t isn't often that a kitchen showroom is the result of a love story, but this is definitely the case with Akzent Miami. When Cristina Raidt Mendoza was 18, a German boy visited Costa Rica, her native country. There was an immediate spark and after writing letters to each other for two years, Cristina moved to Germany to attend architecture school, marrying that pen pal, Peter, who was a boy no longer.

Three children later, the couple returned to Costa Rica, opening a showroom in San Jose to introduce the country to highly refined Zeyko kitchen cabinetry, a German product that Cristina came to admire while in that country.

When Peter, an inventor of children's games, was lured to the United States for a business opportunity, Cristina decided to bring Zeyko products to Miami, choosing the Miracle Mile in Coral Gables as the site for the first U.S. showroom. ''When we first arrived, we saw that the market in Miami is full of European furniture,'' she says. ``We also realized that every style under the sun is available here so we knew our products would do well.''

Zeyko cabinetry has zero emissions of gases and the glue has no formaldehyde. Showroom manager Uwe Pringsauf, whom Cristina brought from Germany for his 20 years of experience in selling Zeyko products, says that it's also the fine detailing that sets their cabinetry apart. ''Everything is 100 percent custom,'' he says. ``We carry nothing in stock because each kitchen is uniquely designed for each client.''

Zeyko cabinets are available in over 260 veneers. They can be ordered in horizontal or vertical patterns in mat or high-gloss finishes, or in over 3,500 matt or high-gloss colors. Because the cabinets are hand-made, even the drawers are beautifully constructed, dovetailed and available in either solid beech or French walnut, and in hundreds of configurations. The walnut drawers won Zeyko a Red Dot Design Award in 2007.

''If a client wants us to handle countertops, we can,'' says Pringsauf. ''We have relationships with CaesarStone, with several companies that manufacture granite and marble countertops, and with Concreative, which produces concrete countertops.'' Because there is a veritable endless array of options, pricing is highly specific to each project.

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