Greening Up Your Kitchen
As eco-conscious habits become more and more part of our collective culture, many people are taking to making their own homes more environmentally friendly. One of the best places to start the eco-journey is in the kitchen.
One of the biggest ways you can change the eco-friendliness of your kitchen is by being more aware of what you bring into it on a weekly basis in the form of groceries. Most North Americans buy a lot of pre-made, overly packaged foods every week; the majority of product packaging ends up dumped in landfills after each garbage day.
One of the best things that you can do for yourself and for the environment is to buy food that’s as close to its natural state as you can. This isn’t to say that you should buy raw wheat grains and grind them yourself, but you should buy uncooked, unseasoned meats and raw fruits and vegetables and cook them yourself. Not only will there be less in the way of packaging, but there will be less salt and preservatives going into YOU. Make sure to compost your uncooked, non-meat food scraps as well!
What you use to carry your groceries home makes an impact as well. Many grocery stores across the continent are not offering plastic bags to patrons any longer, instead actively encouraging them to purchase inexpensive reusable bags, bring recycled bags, or offering a biodegradable alternative. If you like a higher quality of reusable bag, check out your local shops or look online; some companies even offer a reusable produce bag for your fruits and veggies.
Another great way to green up your kitchen is by buying only really good quality cooking tools that will last a long time. A few good quality stainless steel pots and pans, a good cast iron frying pan, and some sturdy wooden utensils can last you a lifetime if you take care of them. Avoid Teflon coated pans as they have a limited life-time and there are some health concerns over the use of Teflon. Quality, energy-efficient appliances will help make your kitchen more eco-friendly as well.
The finishing touch on any green kitchen is, of course, in the cleaning; make sure that you don’t use harsh corrosive chemicals when you’re cleaning your eco-kitchen.
Once you’ve greened up your kitchen, it’s easy to move into greening the rest of your home, one room at a time!
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
4 Secrets to Buying Cheap Kitchen Cabinets
1. Go Independent
The best way to get cheap kitchen cabinets is to choose an independent cabinet store that doesn’t merely carry brand names. Do you want to pay brand name prices for the same cabinet? Chances are, many independent cabinet stores are can get you a great price, sometimes as little as 20% the price of Kraftsmaid or Mill’s Pride cabinets. You can, many times, haggle at these stores and get close to their wholesale price, so definitely try to get a better deal.
2. Know Your Quality
The main thing to look for is the cabinet box. Although particle board is seen in many home improvement stores,100% wood cabinets ie plywood sides should be preferred. Avoid any cabinet using MDF, a type of compressed wood backing for the cabinets, since these can sag after a while especially when getting wet. LKN cabinets offers many choices of cabinets that are all wood with no particleboard or MDF used.
Some cabinets come from China, but the wood is still top quality because it’s gathered from their respective countries and is shipped to China for manufacturing. Many of these cabinet factories keep up-to-date on the latest innovations by top manufacturers, such as soft-close or fully extend-able drawers. Be sure to check them out and see what things they use, such as their new hinges or dove tails. LKN cabinets is proud to have 2 lines of such cabinets for heavily discounted prices.
3. Ask for a Discount
Discount kitchen cabinets are usually shipped in containers and require assembly. LKN Cabinets will assemble them before we sell or install them, but if clients were to want to assemble themselves they may. An experienced contractor is need to hang or install the cabinets at that point.
4. Find These Stores
Look at the classifieds, the Yellow Pages, or a local advertising paper..
If you aren’t sure of the kitchen you want, always feel free to contact us at LKN cabinets (704)232-5169.
SOURCE: www.elegantcab.com
Updating & Remodeling your kitchen – Kitchen Remodeling
Your primary kitchen remodeling idea is probably staring you in the face. Most people have at least one area of the kitchen that gets on their nerves and would like to see changed. Simple kitchen chores can be a great place to start. If you hate doing the dishes, a new custom kitchen sink and deluxe dishwasher, should make your list. If food prep is your least favorite part of cooking, a new countertop with a built-in board would be nice. If you simply hate your kitchen’s look, kitchen decorating and design should have top priority.
Replacing your kitchen cabinets is almost never a bad kitchen remodeling idea. They can increase kitchen storage and overall convenience, they enhance your kitchen decoration and feel, and cabinet resurfacing is a cheap expenditure next to many other kitchen remodeling ideas.
It could be that your kitchen does need major updating. Maybe your stove and refrigerator are right next to each other. Any remodel worth the name has to change that. Maybe there’s just not enough room for the four or five people that normally prepare meals in your house – so you really do need to expand outside the current kitchen walls.
These tend to be the big ticket items, but often there’s no getting around them. There’s no decorating substitute for the effect of replacing linoleum or vinyl flooring with stone tile, hardwood, or laminate flooring. Countertops, too, are nearly impossible to ignore when assessing the beauty of a kitchen. If you can do so without breaking the bank, at least one of these items may be the center for the rest of your kitchen remodeling ideas to work around.
One popular change that you might want to keep under consideration is the removal of a wall. If done right, this can work wonders for making a small kitchen feel spacious and open. Of course, you must make certain that any wall you remove is not structural. If removal of the full wall is not feasible, consider removing part of it and making it into a ‘half wall’ where only the top half or so is taken out, or creating a ‘pass-thru’ – more or less a square or rectangular hole in the wall. These can also make a world of difference in the feel of the finished room.
SOURCE: http://8rd.org/decoration/
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