JACKSON, Wyo. — If appliances aren’t one of the first things you think of when you’re designing a home, think again.
So says Chris Sentz, the operations manager for JB Appliance.
Sentz is the perfect man for his job. He genuinely loves appliances. It takes less than a second for him to name his “dream appliance:” A Wolf 48” Range gas stove, six-burner, two-oven with a griddle.
“That’s a big, bad cooking appliance,” he says.
Appliances help define a home as much as the furniture or the paint on the walls.
“Appliances should be one of the first things you think about,” Sentz says. “Cabinets can change. But appliances really dictate the space of the kitchen — your cooking needs, your refrigeration needs.”
Sentz should know. Before he was an appliances guy, he was a cook. He spent every day in a professional kitchen, which means he has an even more personal and intimate understanding of how kitchen appliances should work.
Sentz and his team at JB Appliance pride themselves on being there for every stop of the appliances’ life, from point-of-sale to installation to repairs. They’re good at customizing their services for each customer’s needs and budget.
Thinking about stainless steel appliances? If you have kids with fingers, think again. “You constantly have to keep them clean,” Sentz says. He’s partial to black stainless or sunset bronze.
Need a new fridge? What kind of food are you refrigerating? Fresh or frozen? Do you need a full bottom freezer, or will a side-by-side suffice? Do you have kids and need a separate drawer for them? These are all questions Sentz will ask before making any recommendations
“I like meeting the client and really sitting there and figuring out their needs,” he says.
Sentz would love to sell you a new refrigerator or stove or dishwasher. But he’d love to fix your old one just as much. He’d love to just talk to you about how your appliance works. This is the essence of Sentz and how he runs his business: if he can help you, he’s happy.
“Even if I’m not making money on it, I’m still helping the community,” he says.
Last year, for example, he had a customer in Dubois who called about a dishwasher. Just so happens Sentz was heading that way to go hunting. He told her, “I’m driving through tonight. Pick something in stock and I’ll drop it off.”
“The lady was happy, and I went about my hunting.”
There’s a sense of gratitude that follows Sentz everywhere he goes. He moved to Jackson from a dry desert city 15 years ago and still loves every snowfall, even the ones that come too early. He loves the mountains. He loves the family he’s built here, and the friends he’s made. He loves his two dogs. He loves his team at JB Appliance, who he calls the “backbone” of the business.
“Life gave us this opportunity,” he says. “Why waste it? Use it, enjoy it.”
It’s how he runs his business, too: like the universe gifted him with his life, and now he owes it to the universe to try his hardest. To help people any way he can, even if that’s through their appliances.
“We’re not surgeons or doctors,” he says. “But everybody spends a lot of time in their kitchens. If I can make it feel like a comfortable living space, knowing their appliances are working, the kids are happy the milk’s cold … I’m happy.”
