In recent years, the green movement in the kitchen design industry has grown like never before. Our European kitchen partner company Cesar Italian Kitchens, for whom Modiani Kitchens is the exclusive distributor in New Jersey, has reacted to this movement and puts a very high focus on green, sustainable kitchen cabinets. In this article, we will focus on how you can go green in the kitchen as well as the benefits of doing so in the areas of appliances and materials used in the kitchen space, so continue to read if you want to find out more about environmental-friendly kitchen cabinets, ongoing green developments as well as sustainable kitchen trends.
Aspects of Environmental-Friendly Kitchens
Though environmentally friendly custom kitchen cabinets were at one time very expensive and difficult to find, as green practices are becoming more popular and ubiquitous, it is now becoming much easier to infuse the home with green, sustainable traditional or modern kitchen designs and cabinetry that is sourced in a sustainable way and will hence reduce the impact on the environment to a minimum. Every room and interior space has its own host of possibilities when it comes to green living. Going green in your custom kitchen is to a large extent also about the products you choose to use in your kitchen space. With the kitchen perhaps more than any other room, this means a heavy focus on the types of major kitchen appliances you purchase.
Green EPA Kitchen Standards
The Environmental Protection Agency has defined standards for energy-efficient kitchen appliances. If an appliance complies with the EPA’s standards for energy efficiency, it is given an Energy Star certification. Energy Star appliances use anywhere from ten to fifty percent less energy and water compared to non-Energy Star appliances. This means a huge amount of savings month to month in your energy and water bills as well as a positive impact on the environment.
Green Modern, Transitional and Traditional Kitchens
Another way to embrace green practices in your traditional, transitional or modern luxury kitchen is to use environmentally safe paints and wood preservatives. Paints and wood preservatives that are not created to be environmentally safe can, in addition to negatively impacting the environment, actually have negative effects on your health. Due to the presence of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such substances can irritate the eyes, nose, and throat and in some cases might even cause cancer. Our kitchen design team at Modiani Kitchens doesn’t want to scare you here, but we want you to be aware of all aspects involved with green and lesser green kitchens, so you can make careful considered kitchen purchasing decisions. So just be aware that environmentally safe paints are free of VOCs, and hence don’t have these risks. Feel free to contact our NJ based kitchen showroom for more details.
Green Kitchen Flooring and Countertops
If you are considering going green for your new custom luxury kitchen, you may also want to embrace environmentally friendly surface products, such as flooring and kitchen countertops. For example, bamboo is considered a very environmentally friendly product to use in the kitchen. Bamboo grows very quickly and is abundant. Therefore, the impact of sourcing it for flooring and other uses within the home is not considered to have a heavy impact on the environment. For this reason, bamboo has become a very popular material in the kitchen, particularly in kitchen flooring. The embrace of other natural kitchen materials, such as stone or wood, is considered green and sustainable as well. Synthetically manufactured products in contrast, such as vinyl and plastics, are created using chemicals, which can affect the environment negatively.
Steps To Your Green Kitchen
When considering how to integrate green kitchen cabinetry, practices and kitchen appliances into your kitchen and how to identify and anticipate the latest green kitchen trends, ask our Modiani kitchen designers or take a look at the cabinetry and kitchen appliances you have in your interior space right now and come up with a plan in terms of how you can go green wisely. And whenever you are ready for your green kitchen renovation or the next time you are looking for a major new kitchen appliance, for example, you can consider all of the above aspects or replace your existing kitchen appliance with one that has an Energy Star rating. Keep in mind that you don’t need to go completely green all at once. In order to begin positively impacting the environment it is a good idea to slowly start your green initiative by lessening your impact through the right, environmental-friendly kitchen cabinetry, countertop, flooring and appliance choices. Visit our green kitchen showroom in Englewood, NJ to find out more about the green approach.