Bamboo Cabinets
Find out what makes bamboo cabinets, green cabinets in this green living eco friendly cabinet review.
If you're building a new home or are ready to replace your kitchen cabinets, bamboo cabinets are a great eco-friendly option.
Bamboo has hit the market as an extremely green alternative for all kinds of things - from flooring to furniture to bedsheets and even clothing. There are so many great advantages to using bamboo, especially if you are trying to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle.
Bamboo Cabinets - What Makes Them Green
One of the best things about bamboo is that it's extremely renewable. The hardwoods that have been traditionally used for kitchen cabinetry can take up to 50 years to grow.
Bamboo will grow in five to six years - a huge selling point all on it's own. But that's not the only thing that's eco friendly about bamboo. :
Bamboo Cabinets
Another great feature of bamboo that makes it the perfect choice for you if you are looking for eco friendly cabinets is that bamboo grows extremely sustainably. What does that mean, you ask?
Well, when bamboo grows, it doesn't require the use of any herbicides or pesticides. Because these products often contain hazardous ingredients that are potentially harmful to the environment and people who live around them or use the end products in their home, the fact that bamboo doesn't require them is a huge green selling point.
Bamboo Cabinets
When buying new cabinets, most people are concerned about the durability. Replacing cabinets isn't cheap and you want to make sure that your investment is money well spent on cabinets that will last a long time. You may be surprised to find out that bamboo is more durable than many hardwoods.
For example, bamboo is 15% harder than maple and 25% harder than oak. When you choose bamboo cabinets, you're getting an extremely durable product that you'll enjoy for many, many years.
When you think about it, this is a really eco friendly feature - the longer you can use a product before it has to be replaced, the better it is for the environment.
Bamboo Cabinetry
On top of being a really eco friendly choice, bamboo is also beautiful and can be purchased in almost any color. In its most natural state (which is the most eco friendly), the color of bamboo cabinets will range from a caramel color to a natural blonde.
However, bamboo cabinets can also be custom ordered in many other colors, including yellow, green, black, gray, etc.
If you're in the process of building a new home and are working towards a LEED certification, choosing bamboo for your kitchen or bathroom cabinets will help you get LEED points as well.
Bamboo Cabinets - Very Affordable As Far As Green Options Go
And possibly the best thing about choose bamboo for your cabinetry is that, compared to other options, it's actually really affordable.
The cost of bamboo cabinets is pretty close to cabinets made of other, less eco friendly materials, and it's typically lower than the cost of really high-end cabinets. If you tend to do things yourself, you can purchase an install new bamboo cabinets in an average sized kitchen for somewhere between $8,000 and $12,000.
If you're planning to have a contractor do the work and you are planning to order special custom cabinets, you'll spend more money, but it's still definitely comparable to other high-end materials that are available today.
Bamboo Cabinets - A Downside? Really?
Last, the only potential downfall to using bamboo as an eco friendly cabinetry choice is that much of the world's bamboo is grown in China.
As you choose green products for your home, it's important to think about how far a product has to travel to reach you. In a perfect world, buying locally grown and made products is always a more eco friendly option.
We still think bamboo is a great choice because of all its other green features, but it's certainly something to think about.
