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Ideally, a sustainable kitchen is one built with durable non-petroleum-based materials ie. from recycled timber and granite or stone bench tops, as opposed to melamine and plastic. Also, in its every day use, a sustainable kitchen uses safe, non-toxic, biodegradable cleaning products. Let’s look at each area with a view to providing you with kitchen ideas.

Look at kitchens in show homes or kitchen manufacturer displays to give you ideas on the potential of your own kitchen . Measure your kitchen and take those measurements and measuring tape with you. Evaluate the design and space in the display home with what you have to work within your own home. You may think the actual layout is not that crucial until you try functioning in it. Optimising the space you have available will be one of the biggest challenges of the entire project.

What natural light is available. When renovating the kitchen is it practicable to install a larger window to let additional light into the kitchen? If you do make a decision on this choice do you need to use double glazed glass to keep out heat and glare.

Acquire a kitchen cabinet maker who uses sustainable timber to manufacture his cabinet frames. When deciding upon what material to use for your bench tops there is a wide range of natural stones available that can be used for bench tops, decorative bricks for outward facing cupboard walls and other materials that meet sustainability goals What paint is being used to colour drawer and cupboard faces. There are now bio-paints on the market that are prepared from natural non-toxic resources and are definitely worth investigating further.

Select appliances that have a high star energy rating and buy the right size appliance for your needs. For example, is your current refrigerator too big or too small? If you need a dish washer pick one that cleans dishes efficiently but does so using nominal water and consequently will use less energy to heat the water. Electric cook tops and ovens at this point do not have star energy ratings. In terms of a sustainable kitchen a gas cooker will give off lower greenhouse gas emission than an electric cooker

Find energy efficient lights to put in in the kitchen as these significantly cut down energy consumption and cost. Compact fluorescent lights CFL are energy efficient and come in a variety of shapes and sizes. They can replace the old incandescent light globes including halogen down lights.

Turn kitchen waste into green garbage. Have one bin for food scraps that can be put on to a compost heap and the second bin for recyclables that can be collected each week with household .

I hope you have found this article informative and helpful in designing a sustainable kitchen in your home.