Greener Kitchens loves 'Good Wood'

Kitchens are made of wood.

Despite their often colourful, sleek and shiny exteriors kitchens likely contain the largest concentration of wood product in your home after your framing and your flooring. It seems there is rarely a thought for where this wood comes from. Are you destroying one world to build yours?

Kitchens should be made of 'Good Wood'

Greenpeace are helping us to make responsible choices when it comes to timber products through their 'Good Wood Guide'. It is a wonderful guide that identifies timber products that are responsible and reminds us that as consumers we have the power to save the world's forests and endangered wildlife and put an end to illegal forestry practices. It gently awakens us to the damage we might be responsible for if we do not source 'Good Wood' for our kitchens.

The good news is that Greener Kitchens can help you to create a 'Good Wood' Kitchen. We are very excited to be able to specify a kitchen made entirely from timber product that is defined as the 'best option' by the 'Good Wood' guide. A 'Good Wood' kitchen need not cost the earth (to use a well worn pun), or look any different to the kitchen of you are already thinking about.

Greener Kitchens can help you create your world without destroying another, which is a pretty good thing we think. So if you are thinking about a new kitchen, please contact us to find out how you can make a difference and be part of the solution, not the problem.

For more information on the Greenpeace 'Good Wood Guide' visit www.goodwoodguide.org.au

West End Greener Bathroom

It is very exciting to finally feature this project on the blog! This 'Greener' bathroom is a part of a renovation and extension of a beautiful old Queenslander in West End, Brisbane. Thanks to the determination and vision of a very inspirational client, the renovation stands as an absolutely stunning example of how beauty, modernity, functionality and sympathy for the environment can harmonize in the construction of a family home.

It was a great joy to work together with the client on the design of a number of new spaces defined by the renovation, including the bathroom, shown in the picture above.

We set out to achieve a bathroom with a very low environmental impact but not without a healthy dose of the 'wow' factor.

A view of the tree-tops outside (through the glass ceiling in the shower no less) gave us the inspiration for a natural colour palette for the bathroom, suggesting serene greens and earthy brown tones. The subsequent combination of 'greener' materials chosen for the bathroom included hoop pine eco-ply for storage solutions, locally salvaged recycled Australian hardwood for shelves and a window seat and low emission two pack paint to add splashes of colour.

We designed bespoke storage stools especially for this bathroom , fashioned from recycled timber. The stools move around the bathroom as a platform for clean clothes, a resting spot for the dry towel within reach or (dare I say it) for books next to the best reading spot in the house.

The bathroom has an abundance of natural light (I mentioned the glass ceiling in the shower didn't I) and natural cross ventilation, ensuring power bills are reduced and indoor pollutants are discouraged.

Of course the design also included universal design principles to ensure the space can adapt to the family over time, ensuring easy access into the shower, comfortable access to the vanity basins and storage options above the reach of small children.

I was very pleased with the tranquil and organic feel of the finished bathroom and the knowledge that it will provide a calm, healthy and inspiring space for the family for years and years to come.

Stay tuned for more pics of the project including the kitchen made from 70% recycled materials!

Till then, take care, Druce

Sustainable House Day 2010 at the Spring Hill Enviro Cottage

How fitting that such a beautiful spring day set the scene for the open day at the Spring Hill Enviro Cottage for Sustainable House Day 2010.

I wandered down to have a peek at proceedings this morning and was excited to find a large number of people queuing up to take a tour through the inspirational home. Tagging along on the tour myself, I learned even more about the amazing thinking that has gone into the building, including the incredible efficiencies of the water and energy systems, that will enable the building to be self sufficient and not attract water or energy bills. I was also very proud to see the interest in the kitchen, where our 'greener' joinery has made a home for some fabulous energy efficient appliances that contribute to the self sufficiency of the home. I would encourage anyone interested in sustainable building to take the opportunity to have a look through the house at open days planned for the coming months.

Above are some photos I took today, including a pic of the crowd of people checking out the 'greener' kitchen! For more information on the kitchen please take a look at previous posts down the page. There is also a picture of the ensuite bathroom through the reflection of the shading screens where you can just see the little shaving cabinets we made out of recycled timber.

I would very much like to take this opportunity to thank our clients, Phil and Cath for inviting us to be a part of the project and for their support of Greener Kitchens. It has been a privilege to work with such lovely people.

Take care, Druce

Dee Why "Little Wonder"

This is one of our 'Greener Kitchens' that found itself the star of a magazine article in the June 2010 edition of Australian Home Beautiful, where it was referred to as the "Little Wonder". Part of the text appearing in the article, writen by Lee Suckling, reads:

When Ian and Kirsten bought their home on Sydney's northern beaches, the dark, outdated kitchen was the only question mark. "It was livable, but not functional" explains Kirsten. Determined to live an environmentally sustainable lifestyle, the couple wanted a great looking, easy to use kitchen that didn't cost a fortune to achieve - or to enjoy. "We wanted to find a way to use fewer resources in our home, not just spend less money" says Ian.

Druce Davey of Greener Kitchens and Bathrooms helped the couple achieve their goal; they decided to stick with the kitchens original layout, remove part of a wall to bring in more natural light and replace the old, tired cabinetry, benchtop, splashback and appliances with truly eco - friendly alternatives.

You would never guess from the pristine white exterior that half of this kitchen is made from recycled materials.

