Nineteen years. That's long enough to watch trends come and go three or four times over in the kitchen and bath world. Long enough to have helped thousands of families find the space they wanted to come home to.
We've been thinking a lot lately about how we got here, and the story starts way before 2007.
Before Infusion had a name, before it had a showroom, before it had champagne on hand for clients choosing between rainfall showerheads, there was a man named Dave Potgeter and a company called “Warm Friend.”
Etna's Predecessor, Warm Friend
In 1929, the year the stock market crashed and the Great Depression tightened its grip on American households, Dave Potgeter purchased a coal, coke, and wood supply company. The work was backbreaking in the most literal sense. Family lore still tells the story of him hauling a 300-pound cast-iron tub of coal on his back, day after day, serving the homes and businesses of West Michigan.
It was unglamorous, essential work, and it demanded exactly the kind of grit that would define the company’s culture for the next century. But staying still was never part of the Potgeter playbook.
The Pivot That Changed Everything
By the 1960s, America was changing fast. The GIs who had returned from World War II wanted modern homes with modern amenities — gas furnaces, updated plumbing, the comforts that postwar prosperity promised.
Dave’s sons, Roger and Larry Potgeter, recognized the shift and made a decisive move: they diversified the family business into master plumbing and furnace sales. In 1965, Etna Supply Co. was born.
Etna's founders, Roger and Larry Potgeter
The name itself has become something of a family legend. Sitting around the breakfast table one morning, Roger and Larry overheard a National Geographic reporter announce that Mount Etna — Europe’s largest active volcano, rising from the island of Sicily — had erupted.
The brothers looked at each other. Something about that name captured exactly the kind of energy they wanted for their new venture: powerful, unstoppable, geographically rooted in something grand. They chose it on the spot.
It was a small breakfast table decision that would carry the company into the next six decades.
Mount Etna, located on the east coast of the Italian island of Sicily.
Etna Supply grew steadily through the decades, becoming a trusted distributor across Michigan. But by the 1990s, leadership recognized an opportunity hiding in plain sight: contractors and builders needed a place to bring their clients, a physical space where homeowners could see and touch the products they were investing in.
The answer was the Etna Supply Contractor’s Showroom — a straightforward, trade-focused space designed to bridge the gap between distributor and end customer. Featuring American Standard products front and center, it was functional and no-frills, built for builders.
Etna Supply’s 1st Showroom (1990s), later renamed "Infusion" in 2007.
But it planted a seed. Seeing clients respond to the showroom's tactile, experiential nature changed the conversation within the company. What if the experience could be elevated? What if the showroom itself became the destination, not just a service counter?
Etna's 1st Showroom (1990s), later renamed "Infusion" in 2007.
In 2007, the showroom division was officially rebranded as Infusion Kitchen and Bath Showrooms. The name was intentional. The concept was ambitious. The goal was to move decisively away from the trade-counter model and toward a more boutique-style design destination. A place where homeowners could arrive with a vision, or without one, and leave inspired.
The philosophy centered on shielding clients from decision fatigue. Choosing fixtures and finishes for a kitchen renovation or bathroom remodel can be paralyzing: thousands of options, dozens of brands, and no clear guide. Infusion’s answer was to become that guide and curator, educating and personalizing the experience so that every client felt cared for rather than overwhelmed.
What made this model distinctive wasn’t just the product selection or the showroom aesthetic. It was the combination of boutique care backed by serious purchasing power. As a division of Etna Supply — by this point a major regional distributor with deep manufacturer relationships — Infusion could offer the warmth of a family-owned operation with the inventory depth and pricing strength of a much larger enterprise.
From that first rebranded showroom, Infusion began building what is now a robust statewide network. By 2022, the company had established six premier showroom locations in Wixom, Kalamazoo, Holland, Grand Ledge, Traverse City, and Grand Rapids.
The parent network’s reach extended into some of Michigan’s most iconic projects as well. Etna Supply’s legacy includes supplying heavy-duty infrastructure for local landmarks, such as the plumbing systems for Tiger Stadium (now Comerica Park). It’s a reminder that behind every great building, there’s a supply chain few people think about.
Etna Supply helping with the Tigers Stadium
The most recent chapter in Infusion’s expansion story is also its most ambitious. In 2025 and into 2026, Infusion opened its seventh location in Troy, inside the prestigious Michigan Design Center. This is a statement.
The Michigan Design Center is where Metro Detroit’s top interior designers, architects, and high-end contractors come to source for their most discerning clients. For Infusion to plant a flag here marks a decisive push into the luxury market, putting Infusion’s expertise in front of an audience that expects nothing less than exceptional.
Infusion Showroom in Troy, MI
Ask any veteran of the plumbing supply industry and they’ll tell you: picking bathroom fixtures used to be something contractors handled for homeowners, full stop. The homeowner might circle a few options in a catalog, but the selection process was technical, transactional, and largely invisible.
That world is gone.
Today’s homeowner treats a kitchen or bathroom renovation as a genuine design project — one with mood boards, Instagram references, and strong opinions about the difference between brushed nickel and champagne bronze. Infusion recognized this shift early and leaned into it completely.
The product offering expanded from standard plumbing fixtures to encompass an entire vocabulary of premium, wellness-focused brands: Kohler, Kallista, Brizo, and Graff, among others. Smart toilets, touchless faucets, and digital steam showers (products that would have seemed futuristic fifteen years ago) are now regular topics of conversation in the showroom.
Infusion Showroom display
But the technology is almost beside the point. What truly defines the Infusion experience is the feeling. The showroom is warm and approachable, not intimidating. Consultants guide rather than sell. Live product demonstrations let clients see exactly how a faucet flows or how a steam system operates before they commit. And yes — complimentary champagne has been known to make an appearance during consultations. This is the Rolls-Royce end of the home design world, and Infusion treats it accordingly.
Through all the growth, rebrands, new locations, and luxury pivot, one thing has remained constant: the company still operates with the values of a family business. The personal relationships, the long-tenured staff who know their clients by name, the willingness to take extra time with someone who doesn’t know where to start — these aren’t marketing talking points. They’re the inheritance of 97 years of doing business the right way.
As Infusion approaches its 20th anniversary in 2027, the company stands in a rare position: simultaneously rooted in nearly a century of family legacy and actively expanding into Michigan’s most competitive luxury design market.
The goal for the next chapter is the same as it’s been since the first rebranded showroom opened in 2007: to be the premier kitchen and bath resource in the Midwest, not by being the biggest, but by being the most trusted, the most personal, and the most inspired.
Where water flows, Infusion goes.
Ready to write the next chapter of your home’s story? Skip the big-box store chaos. Schedule a consultation with an Infusion expert at one of our seven Michigan showrooms today.
