My Green Kitchen 
By Melissa Carlson, PRC Member

I moved into a house with a remodeled kitchen. The previous owners were proud of its large size and eat-in counter. I was dismayed with the odd layout, and the cold air blowing through light fixtures and upstairs bedrooms, which were attached to the addition roof. I wanted a weathertight efficient kitchen that looked like the rest of the 1920's house. I am a preservation minded architect and I like to cook. I decided to push the norms and see how much of this I could do in a “green way”. After 1 ½ dumpsters rolled out of my driveway, I didn’t feel very green. But I did save some studs and plywood, enough roof shingles to roof the new bay window, and all the old insulation. The contractor took the cabinets and counter for his brother’s shop. (The previous owners used a low quality brand of everything, not much wood in the cabinets.) The copper and aluminum went to the recycling plant and I busted up some of the concrete and took it to the gravel pit. Construction and demolition create huge amounts of waste every year. We were putting the exterior wall back where it was, so there is now more soil in my yard, and no new foundation was needed. We gutted the kitchen and powder room down to the studs. (I saw where the old milk box and ice box were!) We put new copper piping in (avoid PVC piping) though the plumber thought we were spending money uselessly. We also re-routed and re-used ducts. We laid out lighting more efficiently, and used all fluorescent fixtures. 

Some people think that if the paint and countertops are “green” then the job is well done. Note all the work we did before we even got to the finishes. The guts, the process, the research and balance are all very important. I wanted to recycle my roofing and researched my options, but driving it 400 miles to Vermont wasn’t a good balance. I could have bought insulation made from used denim, but why buy new when I could re-use the old just fine?

The finishes: Gypsum board walls and ceilings - nothing exciting there. We stripped and reused mill work where we could, and made our own from salvaged wood where that worked. Then bought new. The cabinets weren’t special either (we aren’t millionaires) but the clear finish was a new product that I asked them to try, and they liked it. They soon marketed it to a doctor who couldn’t stand formaldehyde. The countertop is part maple (salvaged) and part Richlite - a mix of recycled paper and a 1950's resin Bakelite. The window was made by a local woodworker to replicate others in the house. The flooring is real Linoleum, made from linseed oil and jute and sawdust. (The stuff now called that is really vinyl, PVC, plastic.) The powder room was tiled. The toilet is low flow. The mirror and lighting were antique store finds. The water heater and furnace died during the job, so those are new efficient models, also. The fridge is still in the dining room, waiting for the woodwork to be stained, and the lights aren’t up yet, but I’m happy and I think our old house is also.