Florida Builder Appliances opens showroom

Local contractors and builders have a new shopping option when looking for brand-name appliances in Bonita Springs.

Florida Builder Appliances has recently opened a new 8,000-square-foot showroom of appliances for new construction and remodeling projects.

“We sell mostly work with contractors and a lot of it is referred business ... majority is designers too,” said Carla Eubanks, the sales selection consultant at the new showroom. “This new showroom is twice as big.”

The brand name giant sells all types of appliances from ranges to refrigerators but does not sell General Electric products.

“We can show more of our vendors,” said Eubanks about the store that sells every brand except GE. “It’s a lot easier for customers to make selections when they can see the product and not rely on catalogs.”

The showroom is unique because the appliances are not lined up in rows and prices vary from high end to lower priced models.

“Everything is set up the way it would look in a home ... people can see visually what it will look like,” she said.

Florida Builder Appliances moved its store to Bonita Springs after discovering that contractors and growth were moving north.

“We had an office in North Naples but the building industry is not centralized in Naples anymore,” Eubanks said of the store that is also open to the public.

The public and members of the building industry were recently invited to check out the new space during an Iron Chef competition on Food Network.

“Duck was the mystery ingredient and we just wanted to draw people’s attention,” said Eubanks about the idea to host the competition between Denis Meurgue from Patio 33 and Chef Will Ratley of the Westye Group.

Both chefs created four dishes and were judged by local foodies from the media.

“There are so many good restaurants down here and we’d like to see more local people compete,” Eubanks said of the cook-off that served as a fundraiser for The Soup Kitchen.

The Soup Kitchen is an outreach of the Community Cooperative Ministries Inc. that serves lunch six days a week to homeless and at-risk individuals and families.

“We raised $5,000 and it was good to give back,” she said adding that a raffle was held for dinner at the showroom to be cooked by Chef J. Warren, a TV host personality. “The local foodies that came really seemed to enjoy it.”

Florida Builder Appliances’ showroom is hoping to host more events in the future.

“I’m hoping that we can use the facility to draw in a lot of people and showcase some local talent,” she said.