How to Go Green When Remodeling Your Kitchen
by Brett Freeman
Despite the increasing popularity of solar panels, energy-efficient windows, and manual mowers, eco-friendly products have been slow to make it into the kitchen. This delay has some homeowners baffled, since many believe the kitchen to be one of the biggest energy hogs in the house. Recently, however, a growing number of green products have entered the home improvement market, making it much easier to design a kitchen with energy saving in mind. So if the one-two punch of global warming and sky-high energy prices has you "green with envy," consider upgrading your kitchen with one or more of the following options.
Going Green from the Bottom Up
A good place to start building a green kitchen is at the bottom, and you can't get much lower than the floor. The current star in green flooring is bamboo. Although bamboo flooring looks and feels like wood, bamboo is actually a grass, capable of growing more than two feet in a single day. This makes it a much more sustainable building material than wood.
Cork is another green flooring option you might consider. Cork tiles are made from the outer layer of bark from a cork tree. The tree's inner layer of bark remains after the outer layer is harvested, allowing the tree to heal itself over a short period of time. And since cork floors are very forgiving, they also contribute to the preservation of fallen plates.
If you're looking for a greater variety of color in your green flooring, try marmoleum, an all-natural linoleum tile. Like traditional linoleum, marmoleum is available in an incredible variety of colors and patterns.
Whichever type of green flooring you choose, make sure you find a local contractor who is knowledgeable about green building and knows how to install it correctly. It defeats the whole purpose if your eco-friendly kitchen floor is held together with toxic or environmentally harmful adhesive.
Finding Eco-Friendly Cabinets
Cabinet making using eco-friendly materials is a rare, yet budding, specialty. Don't get discouraged if you can't find a cabinetmaker who is experienced in green building. By calling around a little, you should be able to find someone who's willing to use wheat board (which is made from wheat straw, a waste product, and non-toxic adhesives) instead of particleboard. After all, the principles of cabinetry are the same no matter what material you use.
Recycled or Sustainable Countertops
You may find quite a few green countertop options as you work your way through the kitchen remodeling process. Some of these countertops are manufactured using recycled materials, including composites made of recycled glass and industrial ash mixed with concrete. You may also find countertops fashioned from recycled paper, aluminum, or bamboo.
Improve Your Efficiency
You'll never find a perfectly green kitchen, since both cooking and cooling food requires quite a bit of power. However, a handful of appliances exist that can help drastically reduce your consumption of power. For example, look for appliances that have an Energy Star rating. Many models with an Energy Star rating offer energy-saving cycle options and a no-heat drying feature. You might also consider buying a refrigerator that's just big enough to accommodate your needs, but no bigger.
In addition to power, you can save a tremendous amount of water in your kitchen by installing one of a handful of devices. Low-flow aerators, for instance, reduce the amount of water you waste by controlling its release through your faucet's spout. Even better, a hands-free faucet turns on your water only when someone activates the built-in sensor.
You can also heat your water more efficiently by installing a tankless water heater. Instead of heating water constantly, and keeping it hot until it's used like traditional water heaters do, tank-less water heaters only turn on when you actually need hot water. Water is routed through rapidly heated copper pipes, which heat it in mere seconds. And when the hot water faucet is turned off, the water heater shuts off as well. Tankless water heaters can be twice as efficient as traditional units.
A Long-Term Investment
Creating a state-of-the-art, energy-saving kitchen can be challenging. Installing eco-friendly floors, cabinets, appliances, and other devices can prove time-consuming, and the upfront costs may seem expensive. But if you think of your house as an investment, the money you save in the long-term and the potential increase in your property value could far surpass the amount you spent initially. And who knows, Mother Earth just may thank you for the effort.
About the Author Brett Freeman is a freelance journalist. He also owns a landscaping and irrigation company in North Carolina. He has worked as a beat reporter, a teacher, for a home improvement company, and owned a bar/live music venue.
Ready to get quotes from Kitchen Remodeling contractors?
Start Here