Wade Kincaid began his furniture career in 1924, at the age of 14, assembling drawers for a local furniture company. He worked his way into a plant manager position and was able to raise a small amount of capital, and decided to start his own grocery store. Unfortunately, Wade soon found out that he was not as capable in the grocery business as he had been as a carpenter. After paying back his creditors from the failed attempt at operating a grocery store, Wade decided to try something else. He re-entered the furniture industry as a plant manager for another local furniture company. Then, in August of 1946, he used $4800 of his savings, his father George Kincaid put in another $4800 and his sister invested $200 for a total initial investment of $10,000.

Kincaid started out making cedar chests and wardrobes. The facilities were originally located in a small portion of what is now Plant 1. There were only 24 employees and daily production was 18 to 20 cases per day. In the late 1940s, a new customer of Kincaid in Virginia called Grand Piano, called Wade to ask if he would consider making a solid mahogany 5 piece bedroom group. Wade and his Father agreed and Kincaid has been making bedroom furniture ever since. Additionally, Grand Piano and Furniture Company has been a valued customer from that day on.

The company continued to grow and launched a line of dining room furniture. The growth was such that at one point, customers would wait as long as 13 months for an order. In order to serve their customers better, Kincaid became the first manufacturer in the industry to have its own fleet of trucks. But improved transportation wasn't enough. In the early 80s, Kincaid was suffering from growing pains. It was decided to go public in 1983, in order to manage the growth with new facilities and further expansion. The stock opened at $14.50 per share on July 22.

During the same year, Wade's youngest son, Steve Kincaid became president of the company. Steve brought to the position a strong vision for marketing the brand and growing market share.

A new furniture manufacturing facility (Plant #6) was completed in 1985. It greatly helped to meet the demand for Kincaid products. The factory became a model for the furniture industry and continues to be one of the most efficient plants in the industry.

Having overcome the pains of growing, Kincaid was doing very well; so well, in-fact that it became attractive to larger companies. Masco (LADD Furniture Companies) began trying to buy Kincaid in 1986 on unfriendly terms. Kincaid's management and shareholders did not think that this was a good idea. La-Z-Boy was approached by Kincaid to see if they would be interested in buying the company instead of risking an overtaking by Masco. La-Z-Boy found a great opportunity in Kincaid and the companies principles and completed the purchase in October of 1987. Since then, La-Z-Boy has proven to be an ideal parent company for Kincaid. La-Z-Boy has provided everything from capital investment to autonomy to allow Kincaid Furniture to continue in pursuit of its vision.

In 1992, Wade Kincaid died after a long struggle against Alzheimer's disease. He was inducted into the Furniture Hall of Fame shortly after his death.

In 1996, Kincaid launched its first licensed collection, with Ducks Unlimited. This highly successful collection introduced more "face" onto the product and allowed more direct competition with non-solid wood manufacturers. Since then, Kincaid has grown to become the nation's leading manufacturer of Solid Wood furniture.

Kincaid bought Alexvale Furniture Co. in 1999 to enter the upholstered furniture market. In 2000, the company tied the upholstery into the largest collection in the company's history with the introduction of Laura Ashley Home.