Lexington, KY - The front door at Counter Culture Plus opens to a stunning display of tile, marble, granite and cabinetry. The display starts with a showroom floor laid in sections of different materials.
Irv and Ellen Trachtenberg have created a business focused on making kitchens, baths and other rooms more beautiful and serviceable. Beyond their 2,700-square-foot showroom is a 4,600-square-foot shop room where highly skilled fabricators use water-cooled, diamond-bit industrial saws to cut slabs of granite and other materials into precise shapes with custom edges. There's a consulting room where Irv Trachtenberg shows customers samples as he explains the differences in the materials.
"It's Countertops 101," he said. "I start by asking, 'Are you looking for granite or quartz, or do you know yet?'" he said.
Taking that time with customers results in a high percentage of job orders.
"They have to feel comfortable with the sale," he said. "And if I can offer them a similar color in another brand and save them money, I do."
Customers are welcome to talk with their designers. Counter Culture Plus will even pay for the first hour of the designer's consultation fee.
"Three things make a sale: one, service; two, quality; three, price. In the old days, if you could deliver two, you were okay [at attracting customers]. We shoot for all three," he said.
The Trachtenbergs and Ellen's son, G.J. Gerard, are the three principals in the business and work long hours. One major challenge can hurt any small business; In the last 20 months, Counter Culture Plus has had to deal with three.
First the company managed its expansion and move. Then the economy declined drastically, shutting off work from builders. The third setback was Irv Trachtenberg's diagnosis of throat cancer.
Gerard knew most parts of the business, but his mother and stepfather were too consumed with the medical crisis to be of much help.
"I was totally overwhelmed, but he did a fantastic job," said Irv Trachtenberg, now recovered.
The Trachtenbergs try to offer not every product choice available, but those that offer the best quality and value. Common misconceptions are that a new counter top "has to cost a lot to get quality work" and that having one installed "makes a huge mess and the room is unusable for days," Irv Trachtenberg said.
One reason that Counter Culture Plus can usually beat chain stores' prices is that, unlike these large businesses, the Trachtenbergs do not require customers to buy more granite than is needed for their projects. Granite is sold in slabs of 53 to 55 square feet, and a slab yields about 49 to 50 usable square feet. The Trachtenbergs offer their customers the option of paying only for what the job requires or using the leftover granite for another room. If customers don't want to use the extra granite, then it's available for purchase by other homeowners, like remnants at a carpet store.
The downside of kitchen renovations can be having to eat out or cook on the grill for days or even weeks. "When we prepare the template (for the new countertop), we leave an operational kitchen," Irv Trachtenberg explained. "When we return, we tear out the old counter tops and put in the new ones in one day. Then the customer gets a plumber the next day."
Counter Culture Plus does residential and commercial work, new installations and renovations. More jobs are renovations than new builds. That's especially pleasing to Ellen Trachtenberg.
"You're dealing with the homeowners in a house full of life, instead of empty rooms," she said. "Often we have a customer say, 'I love this house. I've raised my children here, but I want to upgrade now.'"
Irv Trachtenberg said that current trends for counter tops include "more marble in kitchens, better quality marble, more fancy edges." In cabinetry, "off white is hot. Cherry is still in, but natural oak is waning," he said.
"We're seeing more demand for green products," Ellen Trechtenberg said. Ice Stone, which looks like granite, is gaining in popularity because it is made entirely from recycled materials. Counter Culture Plus sells only custom-made cabinets for bathrooms and kitchens.
"They look better and they beat the price of boxed cabinets 75 to 80 percent of the time," Irv Trachtenberg said.