Strategies For A Green Kitchen Remodel

Kitchen remodels can transform a kitchen into a family gathering spot, a hardworking food production place, or even a relaxing nook where you can sit and make yourself a nice pot of tea. When remodeling your kitchen, you need to have your end goal in mind, since different remodeling strategies can bring about wildly different results.

Here are four approaches you could take if your goal is an eco-friendly remodel for your kitchen.

1. Green your lighting

Adding windows can help you provide your kitchen with natural lighting to reduce the need for artificial lights. Windows that are three-dimensional, such as bay windows or kitchen greenhouse windows, may let in more light, and a skylight can help open the place up to more light as well.

2. Green your wastewater disposal

You can reduce your overall water use by redirecting the water from some of your kitchen fixtures and appliances to another place for reuse. For example, if you redirect the water from your kitchen sink and washing machine to your landscape, you can use significantly less water overall since you'll be using that water twice.

You can also install a grease trap on your kitchen sink drain line if you want to reduce your environmental impact (especially if you do a lot of cooking with oils and fats in your kitchen). Fats, oils, and greases can create greenhouse gases in the treatment system and clog sewers. So keeping these substances out of the wastewater system can have an overall positive effect, especially if you then recycle them.

3. Green your appliances

Even if you don't make your kitchen totally solar, you can still find ways (both small and large) to reduce your appliances' impact on the Earth. Choosing appliances with Energy Star and Water Sense certification is a major way to do this.

Another way to green appliances is to make them run on solar power. Adding a solar array to your house is outside the scope of a kitchen remodel; however, you can set up your remodel to allow you to plug smaller appliances into a portable solar panel that you hang in the window.

4. Green your food storage and prep facilities

Although it may not get as much marketing coverage as greening your appliances and energy sources, you can also choose to upgrade your food storage, prep, and serving facilities to make them more eco-friendly. 

For example, you could choose a copper countertop that has antimicrobial properties so you don't have to use as many harsh chemicals in your kitchen. Or you could design a pantry remodel to facilitate storing bulk goods in glass containers so you can live a more plastic-free lifestyle.

As you can see, a green kitchen remodel could mean many different things. From greening your energy sources to greening your food prep surfaces and habits, your kitchen remodeling contractor can help you create the eco-friendly kitchen of your dreams.

For more information, contact a contracting business, such as X W Kitchen & Bath.