Advantages:
- Inexpensive
- Easy to clean
- Can be "green" with close care
Disadvantages:
- Not very durable
- Require close care
- Not recyclable
OVERVIEW of Kitchen Cabinets:
The kitchen is one of the most important rooms in your home, and the right choice for kitchen countertops is key to the successful execution and ongoing use of the space. Now more than ever, you can choose from a diverse range of kitchen counter materials. For each aspect of home design and remodeling you can also strive to make choices that are 1) Functional, 2) Stylish, 3) Cost-Effective, and 4) Environmentally Sustainable. These are the four key guiding principles in the GREENandSAVE strategy. You will find that in certain cases, one or two of the criteria take precedent over others. However, as you review the home improvement options that are right for your home, you may be surprised to learn that reaching all four is more achievable than you thought.
Selection Tip: In choosing a kitchen countertop material make sure to think through the backsplash that will work best for your design and installation. Solid surface and natural stone materials typically need to be precut prior to installation versus tiles that can be cut and set right on the job site. Kitchen countertop backsplashes sometimes look great when they match the countertop material, but you can alternatively enhance the countertop material by choosing a different tile to run from the top edge of the counter all of the way up to the underside of the head cabinet. If you decide on the tiles, also take care in choosing the right color grout and look for new tile grouts that are stain resistant.
DETAILS on Laminates:
Laminate is a popular material because it is inexpensive and easy to clean. It is not typically considered eco-friendly, but if you pay attention to the right details, you can have a laminate product that has been manufactured and installed in an environmentally friendly way.
Laminates are not very durable. With very close care, they can last for 20 years, but it is a material that requires a lot of upkeep. If you are using laminates, make sure to use the right cleaning products, preferably "green" products, and take care of the materials you are using on your laminate, as they are easily affected by nicks and high heat.
The good thing about laminates is that they are versatile enough to be considered environmentally-friendly with the right manufacturing. Laminate is paper saturated with resin and glued to particleboard backing. The mixture of chemicals in that combination can be very damaging to the environment, but if you choose recycled paper and plastic, the impact on the envrionment is reduced.
Overall, using laminate products require a lot of close care if you are looking for an environmentally-friendly design. It is very inexpensive and easy to keep clean, but the upkeep requires even more, and the cost will reflect the quality of what you are getting.
GREEN Considerations:
Everything that goes into the manufacturing of laminates is damaging to the environment, so take care to use eco-friendly products whenever you can. Laminates are made out of resin-saturated paper glued onto particleboard backing. Look for laminates manufactured with formaldehyde-free, recycled paper and recycled plastic.
Also look for laminates that use non-toxic, low-VOC glue. When you clean your laminate products, make sure to use low-impact cleaning products to reduce the impact on the envrionment as well as keep your indoor air at high quality.
