Green Kitchen Remodel – Two Renovation Problems All Homeowners Face
It’s easy to make environmentally responsible, green kitchen remodel choices. Kitchen remodeling is one of the hottest areas of home improvement. For example, there are several recycled and renewable countertop alternatives that can give your remodel a distinctive look, and make a great focal point for your green kitchen. You can also remodel kitchen cabinets with green materials.
However, as with any other remodeling projects, there are some problems that keep coming up. Here are two of the major ones:
I want to do a green kitchen remodel, but I don’t have renewable flooring options
Actually, homeowners can select from a range of renewable materials that offer modern and sleek flooring solutions. Bamboo flooring, for example, has the appearance of wood, but is made from a material that can easily be farmed and replenished. Cork tiles also offer an environmentally sound alternative for kitchen flooring. Most large home stores and specialty stores now carry both cork and bamboo flooring.
2. My conventional kitchen serves my needs – why should I do a green kitchen remodel?
The biggest problem with a conventional kitchen is energy consumption, followed very closely by bad lighting and ventilation. A green kitchen remodel will take care of problems such as use of surplus energy because of poor appliance selection (contributing to greenhouse gases), overconsumption of water owing to wrongly sized dishwashers, chemical sensitization as a result of overexposure to emissions from cabinet, insulation, and flooring products containing formaldehyde, overconsumption of energy attributable to poor illumination and ventilation, poor air quality caused by insufficient ventilation, and creation of too much garbage owing to lack of space for storage of recyclables.
Aside from switching your granite surfaces to environmentally friendly countertops and flooring, your green kitchen remodel should also look at energy saving appliances. It should also look at essentials such as an under the counter water purifier, energy efficient lighting, and options for recycling.