Bamboo Cabinets – A Modern And Eco Friendly Choice

If you want cabinets that are as stylish and sexy as they are good for the environment, then you’ll want to explore the choices in bamboo cabinets for your kitchen design.

Why Bamboo

Bamboo is actually a grass which gives it many advantages over the traditional wood used for kitchen cabinets.  It is fast growing – where it takes a tree decades to grow big enough to produce the wood for a set of cabinets, it takes bamboo only 5 to 7 years.  This makes it very sustainable and renewable, provided the harvesting is done properly.

Not only that, but bamboo kitchen cabinets are very durable and stable making it perfect for the daily wear and tear that can happen in the kitchen.

The Style

The look of bamboo cabinets fits right in with today’s sleek contemporary styles.   The wood itself has a light and tight graining which is perfect for a lighter stain.  When you are thinking of it for cabinets, however, you need to forget about traditional colors and stains because bamboo does not hold a stain like traditional wood does.  Having said that, you can get different hues and tones and this is done in the factory through a carbonization process that actually embeds the colors all the way through the wood.  This is an advantage, especially when it comes to cabinets, because scratches and nicks will be a lot less noticeable as the wood is the same color all the way through.

Bamboo graining and color can vary quite a bit from manufacturer to manufacturer so it’s a good idea to check out a few suppliers before making a choice and then stick with the one that has that particular color that is perfect for your kitchen.

What To Look For

You want your cabinets to be non toxic as well as use sustainable wood, so you need to choose a manufacturer that doesn’t use any toxic materials in the construction.  The good news about bamboo kitchen cabinets is that they are solid wood unlike many of the cabinets today which are veneer and use toxic glues to adhere the finish.  To be even friendlier to the environment, try to go with a manufacturer that does not use any environmentally unfriendly practices in the manufacture of the product.

The other thing to be on the lookout for is where the actual bamboo comes from.  While we are hearing a lot lately about how bamboo is sustainable, sadly, not all bamboo is harvested equally.  You want to be sure you buy from a manufacturer that gets it’s bamboo from somewhere that adheres to proper practices when it comes to bamboo growing.  Choose one that uses great quality control and is monitored by some overseeing agency such the Chinese Department of Forestry and you can be assured that you are indeed using bamboo that is grown in self regenerating forests.

So when you are planning your sleek, contemporary and green kitchen – don’t forget to put bamboo cabinets on your “to-do” list!

Options For Formaldehyde Free Kitchen Cabinets

Did you know that your kitchen cabinets are one of the biggest causes of pollutants in your home?  That’s because most cabinets are manufactured with particle board which uses urea formaldehyde in the manufacture.  This known carcinogen is an installed your home and, while your cabinets seem harmless, they are actually wafting out a toxic cancer-causing agent.

To make matters worse, exposure to heat can make the urea formaldehyde even more dangerous.  Of course, in the kitchen your cabinets are probably exposed to heat a lot – especially the ones above your stove.

Luckily, there are green kitchen cabinet alternatives that won’t pollute your kitchen with carcinogens.  Not only are these formaldehyde free kitchen cabinets a healthy and eco-friendly choice, they are beautiful and will add style and ambience to any kitchen.

There is a formaldehyde free kitchen cabinet for almost any style of kitchen.  If you have a country or traditional style what you want to do is order solid wood cabinets.  You don’t want ones that are a veneer because these are the ones that have the particle board as the backing.  If you want to be even more eco-friendly, make sure that you order your solid wood cabinets from a source that uses sustainably harvested wood.

If your kitchen has a modern look, then why not consider metal cabinets?  Stainless steel cabinets are quite trendy and look great in a contemporary kitchen.  Their are also metal cabinets with enamel colored faces to go with any decorating theme you can think up.

You can also look for cabinets that use something called PrimeBoard.  This is a material that’s made from wheat straw and doesn’t have a toxic urea formaldehyde in it.  Furthermore, it has no omissions so it’s not bad for your health.