Whether it’s a baby or a business, a first birthday in Hawaii is a good sign for a prosperous future. This month, Servco Home & Appliance Showroom is celebrating its one-year anniversary since its major 7,000-square-foot showroom remodel.

Servco’s primary goal is to display its full line of premiere appliances, hoods, faucets, sinks and lighting in homelike settings. “In the past, the appliances were shown in manufactured displays. Pretty uninspiring,” admits Craig Washofsky, Group Vice President, of Servco Home & Appliance Showroom. “We needed to do a better job at showing folks what the appliances would look like at home. Plus, we needed to show a lot of choices, because the range of appliances grows constantly.”

The second objective was to have 13 of Honolulu’s top kitchen and bath designers build 22 kitchen vignettes. “Aside from a list of appliances, we gave them free rein,” Washofsky says. “We didn’t know what we were going to get until the cabinets were installed on the wall.” What if a customer is interested in the cabinetry design? “That’s the expertise of the designers, and we refer customers to them. If it doesn’t have a cord, I don’t know what to do with it,” Washofsky jokes.

One of Servco’s 22 kitchen vignettes, designed by Studio Becker.

Each kitchen vignette features a single brand of appliances. “If a customer only wants to look at one family of appliances, such as Monogram, then we can easily direct them to the three Monogram kitchen vignettes,” Washofsky explains.

On the other hand, visitors can also shop by appliance type. Around the showroom’s perimeter, items such as refrigerators, wall ovens and hoods are grouped by product. “This is great, because, if someone is interested in seeing the difference between a 36-, 42- and 48-inch refrigerator, we can easily show them side by side.” Washofsky says.

(left to right): Product specialist Catherine Correa, showroom manager Randall Iwaishi and group vice president Craig Washofsky.

Most recently, Servco has installed samples from Thermador’s ingenious refrigeration—the Freedom�,,�Collection. The cutting-edge technology takes the traditional side-by-side refrigerator/freezer configuration and separates it into modular columns. The columns are available in multiple widths, ranging from 10 to 36 inches, that can be flush mounted and fully integrated for a seamless appearance. “Homeowners and designers are reacting very positively to the flexibility in kitchen design,” Washofsky says.

Although Servco carries many high-end options, it also showcases affordable choices. “We didn’t want price to be a barrier to entry,” notes Washofsky. “It was important to us that folks from all zip codes could find something here and not be put off by appearances. We have been successful.”

As a display facility, the Servco showroom does not sell appliances, although its more than 30 dealerships on Oahu, Big Island, Maui and Kauai do. Showroom employees will answer questions. They’ll also make an appliance list, with the manufacturers’ suggested prices, for customers to share with designers, contractors and dealers.

Feel free to stop by the showroom. Ask for a demo of its live kitchens and visualize how the appliances could look in your own kitchen.