Law & Order

Little about the first 35 years of Rob Dinan's life screamed successful kitchen design entrepreneur.

He boxed when he was a teenager. He played football, first at Boston University, then at Gettysburg College. He later embarked on a decade-long career in law enforcement.

Now 39, though, Dinan is in fact in the kitchen design business. The company he co-owns with his wife, Venice-based Kitchens by Kerrie, is a recession anomaly because not many small niche design firms survived the downturn. Moreover, the firm recently expanded, and plans more growth later this year.

Despite the success, kitchen design wasn't on Dinan's list of career options when he grew up outside New York City.

Law enforcement, after all, was the family business. Dinan's father was a detective, one uncle was a captain and another uncle was an inspector, all with the New York City Police Department. Dinan joined the force too, after he worked in financial planning for a few years.

Dinan actually did both at first. He worked with MassMutual on Long Island in the mornings, and then he worked the 4 p.m.-to-midnight shift in a Manhattan precinct.

The financial planning business paid better, but it forever trailed in excitement. “I was an adrenaline junkie,” says Dinan. “I liked the action. It was fun.”

The most un-fun experience of his police career, no surprise, was Sept. 11, 2001. Dinan went into Manhattan from his Long Island home after the first plane hit the towers. He went to Ground Zero with other officers and worked 30 straight hours. When the rescue mission turned to recovery, Dinan, with a master's degree in forensic science, was assigned to work in a tent authorities set up partially to identity victims of the attacks.

Dinan was injured on the job in 2006. He retired from the NYPD and worked for the U.S. Homeland Security Department for a short time. He then gave up his law enforcement career and moved to Florida, where he met his wife, Kerrie Lehnert.

“I was ready to get out of all that stuff,” Dinan says. “I decided to try something new, that wasn't as dangerous, and wasn't as life threatening.”

That something was Kitchens by Kerrie, a Venice-based business his wife founded in 2004. Prior to starting the business, Lehnert worked in home restoration and renovation.

Lehnert survived and grew slightly through the recession. She focused on volume over price for much of the downturn, which was a big help.

The company has grown even more since Dinan took on a wider marketing role in 2008. It opened a second office and showroom on Longboat Key earlier this year. It also recently signed a deal to open another showroom in Bacon's Furniture in south Sarasota, in a former Robb & Stucky store.

The company has four employees. It will do just about anything in a kitchen, from flooring to finishes to counter tops. “We are going to see more and more growth,” says Dinan. “We just try to keep ahead of the next best thing.”