOLADES

A Designing Life:
Ellen Cheever, CMKBD
1949-2021
KITCHEN AND BATH TITAN Ellen Cheever,
CMKBD, ASID, CAPS, CLIPP, had a profound impact on the industry and educating its
future leaders, as an educator at Virginia Tech,
consultant in corporate K&B corridors and as
an author of textbooks and guidelines for K&B
design standards.
Cheever died unexpectedly on Feb. 13 at her
home in Wilmington, Del. She was 72.
She worked in the residential design world for
more than a half century and contributed mightily through design, product development, NKBA
and especially with her mentorship and education
of legions of designers and industry professionals.
" Ellen was an inspiration to generations of
young designers, through her work at Virginia
Tech, her contributions to NKBA and the many
books she penned, " said Bill Darcy, NKBA CEO.
" We were honored to have established the Ellen
Cheever Student Certification Scholarship as a
tribute to her vast contributions to the industry
in 2019, helping students at NKBA-affiliated
schools along their journey to become certified
designers. "
An author of more than 20 textbooks and manuals on K&B design standards, she was director
of education at NKBA from 1989 to 1992, and
wrote the original volumes, " Design Principles,
Kitchen & Bath Products " and " Kitchen & Bath
Project Management " in NKBA's Professional
Resource Library.

14
12-15_KBB_0421_Happenings.indd 14

ABOVE (L-R) Dr. Julia Beamish,
Suzie Williford and Ellen
Cheever at the dedication of
the " Ellen Cheever Kitchen
and Bath Design Collection,
1971-2018 " library at Virginia
Tech

By DIANNE M. POGODA

Cheever first gained national recognition in the '70s and '80s when she
published several textbooks and conducted training programs across the
U.S. and internationally, from North and South America to Europe, Asia,
Australia and New Zealand. Her focus from 2000 onward was leading her
private design and consulting business, Ellen Cheever & Associates, based
in Wilmington.
In 2017, Cheever was named to the Kitchen & Bath Design News
(KBDN) Top 50 Industry Influencers list honoring the kitchen and bath
industry's most innovative dealers, designers and leaders.That same year, she
was named one of Delaware's Top Women in Business, and in 2020, Cheever
led the design team in re-imagining the family kitchen centers at the Ronald
McDonald House of Delaware.
In 2018, Cheever donated the body of her professional work to the Virginia Tech Apparel, Housing and Resource Management Department.The
library is housed within the Virginia Tech Center for Real Life Design, on
the Blacksburg, Va., campus.
" Ellen Cheever played such a critical part in the establishment and success of Virginia Tech's program in kitchen and bath design, " said Dr. Julia
Beamish, head of the Virginia Tech Apparel, Housing and Resource Management Department. " In 1989, she conferred the endorsement of our
program from the NKBA, and we have been involved and affiliated with the
industry since then. She was a personal mentor and professional role model
for us (Dr. Kathleen Parrott and me), particularly in our involvement with
NKBA and the kitchen and bath industry. She helped us prepare for the CKE
exam we took in 1993. We will miss her energy, support of excellence and
the influence Ellen held as a teacher and a designer to us and our students. "
Parrott, a member of the NKBA Kitchen & Bath Hall of Fame and
also a professor in Virginia Tech's Department of Apparel, Housing and
Resource Management, added, " Ellen was a strong supporter of all educational outreach at the NKBA. She gave all of her publications, programs and
scrapbooks, now the " Ellen Cheever Kitchen and Bath Design Collection,
1971-2018, " to the Center for Real Life Design. Further, she established the
Cheever Design Library, which houses the collection, in the center. Importantly, she was a mentor to our students, visiting campus, making presentations and critiquing design projects. "
Born in Sacramento, Calif., in 1949, Cheever earned a Bachelor of Arts
degree in home economics from California State University. She contributed
to and impacted many companies, consulted and worked on the design and
showroom sides of the business. Among many roles, she was design director
for Heritage Custom Cabinetry, director of The Maytag Co.'s Design Idea
Center and a columnist for Kitchen & Bath Business (KBB) magazine and
KBDN, where she also helped develop a dealer seminar series originally
sponsored by Plain & Fancy Custom Cabinetry.
She is survived by her husband, Pietro " Pete " Giorgi, CMKBD, and his
family. She also worked in the family's Giorgi Kitchens & Designs in Wilmington, a K&B design and build firm, which was founded in 1960.
Drs. Parrott and Beamish at the Ellen Cheever Kitchen & Bath Design
Collection at Virginia Tech's Center for Real Life Design were instrumental
in helping gather the information on these pages.

/ APRIL 2021 / KBBONLINE.COM / The official publication of NKBA (NKBA.org) and KBIS (KBIS.com)

3/22/21 3:34 PM

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Kitchen & Bath Business April 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Kitchen & Bath Business April 2021