Sponsored by Northbay Kitchen & Bath
From Job Sites to Showrooms Dave Frym's lifelong pursuit of quality
L ong before he was designing luxury kitchens, sourcing custom cabinetry from Pennsylvania, Washington, Canada, Minnesota, or designing outdoor cabinetry for clients in wine country, Dave Frym was just a kid hanging around construction sites hoping someone would let him help. “It was 1969. I just loved being around construction.” Somewhere there is still a photograph of him sitting on top of a bulldozer at a neighborhood job site. The workers did their best tolerating him before welcoming him. He admits he “drove them nuts.” Eventually they handed him a broom and told San Fernando Valley, Frym was working for another contractor. One assignment still stands out vividly decades later. The crew left him alone on a small residential addition and told him to chalk out the foundation lines and dig the footings before they returned; he accomplished the task! “It was a small 10-by-15 addition, but I remember those times like it was yesterday.” He remembers the mistakes too; the days he frustrated supervisors or did something wrong. But those early experiences formed the foundation of a lifelong career built on practical knowledge, persistence and curiosity. him sweeping would be his official job. Over time, he graduated to nailing offsets and helping with foundation work. A few years later, as a teenager working summers in By Sam Wright
Before founding NBKB, Dave Frym served as general contractor for this three-bedroom, 3½-bath home in Novato. (Courtesy NBKB)
By 1978, at just eighteen years old, Frym purchased his first house in Reseda, CA and remodeled it from the ground up. He drew the plans himself and navigated the permitting process in Los Angeles County before he was officially licensed. “It’s been an adventure the whole way through,” Frym said. That adventure led him to Petaluma in 1981. At the time, Frym was already working closely with homeowners throughout the Bay Area, but the design process felt fragmented and exhausting. Helping clients choose materials meant spending entire days driving from one showroom to another—tile store in one city, plumbing fixtures in another, cabinetry and wood flooring somewhere else entirely. “I remember driving all over the place with this couple from Sausalito, we went from San Francisco to San Rafael.” That experience formed an idea. Instead of having homeowners navigate dozens of suppliers, why not create a showroom where clients could explore all material options in one place? Frym’s vision became the foundation for Northbay Kitchen & Bath. Since 1992, the company has remained rooted in downtown Petaluma At age 32, Frym opened Northbay Kitchen
& Bath and began building a showroom around trusted craftsmen, manufacturers and suppliers whose work reflected his standards for quality. Today, the showroom features products
An early advertisement for D&R Construction, a company owned by Dave Frym . (Courtesy NBKB)
A young Dave Frym during his early years in the construction industry.
36 NorthBaybiz
Where Ideas Are Born 2026
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