It was a simple compliment about a pair of charcoal sketches.
But today, some 30 years later, Pamela Polvere traces her place as one of Chicago’s best upscale kitchen and bath designers to those encouraging words from a family friend. The woman was admiring a high school art project, and since then numerous others have come to appreciate Polvere’s design artistry.
A Certified Kitchen Designer since 1989, Polvere’s work also includes home offices, entertainment centers and custom cabinetry for any room in the home. Most clients are from the Oak Park-River Forest area.
Gifted with an extraordinary vision for space planning and bolstered by a staunch work ethic, Polvere has designed well over 500 projects in her career. She is also an authority on the functional and stylistic uses of space. Polvere is a frequent contributor to the annual Parenthesis Kitchen Walk in Oak Park and River Forest.
Polvere strikes a balance between form and function—creating beautiful spaces that are eminently comfortable and convenient while exuding the client’s distinct personality and taste. She brings a passion to transforming a space, no matter how small or otherwise challenging.
The second of eight children born to Dan and Gloria Onischuk, Polvere grew up in Chicago before moving to Oak Park in 1974. She is a graduate of Trinity High School in River Forest.
After receiving an associate’s degree in arts from Triton College in River Grove, Polvere enrolled in the Harrington Institute of Interior Design in Chicago. Upon graduation with a bachelor’s of interior design degree in 1984, she created furniture placement designs for a Northbrook interior design firm.
A few years later, Polvere became an office cubicle designer at Business Office Systems in Elk Grove Village. In that role for the next three years, she honed her skills in space efficiency on projects for the Chicago Transit Authority, Nicor Gas, and dozens of other clients encompassing thousands of cubicle units.
In 1987, she was recruited to join Sprovieri Kitchens of Elmwood Park. Throughout, Polvere frequently worked as many as three jobs at a time to pay off student loans. That dedicated work ethic is at the heart of her business success to this day.
In January 2000, Polvere acquired Sprovieri Kitchens, later renaming the firm Pamela Polvere Designs. A National Kitchen and Bath Associationmember since 1987, Polvere has appeared on HGTV’s “New Spaces,” has judged designs for the NKBA and has served on the Plato Woodwork Inc. dealer advisory committee.
Her work has also frequently been featured in the media.