WELCOME TO KITTINGER RESTORATION

A SUBSIDIARY OF THE KITTINGER FURNITURE COMPANY

The company you can trust for the furniture you cherish

Why Kittinger?

The Kittinger Furniture Company produces the world's finest handcrafted furniture with the same care, detailing, and innovation for which it has been renowned for over a century. As the exclusive licensee for the manufacturing of WILLIAMSBURG® furniture from 1937-1990, Kittinger's craftsmanship and unequivocal authenticity is incomparable to any other company that can refinish or refurbish this furniture! As the makers of fine furniture, we not only know what it takes to create pieces that last, but how to best restore those pieces that may require some revitalization. Whether your furniture is a current or past Kittinger piece, or any other brand of fine furniture, who better to ensure the quality, precision, and care of your antiques than the company behind it all?

Why Kittinger

Our History

While the Williamsburg® Restoration dates from 1926, it was not until eleven years later that, in answer to public demand, a Craft Program was developed. This education program worked to expand the historical and artistic influence of Colonial Williamsburg by making reproductions of some of its antique treasures available to the public. The reproductions included furniture, ceramics, prints, crystal, silver, pewter, and glass, each of which was to be a meticulous copy of the original antique in the Williamsburg® collection. To paraphrase the legend on the Colonial Williamsburg seal, the program was to help “the future learn from the past,” with resulting income used to help maintain and support the organization.

In typical 18th Century manner, a bill of sale accompanied each reproduction that was produced. The bill bore the seal of Colonial Williamsburg, Inc. and set forth the known history of the original and its location, with the hallmark of the foundation stamped into each piece. The furniture was exhibited, along with other reproductions at Craft House in Williamsburg®. In the early years of the program, Kittinger artisans dressed in quaint 18th century costumes and worked with tools of colonial days, exhibited their craftsmanship to visitors at the Ayscough House in Colonial Williamsburg. This shop, known as “Forget and Wheel” was also called the “Kittinger Craft Shop.” The pieces selected were both English and Colonial 18th century from the furniture’s Golden Age.

Colonial Williamsburg Foundation sought manufacturers with the craftsmanship, facilities, interest, and excellent record of high quality work who could comply with the extremely high standards required to reproduce the antiques, and in 1937, the Kittinger Furniture Company of Buffalo, New York was selected as the exclusive licensee for furniture by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Kittinger originally manufactured the furniture at their facilities at 1893 Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo, where they were called upon to produce true copies of the original antique. During this process, the original antique to be duplicated was withdrawn from exhibition and copied in exact detail.

The Kittinger Craft Shop in Williamsburg

Bill of Sale

Kittinger partnered with Williamsburg® for more than fifty years until their association ended in 1990. Their collaboration produced more than 300 furniture reproductions known around the world for its unquestioned authenticity. These pieces can still be found today in the world’s finest homes and even in the White House in Washington, D.C.

Hallmark

Past Collections

Kittinger is proud to have had the exclusive license to manufacture a selection of important late 18th- early 19th-century furniture. Today, Kittinger's reproductions can be identified based on their exclusive hallmark symbols, which assure authenticity, character, and value of the piece. When it comes to the restoration of these fine pieces, who better to ensure the quality, precision, and care of your antiques than the company behind it all?

17th Century

19th Century

The Williamsburg Trademark

Williamsburg

Furniture

Reproductions

Williamsburg

Furniture

Interpretations

Historic Newport

Reproductions

The Baleroy

Collection

Historic Savannah

Reproductions

Old Sturbridge

Village

Independence Hall

Reproductions

Kittinger Restoration Service

Our refinishing process includes removing all hardware and polishing the piece to match your preference-bright or antiqued. We then hand strip the wood item and send it to our Cabinet Department where it is sanded as if it were a new piece of furniture. After sanding, furniture is then sent back into the finishing area where our multi-step finish is applied. While we are not always able to remove all imperfections, we are usually able to repair most damage. A great piece of furniture will display minor imperfections similar to a "gently used" antique when it is finished. We also try to replace missing hardware or replace it with time sensitive equivalents with customer approval. We will match existing furniture, providing a pre-job sample for approval upon deposit.

Although we specialize in refurbishing Kittinger furniture, we have done many other valuable pieces of furniture as well. For desks, we revitalize the top, which includes cleaning and polishing the leather (if present). If necessary, we replace the leather with high quality Garrett Leather. We are also able to do dining tables, occasional tables, and any other wood furniture, as well as reupholstering with your own material selection.

Trademarks

Kittinger Restoration

Services

Door-to-door pickup and delivery
Custom finishes, including painted finishes
Repairs on insurance claims
In-home touchup service (locally)
Touch-ups
Color blending and matching
Hand stripping (this ensures joints are not dried out with no disfiguration of wood, which can occur with dipped stripping)
Hand finished and rubbed