MONROE - When a home listed for sale has a "Bauman kitchen" included as one of its desirable details, let the buyer take note: Kitchens, bathrooms, family rooms and any other rooms designed by the Baumans may become a rare treasure.
Bauman Kitchens and Giftware store in Monroe will be history by the end of the year.
Owners Alan and Judy Bauman have decided to move full-time into their retirement plans. Alan sees himself playing a little more golf, and Judy is looking forward to watching a granddaughter play for the University of Wisconsin women's basketball team.
"We're going to miss our customers after all these years," Judy said.
Bauman Kitchens and Giftware has been on 17th Avenue in Monroe's Square since 1970, when it moved from 1115 18th Avenue. But the family has been in business since Henry and Henrietta Bauman, Alan's parents, began in 1947.
Alan, who joined the business in 1956, said his father sold Geneva Steel cabinets in the 1950s and 60s, a markedly higher standard of cabinets than customers could find from mail-order department stores.
"We had all kinds of colors and some were embossed," Bauman said.
Bauman learned how to design kitchens from his father and cabinet companies' sponsored classes, and from being on site to install all the features he helped design. In 1969, he turned his full attention to designing.
By that time, "steel went out of vogue and people wanted wood," he said.
Bauman cabinetry were designed and built to fit each room uniquely. Unlike the standard pre-built models, Bauman cabinets wasted no space. A 28-inch space got a 28-inch cabinet, not a 27-inch cabinet with concealing molding.
"I didn't use fillers," he said.
Bauman cabinets are in homes from North Carolina to Arizona, but most can be found in the region and along the Wisconsin and Illinois line.
Bauman said he has designed hundreds of kitchens. But that may be an understatement: In 1969, a trade magazine, Kitchen Business, reported the firm had "designed, sold and installed 1,100 kitchens in the last 20 years."
Alan and Judy married in 1958, and she became a full component in the business, running the gift shop with Henrietta. The couple had four children, and their daughter Bonnie took over the gift shop about 18 years ago.
Alan Bauman said he hasn't designed a kitchen in about three years. "And the year before that, maybe one," he added.
But he actually retired about 10 years ago, which perhaps goes to show that quality craftsmanship doesn't go away - it lingers.
Bauman Kitchens and Giftware store in Monroe will be history by the end of the year.
Owners Alan and Judy Bauman have decided to move full-time into their retirement plans. Alan sees himself playing a little more golf, and Judy is looking forward to watching a granddaughter play for the University of Wisconsin women's basketball team.
"We're going to miss our customers after all these years," Judy said.
Bauman Kitchens and Giftware has been on 17th Avenue in Monroe's Square since 1970, when it moved from 1115 18th Avenue. But the family has been in business since Henry and Henrietta Bauman, Alan's parents, began in 1947.
Alan, who joined the business in 1956, said his father sold Geneva Steel cabinets in the 1950s and 60s, a markedly higher standard of cabinets than customers could find from mail-order department stores.
"We had all kinds of colors and some were embossed," Bauman said.
Bauman learned how to design kitchens from his father and cabinet companies' sponsored classes, and from being on site to install all the features he helped design. In 1969, he turned his full attention to designing.
By that time, "steel went out of vogue and people wanted wood," he said.
Bauman cabinetry were designed and built to fit each room uniquely. Unlike the standard pre-built models, Bauman cabinets wasted no space. A 28-inch space got a 28-inch cabinet, not a 27-inch cabinet with concealing molding.
"I didn't use fillers," he said.
Bauman cabinets are in homes from North Carolina to Arizona, but most can be found in the region and along the Wisconsin and Illinois line.
Bauman said he has designed hundreds of kitchens. But that may be an understatement: In 1969, a trade magazine, Kitchen Business, reported the firm had "designed, sold and installed 1,100 kitchens in the last 20 years."
Alan and Judy married in 1958, and she became a full component in the business, running the gift shop with Henrietta. The couple had four children, and their daughter Bonnie took over the gift shop about 18 years ago.
Alan Bauman said he hasn't designed a kitchen in about three years. "And the year before that, maybe one," he added.
But he actually retired about 10 years ago, which perhaps goes to show that quality craftsmanship doesn't go away - it lingers.