The kitchen is the heart and soul of the home. Used intensively at least three times a day, it tends to be the main gathering place as well. If you are feeling short on space, or frustrated by awkward daily routines, chances are you’re going to feel it in your kitchen first.
From a design perspective, it is the most complex and energy intensive room in the house. Cabinetry, counter tops, specialized lighting, readily cleanable high traffic surfaces, appliances, safety and hygiene concerns, air exhaust, natural light, and connection and flow to the rest of the house; the list of ingredients that make a successful kitchen is long. Then you decide to go green!
Luckily the marketplace is evolving to meet our expansive demand for sustainable choices. And the path to a new, efficient, and healthy kitchen starts with the following eight principles:
1/ Reduce, Re-use. The primary consideration should always be, “Can I make the space I already have work for us?” Adding on is always an attractive option, but using your existing building shell means no new foundations or need for heavy equipment, no additional energy costs, and less house to clean and maintain. What is the most efficient and livable use of the space you already own? Can the kitchen expand and open into other less valuable space?
2/ Opportunity. Look at your project as a piece of the house you ultimately want to live it. If you’re tearing out the existing cabinets and finishes, look beyond the wall surface and think about insulating. With the new soya and water based spray foams on the market, insulating and air sealing older walls has never been easier or healthier. There’s also no point in burying old cast iron pipes or outdated wiring; do it right once. Is this the time to put in the hydronic radiant floors you’ve always wanted?
3/ Buy local. Consider your choices in materials and contractors in the same way you buy your food. If your kitchen comes to you on container ships and diesel trucks from the four corners of the planet, it detracts from the green qualities of the product itself. Ask building supply stores for local products. You may get blank stares in return, but the more people that ask, the more we’ll get them thinking there is a demand.
4/ Read the ingredients. Though it’s not easy to find out what goes into making various building products, it can generally be said that if they don’t want to tell you, you don’t want to know. An alarming number of products, particularly particle boards and plastics, still contain formaldehyde, and VOCs. Green products will tend to list their ingredients, and be proud of them. You wouldn’t put petrochemicals in your cooking, so why put it in your kitchen? Most brands of paint and sealants now come in zero off gassing formulas (like Benjamin Moore’s Ecospec line), and have the same paintable qualities as older, more toxic products.
5/ Cooking odour or cooking aroma? The piece de resistance of a modern kitchen is the gleaming range hood, proclaiming to the world that you are the next undiscovered Emeril. But think before you buy one, and flip it on. Are you taking valuable hot, humid air and sending it straight outdoors in the cold, dry winter? Are you missing an opportunity to send it straight outside in summer, thus reducing your house cooling needs significantly. With a gas range, a mechanical exhaust should be used at all times, so think about your choice of cooking heat source as well. And never forget the value of one or preferably two operable windows, to create natural cross ventilation and fresh air.
6/ Drawers, more drawers, and racks. Being efficient in your space also means being able to find all your stuff. Making do with less is much easier if you consider using drawers and pull out rack systems for all your lower cabinets. Full extension drawer slides are the highest value small upgrade to consider. Many new racking systems, including ones that solve the dreaded buried corner, will allow easy access to cooking oils and spices, cleaning supplies, and frequently used ingredients brought out from the dark depths. Yes, those cans you put away for Y2K are still luring back there.
7/ Cabinets and counters. You may have heard, and I’ll confirm, that this is where you blow the budget. Often more than half of a total kitchen reno cost, cabinets are where dollars and green ethics go head to head. Custom cabinetry, using formaldehyde free, FSC certified wood for instance, can cost double to triple that of off the shelf melamine and particle board units. Consider re-using older cabinet bodies, with new eco friendly faces, and look at some of the newer countertop alternatives instead of the usual plastic laminates, like bamboo, Richlite, Paperstone, Hanstone, recycled glass terrazzo, and concrete. IKEA is a great compromise, as their large European market means that most of their products meet very stringent German standards for low toxicity and recycled / certified content. And if you’re getting rid of your old cabinets, the Habitat for Humanity ReStore will happily accept them.
8/ Lighting. Think about where you need lighting, and how you use it. Generally a kitchen needs bright, focused light when meal preparation is underway, and softer, more diffuse light to take your attention away from the not-yet-spotless counter and pile of dishes while you and your guests relax after a fantastic meal. Use dimmer switches. Dimming a halogen or xenon type bulb only 10% is nearly invisible to the human eye, but cuts energy use in half and quadruples bulb life. CFL (the spiral bulbs) save a lot of energy, but they are not dimmable, and the mercury, plastic, and ballasts they contain are creating a major toxic landfill issue.
It will take some concerted homework to find the green options available to you, particularly in cabinetry. The world wide web is a wonderful if not somewhat daunting resource, as are local contractors and designers with a specialty in sustainability. If you've decided to tear out the heart of your home and re-make it in your image, good luck, be brave, and don't be afraid to demand something you'll still be happy with twenty years from now.
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