Kitchen Design Blog

How to Reduce Your Kitchen's Ecological Footprint

Written by Sara | Apr 22, 2014

It’s Earth Day, and in celebration we’re offering you ways in which you can reduce your kitchen’s ecological footprint for a more environmentally friendly kitchen and a cleaner world. Whether you carpooled to work, traded in that plastic water bottle for a reusable one or said goodbye to the aerosol hairspray can, there are countless ways to reduce your own emissions into the atmosphere and limit the number of garbage filling up our landfills each year.

When it comes to your kitchen remodel, not many companies offer environmentally friendly options or provide services that are ecologically responsible. In fact—every traditional kitchen remodel with all new cabinetry means that all of that demolished material goes right into the landfill as garbage that goes back into our earth.

But at Kitchen Magic, we not only care about our customers, but we also care about the world our customers live in and the type of world they’ll be leaving behind for their children. So, we offer several environmentally responsible and affordable options for kitchen remodels—here are a few!

 

Refacing

 

 

You may already know that cabinet refacing can save you up to 50% the cost of a traditional remodel, but did you know that it is also up to 70% more ecologically responsible than a traditional remodel with all new cabinetry? With refacing, only the door fronts and drawers are replaced, meaning that only those replaced pieces are discarded. The ‘bones’ of your cabinets will remain intact, saving up to 70% of the materials in your kitchen and keeping all of that material out of the landfills. Plus, because refacing can be completed in as little as a week, you’re saving all of that extra gas from travel, resulting in fewer emissions!

 

Quartz Countertops

 

 

Quartz countertops are made from engineered stone, rather than Granite countertops which are made from naturally mined stone. In order to mine Granite, the ground must be excavated, usually with explosives, which causes damage to the earth. Engineered stone materials, such as Cambria and other Quartz countertops don’t require the same amount of pressure on the earth’s surface.

 

Bamboo Cabinets

 

Bamboo cabinet doors, unlike wood or maintenance-free cabinet door materials, is extremely environmentally friendly. Because Bamboo grows freely and quickly, it is not damaged as deeply as the wood from trees. Once trees are chopped down, they must be re-planted, and take years to grow back to their original height. But Bamboo can easily be cut down and will quickly re-grow without any damage done to the plant. Also, Bamboo is a stronger natural material than wood, making it a premier material for kitchen cabinets.