In Chicago, wholesale design center the Merchandise Mart has a new luxury kitchen manufacturer. On October 6, Italian-based Ernestomeda opened its first U.S. showroom at LuxeHome, on the first floor of the Mart. The ribbon-cutting ceremony coincided with LuxeHome's annual open house and National Kitchen and Bath Month.

Ernestomeda features progressive environmental policies. Its Environmental Management System, in accordance with UNI EN ISO 14001 standards, insures environmentally conscious manufacturing processes.

The showroom will highlight kitchen designs including Barrique, launched at the showroom opening, and Elektra, available for the first time in the U.S. A union of natural materials and high technology, Barrique (which means wine barrel in French) is available with colored glass-fronted cabinets, natural stones, and traditional woods. Designed by Pietro Arosio, super-modern Elektra arranges functions in a stack of five horizontal layers, which can be customized to needs. Ernestomeda currently produces 10 collections, and caters to the boating industry, producing galleys for pleasure vessels and yachts in partnership with shipyard Ferretti Group.

"We chose to open the first U.S. showroom in Chicago because of the city’s rich architectural history and because the market here is not overly saturated with European design," says Luca Lanzetta, owner of Ernestomeda Chicago.

Founded in 1996, Ernestomeda is headquartered in Pesaro, Italy.

LuxeHome offers kitchen and bath wares from 30 boutiques over more than 100,000 square feet of space.