Jim Baynton is a Master Designer at Ideal Cabinets. What do we mean by Master Designer? We mean Jim has the knowledge of “Yoda”. That is only one of many nicknames that denote his wisdom. We also call him “the professor”, which became even more applicable this past summer when Jim wrote a syllabus for our new internship program. He then taught two eight-week courses for our summer interns. Jim is also currently a member on the Residential Environments and Design Advisory Board at Virginia Tech. As you can tell, he has a lot of knowledge to share.
You are probably wondering about the background of someone who is so accomplished, and how he came to this point in his life, well it is quite simple, Jim was born into the cabinetry world, and God gifted him with creativity and intelligence.
Jim represents the third generation of his family in the cabinet business. Jim’s grandfather was a furniture and cabinetmaker in Michigan. His father was the first national sales director for Boise Cascade Corporation’s cabinet division (which is still operating as American Woodmark Corporation). His father and mother opened Cardinal Cabinet Corporation in 1975, and Jim joined that team to open the Richmond branch and handle the outside wholesale sales in 1977. During his tenure, Jim served on the national board of directors of the National Kitchen & Bath Association (NKBA), as chairman of its Council of Wholesale Distributors.
Following the sale of Cardinal Cabinet Corp. in 1994, Jim joined the national staff of the NKBA as the Director of Chapter Development and Membership Services. That experience led him back into the cabinet business again, as he joined with Collins & Company as a field representative for Wood-Mode cabinetry. Wood-Mode got into his blood, and in 2003, Jim opened his own retail showrooms at the Washington Design Center and in Charlotte, NC. Jim’s showrooms were members of Wood-Mode’s Master’s Club, which was the top 25 retail dealers in the country (ranking 9th in that club).
Jim sold his dealerships and entered the training and design consulting business, working solely with Wood-Mode products. The training program he developed for his dealerships’ designers served as the foundation for Wood-Mode’s Online Orientation Training Program for years.
Somewhere along the way, Jim found time for an education, military service, and a personal life. Jim is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University. He later was involved in signals intelligence in the US Army, serving as a linguist (German and some Russian) in an ongoing live strategic NATO mission in Germany. Jim married a lovely lady named Peggy, who is a Roanoke native, and they’re celebrating their 33rd anniversary in 2024.
Today, Jim works solely for Ideal cabinets. He does many of the incredible designs you see. He shares his wisdom with us, and is teaching the next generation of designers, so we will always have beautiful custom creations that will amaze you… After all, that is the Ideal Cabinets way, and no one knows that better than our very own Professor Yoda.
