KCB Boiler Room Podcast

On June 11th, we hosted a panel discussion titled, “Giving Back,” where we invited leaders in Boston’s build-design community to share their stunning stories on what they are doing to make the world a better place. It was so inspirational that we wanted to make it available for streaming. Julie Arcari, of Landry & Arcari Rugs and Carpeting, Patty Watson, of Taste Design Inc. in Middletown, RI,...

“Big box design” bothers Cecilia Casagrande and was at the top of her mind when she sat down with us in the Boiler Room to let us get to know her better. Hotels in London and holidays in the English countryside, backpacking in Europe and Africa, growing up on Long Island and Brooklyn and that one time she partied with Depeche Mode—Cecilia has had a wild, storied life. She’s a sorta fearless, ambit...

Designer Cory Gans approached us back in 2025 with an idea for a panel discussion that involved a focus on the service industry. It was an amazing night of discussion. We recently had him back into the Boiler but this time to talk about himself! Quickly, we learned that Cory’s father was very much like Kevin, a furniture maker, carpenter, and general contractor with a family of kids—and this is th...

We’ve been lucky to work with Manny Makkas of Makkas Workroom on numerous projects. He’s a supporter of and familiar face at our Boiler Room events, as well. We were excited to have Manny in to hear more of his origin story and got a full-on odyssey. His story is THE Greek American immigration story. Incredible lows, highs, love, music, and a very strong family and community that explains so much...

Last year we were lucky to have Steve Payne of Payne|Buchier Builders on a panel discussion titled “Preservation Vs. Performance,” and we wanted to bring him back to the Boiler Room to revisit two moments—which we played recordings of on the boombox.  We also wanted to hear his origin story–which is amazing! In his youth, Steve hitchhiked across the country doing all sorts of jobs in pursuit of ac...

Editor in Chief of New England Home magazine, Jenna Talbott, stopped by the Boiler Room for a conversation and to sign our copies of It’s Lonely in the Modern World: The Essential Guide to Form, Function and Ennui , a book she co-authored with writer Molly Jane Quinn. Published in 2011, their book expanded on their now infamous Tumblr, Unhappy Hipsters, that struck such a nerve that within hours o...

Over the years photographer Greg Premru has shot many of our finished projects. Having him in the Boiler Room for a conversation allowed us to get to know not just Greg’s origin story as a photographer but the story of architectural photoshoots during the time of film, where it could easily take over thirty minutes of prep work to line up one shot. Being a quick adapter to digital cameras, Greg no...

We’ve known Trevor Fulmer before he launched his rug line, but we got to know him better at his launch event in 2024. It felt like a family reunion, meeting his parents and entourage of relatives who were all so proud of him.  Two years later, we finally were able to get Trevor into the Boiler Room to ask him about his origins in interior design and his boombox story—it’s an amazing one that  invo...

One of Boston’s most outspoken advocates for the region’s historic buildings, Matthew Dickey has been a familiar face for years. His Instagram, @streetscapecurator, is a testament to storytelling-as-a-public service done right. And it’s so much fun. His visit to the Boiler Room for a longer conversation led to Matthew’s own story of his upbringing just off of Route 66 near St. Louis and how the “A...

After attending the November 2025 B/A/D Talk, we were curious about its origin story. So we invited Paul Reidt (President) and Karla Monkevich (CEO) of Kochman Reidt + Haigh Cabinetmakers to join us in the Boiler Room to tell us more about this long-form discussion series, including the power of drawing, storytelling, travel, bliss—there was so much! B/A/D Talks (Building, Architecture and Design)...

Iris Marcus, expert finisher and leader in the industry, stopped by the Boiler Room to talk shop and music. We’ve been fortunate to have worked with Iris over the years on numerous projects, with most recently, a preservation job salvaging painted treads original to a Beacon Hill brownstone, what we call the FLATS. The clients wanted stained wood matching their floors. We brought Iris in for woodg...

Clients Sarah and Josh Muncey were once new clients, starting ten years ago and since then have been ongoing clients as part of our estate care. Their home is featured on our website as the PARAGON.  Sarah and Josh shared what it’s like being a KCB client, stretching all the way from before they bought the house, to the long middle of a complete renovation of an amazing historic home, to the sweet...

