Ann Gordon didn’t set out to start an Amish furniture and kitchen cabinetry business nearly 15 years ago.

She was just looking for the perfect bookshelf - a solid wood piece with clean lines and a non-toxic finish, something that would last, look nice and have shelves that didn’t sag. Her father owned a furniture store when she was growing up, so she had an eye for what she wanted.

A family friend introduced her to an Amish family who made furniture.

“It’s not true that all Amish make great furniture,” Gordon said. It wasn’t the quality that she wanted, and she kept up her search.

But word in the Amish community spread fast and Gordon was introduced to another family in the Coldwater area, about an hour-and-a-half southwest of her home in Ann Arbor. The family - a husband and wife with eight children - made the bookshelf Gordon wanted.

“Afterward, the husband asked me if I would help sell furniture for him,” Gordon said.


Branch Hill Joinery was launched: Gordon owns and operates the business while the Amish family makes the furniture and kitchen cabinetry.

It’s all custom-made with no storefront or inventory, and Gordon uses her home west of Ann Arbor as the showroom.

Today, Branch Hill, sells around the country, from New Jersey to Hawaii. 


Branch Hill makes custom beds frames (they start at $800 with the average cost for a queen bed frame at $1,200), tables, dressers, hutches, desks, bookshelves and kitchen cabinets ($800 to $1,000 a cabinet).

They have moved from making mostly furniture to making more kitchen cabinetry, Gordon said. They use solid wood (low-VOC plywood for parts that don’t show if customers want to cut costs), non-toxic finishes and top-end drawer slides, hinges and other hardware.

“Most of the cost is in the labor, so there’s no reason to use cheap materials,” Gordon said. 


While red and white oak used to be the wood of choice, customers are now asking for quarter-sawn white oak with its rich grain, along with walnut, which can be twice the price of oak, Gordon said. 


In the beginning, there were issues to be worked out. The Amish family, who do not want to be named, could not use power tools on their farm. And communication between Gordon and the family was difficult. The family didn’t own a telephone.


Gordon eventually bought a 10-acre farm next to the family, who built a simple house, workshop and barn on the property. The family can use power tools - usually only needed in the beginning of a project - on Gordon’s farm, where there is also a phone so they can receive orders and coordinate delivery with Gordon.

Still, most of the work is done by hand on the family’s farm. 


When Branch Hill Furniture first launched, Gordon joined the family in making the furniture, doing mostly finishing work. These days, she focuses on sales and the artistic end, designing the furniture and cabinetry, working in sales and arranging delivery. 


In 1998, when Gordon decided it was time for a new kitchen of her own, the family made the cabinets and Branch Hill entered the kitchen cabinet market, which now accounts for more than half the company’s sales, Gordon said.

The expansion also came at a good time for the Amish family: The children were growing older and looking for more work.

“As the kids got older, making kitchen cabinets - which have 15 to 20 pieces - kept them busier,” Gordon said.

Still, the father is the master craftsman, Gordon said. “He is close to Stickley (the gold standard for Craftsman furniture) quality.”


There’s been a learning curve, Gordon said. She’s learned to use high-end drawer slides for a soft close and to find quality hardware at reasonable prices. 


“Making furniture isn’t something you suddenly pick up. We have progressed, our level of product is far superior from when we started.”