An eco-friendly kitchen renovation
Gwendolyn Bounds chronicled her eco-friendly kitchen renovation this month in the Wall Street Journal. What was included in the 484-day renovation? - Sustainable wood floors
- Bamboo cabinets
- No formaldehyde
- Energy-Star appliances
- LED lights
- Low VOC paints
- Concrete countertops
The cost was about $83,000 for a 300-square-foot kitchen. Sounds steep (at least to me) but according to Bounds that price still came in about $26,000 less than the average "upscale" kitchen remodel.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-29-2008 @ 8:29PM
green thinking said...
From a business perspective, if you look at dollar for dollar, there's a lot of savings to be had by going eco-friendly as far as expenses and energy consumption, ... But most people don't look at business from that point of view - they only look at the bottom line and the upfront costs, but there's a long term benefit to being eco-friendly.
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5-29-2008 @ 8:29PM
Patricia said...
Yes, definitely.
Other than the appliances, I just hope that people are only renovating because they really need to renovate and not just to have a "green" kitchen.
6-27-2008 @ 11:22AM
Chuck said...
Your last point caused me to post. I work for http://www.DwyerKitchens.com , we manufacture Greenguard certified cabinetry and as much as people want to talk "green" the final deciding factor is almost always cost. As you said the long term benefit is immeasureable. We need to make people even more aware of the importance of our environment.
5-30-2008 @ 6:06PM
Karsten said...
300 sq ft kitchen? That is more than our living room and dining room combined! According to some sites I have looked at, in the 60's, the average US home was about 1100 sq ft with 3 bedrooms and 1 bath. We do live big in the USA these days, don't we?
Fix what can be fixed, replace what needs to be replaced with reasonable, local, or even used materials, and keep it small. Why use materials that last forever if your kitchen needs to last only a few decades? And don't tell me it is not possible to have a small kitchen. People did not get that much bigger, and neither did anything else in the last 30 years. Yes, you may not be able to fit all modern devices in a small kitchen. Living with less impact is tough if you want to keep up with those who live shallow but aesthetically pleasing and modern lives. If these people don't think you are poor, you are not living small enough yet.
Just like with many old cars, keeping your old kitchen may be better for the environment than replacing it. Focus on eating organic food and less meat instead.
Be proud, live simply, and tread lightly.
Karsten
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http://www.polluteless.com
Practical Advice to Pollute Less
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