Julie Murphy, expert seamstress and owner of Designer Draperies of Boston, sat on a panel with Kevin last May at the Luxury Home Design Summit titled, “Unfiltered Insights: What Works (and What Doesn’t) in B2B Outreach for High-End Design,” along with Taste Design’s Patti Watson and Dustin Hayes as moderator. We had Julie into the Boiler Room to revisit the panel and to hear her origin story that...

In our second installment of “AKA” or “Ask Kevin Anything,” Kevin fields three questions sent in by you!  For this episode, Kevin talks about how social media posts have had an impact on what is considered “quality” work in carpentry. This led to a “hot take” involving priming. Technology and AI was the subject of the next question, and this had to do with the construction schedule.  Lastly, there...

We're re-releasing an episode in which good friend and partner on numerous projects architect J. B. Clancy cited making his first mixtape as part of why he became an architect. OMD's album, "Architecture and Morality" also played an important role. Building science, beautiful design, and historic preservation also come up, as well as that moment where J.B. Clancy realized that...

We’ve started a new series, “AKA” or “Ask Kevin Anything.” And wow, did our listeners deliver! From Kevin’s most difficult issue concerning running a business and then the mantra Kevin uses during dark times to how Kevin goes about creating goals for the future, to a technical question involving external wall material, we had a nice range of subject matter for this first episode, along with many m...

While I haven’t been able to work with Interior Designer Georgia Zikas yet, she’s been a familiar face for years. At this past Luxury Home Design Summit, we bonded over a presentation involving what Summit presenter Seth Cohen calls “Applied Positivity.” Georgia approached us with coming on the pod to discuss this in more detail, especially with how Cohen employs “hope” as a design construct. We a...

On October 29th, we hosted the New England Chapter of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art in a Boiler Room panel discussion titled, “Preservation vs. Performance: Renovation in the Modern Era.”  Builders Stephen Payne of Payne | Bouchier and Nick Schiffer of NS Builders, along with Kevin as moderator, took part in a conversation that was so timely, with just the right amount of techn...

This past May at the Luxury Home Design Summit Steve Siegel had a bit of a “moment.” With about sixty seconds to spare at the mic, he rolled out a description of what he and his company does—structural engineering—in a way that set the room of about 400 designers, builders, architects, and trade partners abuzz. It was great writing and a great delivery, making the work of structural engineering fe...

From his role as both managing partner of New England Home magazine and co-founder of the Luxury Home Design Summit, Adam Japko is a force in Boston’s build-design community. With personal interests like fishing and wine tasting rounding him out, Adam is a genuine one-of-a-kind presence. If you’ve ever been lucky enough to hear him present, you know he’s not only comfortable in front of an audienc...

On June 14th, 2023, we hosted a PRO New England panel in our Boiler Room on why builders should work with interior designers. Meg McSherry, owner and principal designer of Meg McSherry Interiors in Newton, was one of the designers on the panel. Of all the discussions we’ve hosted, this one stuck out as not just unique but also evergreen; builders and designers are from two very different worlds. T...

We all know Kevin loves people who put themselves out there. He won’t pass up a chance to talk with someone who is doing new things and not playing it safe. He also values people doing it the right way, with attention paid to detail and focus on an individual’s strengths. Architect Matthew Arnold has been a familiar face in the homebuilding community. Recently, Kevin had a conversation with him wh...

This is our second episode of a new series where we do a deep dive in things that are "Hard to Make." I served in the Coast Guard. One of my takeaways was the POD or “Plan of the Day.” We’ve implemented this on our job sites, along with our project managers having their own versions. Ops man Nate McBride and I take some time to talk about what this really looks like in real time, scaled...

Architect J.B. Clancy, of ART Architects, holds the record for guest spots on Boiler Room panels. Along with his work on the SUNFLOWER, an historic stick-style Victorian, J.B. shares a love of Jamaica Plain, the neighborhood in Boston that Kevin has called home most of his life. Cue: “The Renaissance of Jamaica Plain,” a panel discussion we put on during Design Week 2022. J.B. debuted “Setting the...

Introducing a series we’re calling “Hard to Make.” This is a story Kevin’s been wanting to tell for decades, the culmination of a lifetime of experiences as a carpenter, woodworker, and general contractor. And so periodically, we’ll drop one of these short episodes into the feed.  Our first episode has to do with the concept of “baseline,” as discussed in Jason Schroeder’s book, The Art of the Bui...