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Whirlpool Employees Earn NKBA Certification

The move is part of the corporation’s goal “to provide architects and designers with information beyond appliance selection.”

Meaghan O'Neill -- Interior Design, 1/25/2007 12:00:00 AM

With its Inside Advantage program, the Whirlpool Corporation’s Architecture & Design Marketing Group creates educational, informational, and experiential resources and events that help design professionals build up their knowledge of the manufacturer’s brands and products. According to Whirlpool, the group’s recent industry firsts include home-plan portfolios in the housing industry that incorporate branded appliances, continuing education podcasts for architects, online courses for IIDA interior designers at InteriorDesign.net, and branded appliance suites for SketchUp CAD software within Google’s 3D Product Warehouse. Now, it’s adding another first: Three staff members from the Architecture & Design Marketing Group have earned design credentials from the National Kitchen & Bath Association, making Whirlpool the only appliance manufacturer with an on-staff NKBA-certified design team.

Mark Johnson, senior manager, has become a Certified Kitchen Designer; Joseph Sharkey, specialist, is an Associate Kitchen & Bath Designer; Benjamin Wojcikiewicz, specialist, has become certified as an Associate Kitchen & Bath Designer. “We are better able to meet the needs of the design community because we are part of the design community,” says Johnson of the trio’s new accolades.

“Our goal has always been to provide architects and designers with information beyond appliance selection,” said Tom Halford, general manager of contract sales and marketing at Whirlpool Corporation, which has annual sales of more than $19 billion, and markets major home appliances such as Jenn-Air, KitchenAid, Maytag, Whirlpool, and several other major brand names in nearly every country.