Kitchen Remodeling: Choosing Eco-Friendly Countertops

Everything is going "green" these days, and this includes the homes we live in. A house can now be green from the ridge line to the foundation. What makes home products green is nearly always the material they are made from.

This is certainly true with the kitchen. Eco-friendly countertops have become not only an environment-saving product to have in the home, but are now available in many different styles for kitchen design and kitchen remodeling ideas. Green countertops are becoming the trend in kitchen remodeling.

As with most green products, the innovations in design and material use at this point makes some of the eco-friendly countertops a little higher than traditional countertops. Yet this is what most people who are serious about going green with their kitchen remodeling ideas can justify for the benefits to the environment.

One of the most commonly used items in eco-friendly countertops is recycled glass. This is an important material to use in green countertops because there is so much glass used today. The glass is reduced to a usable size and mixed with a cement that is fly ash based, which is a byproduct of burning coal which would normally end up as a waste product. This product can range from $50 to $80 per square foot.

EnviroGlas of Plano, Texas offers their recycled glass eco-friendly countertops starting at $50 per square foot. They use an epoxy resin instead of cement, which had the added characteristic of being self-sealing. Their kitchen remodeling products can be seen at enviroglasproducts.com

Another recycled glass product is IceStone. This can be used in green kitchen remodeling since it contains no petroleum products. The company who makes this product has also committed to start using soy-based lubricants in their manufacturing processes. These eco-friendly countertops can be seen at icestone.biz

End-grain bamboo is another popular material for kitchen remodeling. Bamboo regenerates much faster than trees, so it is a better renewable source for green countertops in kitchen design. This material generally costs around $20 to $30 per square foot and is an easy product to work with in kitchen remodeling ideas.

Bamboo countertops to be used in kitchen design can be seen at the website teragren.com

Of course, metal is still being used for kitchen remodeling and kitchen design, and metal can be used to make green countertops. Kitchen remodeling ideas using metal are available from many kitchen remodeling contractors. Although metal may require a little more maintenance and cleaning, it fits with many kitchen remodeling ideas.