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When Ian and Kirsten bought their home on Sydney's northern beaches, the dark, outdated kitchen was the only question mark.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.