Karla Krengel is a third-generation kitchen and bath industry entrepreneur at the helm of Krengel & Hood, which she describes as “a new school rep firm.”

She has deep roots in our industry: Her Grandpa Bill started Kitchens by Krengel in St. Paul, MN, in the 1950s, her Dad was a manufacturer’s representative and her Uncle Jimmy was an educator for and past national president of the NKBA. She worked alongside her father at Krengel & Associates, a rep firm and helped her brother start up Kitchens.com and Cabinets.com.

Prior to working with her father, she ran Krengel Media, assisting kitchen dealers from around the country in obtaining media coverage for their businesses. She has written articles on kitchen, bath, design and cabinetry trends for a wide range of publications, including Chicago Home & Garden, Mountain Living Magazine, NKBA Magazine and various local newspapers, and authored a quarterly Internet Connections column for Kitchen & Bath Design News for 12 years. Krengel also sat on Jenn-Air’s Design Advisory Committee, served on the Internet & Marketing committees at the national level for the NKBA and travelled as an educator for the association, speaking on websites and marketing. She holds a degree in communications with a concentration in mass media and her first career was in TV news.

A member of Wendy Cohen’s Midwest-based Powerhouse Smart group, a networking group geared to bringing together members of the design/home industries who focus on the high-end market, she has also been a featured speaker at KBIS, NKBA chapters across North America, NeoCons and numerous other design-related events and industry specific groups, and in 2018 was named a “Top 50 Innovator” by Kitchen & Bath Design News.

In the Midwest, Krengel & Hood proudly represents Greenfield Cabinetry & Siteline Cabinetry from The Corsi Group, Plain & Fancy Cabinetry, Cuisine Ideale Cabinetry, Southside Woodshop and Open Air Outdoor Cabinetry.

She and her husband live in Chicago with two dogs, Bergen & Sadie, and she is passionate about travel (she’s currently teaching herself to speak and read Norwegian), skiing, cooking, wine and all things home-related.