“Why don’t you give cabinetry a try?” It was an innocuous question from a colleague of Jim Bilotta Sr., a former fur-coat-designer-turned-homebuilder. But that question led to what is now Bilotta Kitchens, a 36-employee firm that designs, sells, and installs custom cabinetry for kitchens and bathrooms.
From its humble beginnings 29 years ago in a 20-by-60-foot Mamaroneck showroom, Jim Sr.’s children—Jim Jr., Maria, and Regina—have grown Bilotta Kitchens into a multimillion-dollar business with three thriving showrooms in Mamaroneck, Mount Kisco, and Manhattan. “My dad thought this [business] would be a great legacy to leave to his kids,” says Regina Bilotta, now head designer.
While Bilotta Kitchens has hit a couple of rough patches—recessions in the early ’90s and the latter half of the last decade, along with the closing of a couple showrooms—it’s been Jim Sr.’s core values that have guided the company to success. “My father would always err in favor of the client,” says Regina. “Everybody who works with us understands that, and that’s carried us through the recessions because people know they can trust us to do the right thing.”
Another key to Bilotta’s success is the staff, many of whom have been with the company more than a dozen years—like Senior Designer Jeff Eakley, who has been on staff since day one—mostly due to what Regina calls the company’s “immensely supportive and family-oriented” nature.
That’s all helped the company steadily increase business over the years—just last year, it sold 244 kitchens and bathrooms—leading to its biggest job ever: a $5.4-million, multi-unit project with 157 kitchens. Better yet, the job will be done using the recently launched Bilotta Collection of cabinetry, the company’s signature line, which features gray-toned cabinets with one-inch-thick doors made of wood and stainless steel. It took years to develop a line “that we felt was worthy of my father’s name,” says Regina, who believes that the collection “puts us in a whole new phase.”
