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The Heart of the Home: Behind the Business with Kitchen Land

Alex Korol and his partner Gregory Yaremchuk are proud of the business they’ve built in Kitchen Land.

What started as the dream of two men has grown into one of the GTA’s favourite kitchen companies, employing a complete staff of workers, designers and installers. As you can see from the pictures, the work is absolutely stunning.

We interviewed Alex and asked him about starting the business from scratch, the difficulties and rewards of owning a business and what the future might hold for Kitchen Land.

image of the owners of Kitchen Land

Gregory Yaremchuk (left ) with his partner Alex Korol (right) collect the 2014 Consumer Choice Award for Kitchen Land.

I think I can tell what Kitchen Land does from the name, but tell us about the business.

Kitchen Land is a family owned business that concentrates on middle class home owners. My partner and I started this business in 2005 in hopes and dreams of one day owning a showroom that we can provide ability to showcase all our products and services.

What made you choose this path? Is it a family legacy or are you a pioneer?

My partner and I both had separate businesses before we stated Kitchen Land and we were both in the same field. When we joined our forces together we knew it would be that much better because we could always rely on each other, help each other out, share each others knowledge and experiences.

They say that to be successful you have to be passionate, so share what drives you every day. Why do you love what you do?

The first and most important thing that drives both of us is that we are our own bosses and the harder we work or the better the quality we provide the better our business will be flourishing.

Our biggest gift is when we make a family happy and we make their kitchen dreams come true.  

image of a white contemporary kitchen by Kitchen Land

Contemporary White Kitchen

Has it been smooth sailing or have you overcome adversity to get where you are?

It sure has been hard but it has been worth it. Every step of the way we learned different lessons of being business owners.

We all know that crazy happens. What’s the wildest thing that’s happened on the job?

We had to change one client’s kitchen 3 times, because the first kitchen came in the wrong colour, second time we installed it and any then realized under certain light that the bottom cabinets and top cabinets are different shades of the same colour. Then the 3rd time happened and I almost cried as the hood came in the wrong colour. We eventually got everything fixed. Thank God that our clients understood and were extremely co-operative and never made us feel guilty or yelled at us. They were truly amazing!

What do you do with your time off? Are you familiar with that concept?

In all honesty I barely get time off, but when my partner and I do we go away on vacations with our families, bbq, hang out with friends and play soccer.

kitchen_land_contemporary_kitchen

Contemporary Espresso Shaker Kitchen

This is the age of the social network. How important is social media to your business and how do you make it work?

We introduced our business to social media 2 years ago and I must say we have grown a lot in the new areas, more people know about Kitchen Land and have been exposed to our services.  We get to share our new and upcoming projects and images with the world for them to admire and get inspired. Our biggest success social media have been on Instagram and Twitter. Since Canadians use social media more then any other country in the world, we are more advanced at it and we welcome it in everyday business life.

How are you involved in your community? What does supporting local mean to you?

We, as a family business, are involved in a few charities and non-profit organizations (overseas and locally) and support a lot of people that need help in the community. As both my and my partner’s families don’t have anyone in Canada except us, the community happens to be our family and we take care of it as such. We have been supporting and doing a lot of fundraising for support and equipment of volunteer soldier’s units in Ukraine, we also sent a lot of packages to orphanages in Ukraine filled with everything they would need for newborns to teenager years.

What does the future look like for you and Kitchen Land?

The future is filled with endless possibilities and opportunities and it looks bright for our one stop shop business.

Do you have any advice for aspiring business owners just starting out?

Do as much as possible research and study on your customer and their interests and budget. Make sure you are ready to withstand storms, your business becomes your baby and it means you have to work on it all the time 24/7.