Eco Friendly or Green Kitchen Cabinets

Posted by easy eco blog

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Here are some of the attributes we looked for when selecting eco friend kitchen cabinets earlier this year:

1) FSC certified Wood or wood from a responsibly farm source. I actually spoke to the wood mill to understand where our wood was coming from. Lyptus and Bamboo are rapidly making in roads.

2) Water based finish to minimize VOC emissions. There were issues on finish durability in the past, but quality seems to have improved.

3) Water based glues to minimize VOC emissions.

4) Marine grade plywood or non MDF Medium Density Fiberboard particle board cabinet box. Also to prevent off-gassing emissions from formaldehyde, etc. Interlam and Topan make MDF without formaldehyde.

5) As local as possible a supplier to minimize transport costs and fuel use.

We also relocated many of our old cabinets to our kitchen and donated everything else for use in a local church.

Some cabinets including mines are KCMA certified, but frankly their rules are not very aggressive in the area of eco friendliness. (Emissions etc) It is more of a cabinet industry association.

When we began our search in early 2007, we were educating stores on what green cabinetry was. The main sources used to be boutique local small craftsmen shops. Today, I see firms advertising ‘Green’ cabinents. HGTV has a video on this are.

Also considered cabinet refacing. You replace the doors and a veneer is placed over your existing cabinets. This is much cheaper than replacing the cabinets. New drawer pulls and handles will also update your kitchen’s look.

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