Eco kitchens don’t just mean eating more green stuff; one will need to look at the whole concept from the kitchen floors to the ceiling.  If you are concerned with the environment and using products that uses less carbon emissions one must consider that many kitchens are energy guzzlers and have a serious impact on the environment.

Each person has a responsibility to do their best to change their carbon footprint.  Eco kitchens not only have an impact on the planet, it can also have an impact on your pocket, which is an added bonus. Using recycled materials in your eco kitchen can save you money.

• When choosing utensils ditch the Teflon. Cookware from our grandmothers and older ancestors were much more eco-friendly, Teflon has a very short useful life and soon loses its non-stick surface. Plus it gives off emissions that are harmful to health.  Two materials that are good are stainless steel and cast iron.  Both these materials are long lasting, in fact can last a life time or more. Cast iron cookware is known to last for generations and is often passed down from one generation to another.
• Purchasing good quality knives, for instance can last much longer than cheap plastic and low quality wood utensils.
• Choosing gas against electricity. This can be a tough choice. Both use fossil fuels either directly or indirectly.  Gas is a fossil fuel on its own and electricity in many parts of the world is still generated by coal burning plants. Gas is often preferred as its instant heat, clean and cooking times are much shorter, looking for a new gas stove or cooker look for one of the lower BTU output stoves, and they are more energy efficient.  Electricity is clean and quietly cooks your food,  choose one that uses an induction element, these transfer an electromagnetic energy that goes directly to the pan, therefore this uses half the energy of a coil element for instance, and also leaves the stove top relatively cool. Induction stove need stainless steel, cast iron and enamel cookware, you cannot use aluminium or glass.
• There are other appliances that are more eco-friendly modern energy efficient dishwashers use less water than hand washing. Other appliances if you wish to replace look for an energy star rating, fridges, freezers, microwave ovens are a good place to start.
• Remodelling your kitchen. Choose to recycle if you can, look at antique and salvage places, you can often pick up kitchen fittings, panelling, cabinets, floors many of these are still in pretty good shape, and can be restored back to usefulness for another decade or so. Look for solid wood cabinets rather than composite material woods for recycling, solid wood is more durable, can easily be sanded down and re-varnished to look like new, chipboard or other composite material wood are much more energy intensive than good old fashioned solid wood.  There are often advertisements on the internet, local newspapers and magazines, where people wish to dispose of their old cupboards that are still in usable condition although might need a bit of work to bring them up to standard.  Using recycled cupboards saves the trees which are also important to retain an eco-friendly environment.
• If you don’t wish to go the recycle route, there are modern green options, for instance, countertops made of yoghurt tops and recycled paper, recycled glass and other materials that are recyclable, flooring of bamboo or cork, however, before buying check their environmental impact.
• Check materials for formaldehyde in the glue used for cabinets and cupboards, other elements to watch for are volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) and gaseous pollutants.
• Insulation of walls can be effected from recycled newspapers.
• Lights to be replaced with energy efficient ones.
• When replacing cupboards and hiring a contractor to do the job, check if their materials meet eco-friendly requirements.
• Paint, check that the paint you buy contains very little VOC’s, the quality and finishes are just as good as paints that contain VOC’s.
• If you are looking for counter tops that are resistant to scratching and being stained, then a natural stone, for instance, granite will fulfil that criterion. Other options are recycled paper-based counter tops, but, be aware that colours are limited. Another option is concrete countertops, the materials are readily available, such as water and sand, but bear in mind that Portland cement which is a standard building material, does use a large amount of energy.
• Flooring could include linoleum, recycled rubber, cork and wood are good options, and you could also look at recycled good tiles of ceramic and even glass.
• For more natural light, consider skylights or extra windows, look at double paned glass that has a solarban coating, this effectively keeps in the heat in wintertime and keeps out the heat in summer time, thus reducing the need for extra heating and or air conditioning. The skylights or extra windows means you don’t need to use electricity for lighting during the day.
• Looking at styling, search out simple styles; you can always match up colours to existing cupboards, flooring, and panelling to give a total even effect.  Simple styling means you can do so much more as you are not limited to complicated designs. If you do need to use new timber, then look for locally sourced timber rather than timber from far off places, try to find out if the forests are sustainably managed where felled timber is replaced and not destroyed.
• For replacing new wood sometimes wood veneers or reconstructed veneers can be more environmentally friendly as they use only a fraction of the amount of timber material then solid wood. Check the glues used in veneers that their chemical compounds are not harmful to the environment and you.

Creating an eco kitchen can be loads of fun, at the same time you are contributing to your carbon footprint. Once you start in your kitchen, you may find you are looking at other ways around your home to become even more eco-friendly.