Kaitlyn Stokes

Crystal Kitchen & Bath

Minnesota State Chapter

Kaitlyn Stokes says her favorite part of her job as a designer and salesperson at Crystal Kitchen & Bath is “seeing clients fall in love with their homes again.” And making renovation dreams come true seemed a natural path for someone whose earliest design memories were being fascinated by a Tiffany lamp in the home of one of her parents’ friends, and always insisting on being the interior designer whenever she and her friends “played house.”

Raised in South St. Paul, Kaitlyn earned an Associate of Art & Science degree in Interior Design from Dakota County Technical College and in 2013 began her career as a design assistant in tile showrooms around the Twin Cities. Eager to tackle projects hands-on, she landed her current job in 2018 and says working with Crystal Kitchen & Bath’s all-female team has been empowering. Kaitlyn is passionate about historical architecture, functional design and local craftsmanship. She has incorporated woodwork from Wood from the Hood and lighting from Bicycle Glass into projects, and hopes to work with more metro-area artisans going forward.

 Connecting with customers in the COVID-19 era also led Kaitlyn to create several informational videos for Crystal’s YouTube channel. And her ingenuity spilled over into volunteer work with Art Buddies, a program that pairs creative adults with young students from low-income neighborhoods. When the pandemic cut short her one-on-one participation, she still wanted to help, she says, “so I signed our company up to help pack 500 Buddy Bags with activity books, crayons, and other craft supplies to be handed out to the children.” Kaitlyn’s personal hobbies include sketching nature and historical architecture, cooking and writing. She has a tuxedo cat named Taco and her ultimate life goals are to visit every continent (Antarctica excluded), play an instrument and speak another language. And, of course, own her own design business.