It was a great kitchen to have featured as it demonstrates our ability to create a new kitchen that very successfully hides the 'greener' secret that it is made from more than 50% recycled content, derived from a combination of pre and post consumer waste. For instance the white engineered stone benchtop is comprised of 72% post consumer recycled glass and the cabinet doors are a robust melamine faced panel comprised of 55% post consumer recycled cardboard.

Our motivated clients didn't stop with the kitchen materials being responsible but embarked on research with us to find appliances that operated with reduced energy and water use to match the responsible materials. The article states:

"We went one step further here, installing a vent above the fridge which enables the hot air it produces to convect out of the cavity", says Kirsten. This means the fridge itself remains cooler and uses significantly less energy.

Although we are obviously biased we think the kitchen is a 'little wonder' as well. We were chuffed to have our work recognised and the little bit of special attention the project received was a wonderful way to finish off a successful renovation.

A great big thank you to the fabulous clients for their inspiring passion for doing things in a more sustainable way, and to Home Beautiful for shining a light on the possibilities of creating a 'greener' kitchen worthy of their pages.

More Spring Hill Enviro Cottage

This is a closer look at the kitchen joinery we created for the Spring Hill Enviro Cottage, with its doors and drawer faces made from recycled Australian hardwood floorboards, finished with a low emission, natural clear coating made by Oikos (that was an absolute joy to apply!). We also harvested a quantity of discarded low emission board panels for this kitchen that had been rejected by others because they had been scratched in transit. Instead of resigning them to pollute in landfill, we used them as a very responsible carcass material - which is the part of the kitchen that goes unseen (and often made of the cheapest, nastiest and most irresponsible board material being produced in the world).

The home, in the inner suburbs of Brisbane, will be open to tour and inspire on Sustainable House Day this year, Sunday September 12. There are certainly a host of fabulous 'green' ideas to be investigated in the house, including the beautiful little medicine cabinets we made for the bathrooms and magical laser cut screening enveloping the house that mimics the shading properties of a deciduous tree.

For more information on the Spring Hill Enviro Cottage and information on their public tour dates visit www.envirocottage.com.au

Enviro Cottage Sneak Peek...

This picture is a little sneak peak of a project we have been busy on over the past few months. We were fortunate enough to be chosen as the joinery partner to the 'Spring Hill Enviro Cottage'. It has involved the renovation of a typical Queensland inner city worker's cottage into a benchmark for an environmentally responsible modern home.

We constructed the kitchen, glimpsed in the photo above, out of some of the most exciting sustainably sourced materials we have ever used. The star of the kitchen are doors, drawer fronts and panels fashioned out of leftover recycled Australian hardwood salvaged from the demolition of a local bridge. The timber's graceful aged patina has been enhanced with the use of a natural oil to finish it. The recycled timber is a beautiful textural contrast to the shiny modern materials that surround it making it a stunning decorative element in the space.

The project will soon be open to the public to tour. Watch this space for more details and some more glimpses of our joinery....

A Greener Family Kitchen

This is very exciting blog entry for us here at Greener Kitchens as it is the first from our fabulous new designer, Francine Lafebre. Francine designed this amazing kitchen transformation for a family living in Stafford, she writes:

"A young family with two young children were crying out for a more open plan feel for their kitchen that would allow them to be together at all times. Increasing the opening in the dividing wall between the kitchen and living area provided not only more natural light in the kitchen but it also gave a real feeling of integrating it into the living and dining area without imposing on it.

With a love of home cooking and baking and involving the children, the benchtop was designed to run through the opening and have a slight overhang on the dining side to provide an place for the kids to sit, eat and help mum.

The old dresser was also to be replaced, being careful not to make this wall look like it was also part of the kitchen we decided that glass framed wall units and a reclaimed timber benchtop would help create a ‘transition’ piece from kitchen to living and dining. The beautful reclaimed timber top adds warmth and reflects the polished floor boards that run throughout the house.

The clients, being very environmentally conscious were keen to have their kitchen made from the lowest emission materials possible and with their energy efficient appliances, create a healthier, sustainable kitchen for their young family to grow up in.

It was as important to us to use the right materials as achieve our goals in meeting the design brief. The internals of the units were made to suit the client, adding and internal drawer in the pantry for extra storage and making sure that mixers etc all fitted in the drawers, designed to the appropriate height to accommodate these. We also opted for a handleless design, giving the kitchen a streamlined, modern feel, and make a material saving.

We would like to thank the clients for being part of working for a more sustainable future and giving us yet another wonderful opportunity to show that you can achieve practical, functional as well as stunning design by using innovative building materials with a reduced environmental impact.

Above is a couple of before and after shots of the 'Greener Family Kitchen' illustrating the way in which it opened up the kitchen to the rest of the house and the family."

Vanity is not a sin if it's greener!

Jane Austen once said that vanity and pride are different things but this is certainly not the case at Greener Kitchens + Bathrooms!

We are incredibly proud of the vanity cabinets we are creating because they are made of beautiful low emission, responsibly sourced materials. For instance, we made both of the vanities shown above from timber veneers that are labelled with a certification ensuring they have been derived from responsible forest management practices. Such practices ensure that long term forest management strategies are implemented to protect high conservation value forests, waterways, wildlife habitat and worker safety. Similar labelling schemes are now being applied to other products with wood content such as toilet paper and outdoor furniture.

So, don't let your loo paper down, make everything in your bathroom environmentally responsible!