Firehouse Kitchen on Life Support Successfully Rescued

Calling all Firehouses

When The Family Handyman magazine and IKEA put out the call to firehouses around the country to submit their ailing kitchens as candidates for renovation, the nominations came rolling in by the hundreds.

In a small community just north of Chicago, fire district administrative assistant Marianne DeHaan wrote a captivating letter that began, “This is a 911 call to IKEA to rescue the kitchen at Palos Fire Protection District”.  Her submission and those from four other deserving fire stations were selected as finalists and the drive for votes began in earnest.

And the Winner is ...

When the smoke cleared, the Palos station emerged as the undisputed victor garnering nearly 110,000 votes from community members, other fire departments, even local military personnel serving in the Mideast and elsewhere.

A Firehouse Kitchen Like No Other

Using IKEA’s online design application, the firefighters began creating their virtual dream kitchen.  The real thing soon followed.   I arrived as things were winding up and was duly impressed not only with the overall quality, but also with several innovative features like the wall cabinet hanging rail system, fully adjustable base cabinet leveling legs, snap on baseboards, soft-close hinges and drawer glides, convenient interior organizers and a remarkable 25-year warranty.

See for Yourself

To meet the firefighters, hear their story and see the striking new kitchen, watch the video.  For more information on the competition, visit rescueremodel.com.