This week's blog entry features a project we completed in late 2008. Greener Kitchens designed, supplied and installed joinery for the kitchen, bathrooms and laundry for this wonderful new sustainable house in Newmarket.
It seemed Greener Kitchens was a natural fit for this project, a beautifully designed home constructed using materials and design strategies to minimise its impact on the environment.
The joinery was carefully conceived to tie in with the sustainable goals of the build and work in harmony with the energy efficiencies being sought by the house.
Australian made board product derived from managed wood fibre sources such as chain of custody schemes was used to construct the joinery. The bench-tops are what we call 'rescued stone' which are engineered stone off cuts or surplus stock we 'rescue' from local stone masons to prevent them from eventually being discarded into landfill. By 'rescuing' the stone our client made a considerable saving on the price of a stone bench-top, making the product a win for the budget and for the environment (who said environmentally responsible products are more expensive?).
We wanted the kitchen to be able to justify its material use, so in concert with our client we carefully thought about how it would work with the family and what it would need to store so it was no larger than it needed to be. We used plenty of drawers to maximise storage in the floor cabinets so the kitchen did not require wall cabinets, a significant material saving. Having no wall cabinets means they are not casting shadows over the benches, which reduces the kitchen's reliance on artificial light, creating an energy saving as well!
Further energy savings were also intended in the design of the kitchen, such as the operable louvre windows set behind the cooking area to provide natural task lighting for the cook-top as well as natural ventilation, reducing the number of times the client will reach for the light switch or the range-hood. Gas appliances have also been installed in the kitchen to reduce the kitchen's energy use and carbon foot-print, and help it to live off its solar power system.
We would like to thank the wonderful family that are now living happily in their Newmarket Eco House for choosing us for their project and for the passion they shared with us for the investigation of better, more sustainable ways to do things. It was a privilege to be involved in such an amazing build.
