Eco friendly kitchen cabinets are becoming easier to find and more affordable to purchase.
When you’re building a new home or remodeling your existing place, you have a lot of areas where you can make eco-friendly choices. For example there are green options for your kitchen cabinets you can choose from. Wondering how eco friendly kitchen cabinets are different from conventional cabinets? Let’s find out. In this post, we cover what constitutes as eco friendly and offer 8 different brands to explore.
What makes kitchen cabinets eco-friendly?
The material used to make eco-friendly kitchen cabinets is sustainably sourced, non-toxic, recycled or repurposed.
Conventional cabinets are often assembled with toxic glue that contains formaldehyde which off-gasses the air we breathe.
Eco-friendly cabinets are made with materials free of formaldehyde. It can be reclaimed wood, recycled wood, rapidly renewable wood such as bamboo, and FSC certified wood. The glues used are safe and non-toxic and don’t off-gas and damage human health.
It is important to keep in mind that although bamboo is a rapidly renewable resource, you should be careful choosing it as its high demand has resulted into cutting of forests and usage of pesticides and fertilizers in its growth in China, which is a major supplier of bamboo in the world.
8 eco-friendly kitchen cabinet options
These companies are committed to minimizing their impact on the planet and coming up with green solutions for the conscious consumers.
1. Puustelli
Puustelli specializes in Scandinavian style kitchen cabinets. Their specialty is their eco-friendly biocomposite frame which is free of any toxic glues or other materials. Their production methods are ecological from start to finish. They finish their wood surfaces with water soluble varnishes or natural oils.
Main materials used:
- Lyptus wood
- Bamboo
- Reclaimed Wood
2. Crystal Cabinet Works
Crystal Cabinet Works is a sustainable company with eco-friendly processes and products. They have improved their processes to minimize their environmental impact with changes such as using energy saving motor controls and improving air compressor efficiency. They recover and reuse the scrap wood to ensure material use efficiency. They save over 1 million kWh energy every year with their dust collection and minimize dust emission resulting in improved air quality. They have achieved the Environmental Stewardship Program (ESP) certification from the Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association. Crystal Cabinets was directly involved in the development of the ESP program which adheres to environmental business practices.
Main materials used:
- Domestically sourced and CARB Phase 2 compliant box work materials
- Recycled materials
- Rapidly-renewable materials such as bamboo
3. Green Building Supply
Green Building Supply offers several green solutions for home including eco-friendly kitchen cabinets. The materials are non-toxic and FSC certified. They offer free design service with architect Holly Butler. Their gallery has a big variety of finishes and door styles in frameless as well as framed styles. The cabinets come with Blum Blumotion undermount hardware so that your drawers and doors have a soft-close standard. They have a nationwide white glove delivery service.
Main materials used:
- FSC certified Maple and Cherry
- Columbia PureBond zero-formaldehyde plywood
- Non-toxic zero VOC top coat over stained finishes
4. Metropolitan Cabinets & Countertops
Metropolitan is an ESP certified company for its environmentally friendly business practices. All of their composite boards comply with the CARB Phase 2 regulations for low formaldehyde emissions. Since wenge wood and zebrawood are under environmental pressure, Metropolitan only offers these in the form of reconstituted veneer. Their veneer, acrylic and thermofoil slab doors come with low-emission composite cores made from recovered and recycled wood waste.
Main materials used:
- CARB Phase II compliant composite boards
- NAF (No Added Formaldehyde) plywood
- Bamboo
- Low-Emission Composite Cores
5. Candlelight Cabinetry
Candlelight Cabinetry produces semi-custom cabinets to offer them at a lower price. They have a ‘Tree Planting Program’ where they give all of their customers a choice to either get one complimentary tree for their yard or ten trees for one of the national forests. This reforestation act makes them a favorite for people who want to offset their environmental impact.
Main materials used:
- Cherry
- Hickory
- Oak
- Red Birch
- Walnut
- MDF
6. MasterBrand
MaterBrand is an ESP certified cabinets company that uses eco-friendly materials and minimizes its environmental impact by using low emission coatings and by recycling its waste. They recycle or reuse 90% of their waste.
Main materials used:
- Maple
- Hardwood
- Cherry
- Walnut
- Alder
- Rustic Alder
- Oak
- Rustic Hickory
- PureStyle
- Laminate
- MDF
- Thermofoil
7. Premium Cabinets
Premium Cabinets offer several non-toxic and eco-friendly kitchen cabinet options for you to choose from. You can find formaldehyde-free plywoods, Low VOC finishes, FSC certified woods, salvaged woods, renewable woods like bamboo and lyptus.
Main materials used:
- FSC-certified plywood, bamboo plywood and agrifiber board
- Green Guard or Green Seal certified No-and low-VOC finishes
- FSC- certified wood
- Salvaged wood
- Wood Veneer
- Renewable woods like bamboo and lyptus
8. Medallion Cabinetry
Medallion Cabinets partners with ecologists and forestry experts to make sure that timberland forests are healthy and flourishing across America. For every tree harvested, they replace it with two new seedlings. They are a member of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). Their materials surpass the regulatory requirements such as low formaldehyde emissions. They also do their best to minimize emissions by collaborating with finish suppliers to come up with better coatings and filtration systems.
Main materials used:
- Maple
- Cherry
- Hickory
- Oak
- Alder
- Thermofoil
- MDF
To learn more about creating a sustainable kitchen, check out our guides on green kitchen design, eco friendly kitchen products, and utensils.
