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Nancy Baldygo of Exeter, left, found out she won a dream kitchen featuring cabinetry from Wellborn Cabinet Inc. of Ashland, Ala., on Friday morning. The new kitchen will be installed by Interstate Building Materials of Pittston. She received a large facsimile of a $12,000 check at Interstate from Paul Wellborn and Angela Wellborn O’Neill.

AIMEE DILGER/THE TIMES LEADER

Nancy Baldygo of Exeter arrived at Interstate Building Materials in Pittston on Friday morning, believing she had won a vanity worth $500.

But the notice about the relatively small piece of furniture had been just a ruse to get her into the showroom, where members of the Wellborn family from Alabama were waiting to tell her she’d actually won something bigger — a kitchen worth $12,000.

“Thank you,” Baldygo said, appearing stunned and on the verge of happy tears. “We were just talking about a new kitchen, and I thought it would be about five years before we could afford it.”

“You’ll have one a lot sooner now,” said Paul Wellborn, president and CEO of Wellborn Cabinet Inc., which employs 700 people in its Alabama manufacturing facility.

Interstate Building Materials recently entered an agreement to become a Wellborn dealer, and sent a contingent of staffers to tour the factory where the made-in-America cabinetry is produced.

“It’s a wonderful place,” said Interstate owner Joe Pupa III.

Baldygo, 55, who filled out a contest entry form at Interstate Building Materials’ booth at the recent home show in the Mohegan Sun Arena, is a mother of two who works as an office manager and enjoys baking.

She and her husband, Bryon, both like to cook. They’ve been hoping to redo their kitchen for years.

“There are a couple cabinets over here and a couple over there,” she said, indicating there’s plenty of room for more.

“What you want is wall-to-wall cabinetry,” marketing director Angela Wellborn O’Neill said.

With $12,000 to spend, Baldygo will most likely be able to replace her aging stove as well. “I think it’s from 1960,” she said.