OVERVIEW on Kitchen Countertops:
The kitchen is one of the most important rooms in your home, and the right choice for kitchen countertops is key to the successful execution and ongoing use of the space. Now more than ever, you can choose from a diverse range of kitchen counter materials. For each aspect of home design and remodeling you can also strive to make choices that are 1) Functional, 2) Stylish, 3) Cost-Effective, and 4) Environmentally Sustainable. These are the four key guiding principles in the GREENandSAVE strategy. You will find that in certain cases, one or two of the criteria take precedent over others. However, as you review the home improvement options that are right for your home, you may be surprised to learn that reaching all four is more achievable than you thought.
Selection Tip: In choosing a kitchen countertop material make sure to think through its integration with your kitchen cabinets, appliances, and the backsplash that will work best for your design and installation. Solid surface and natural stone materials typically need to be precut prior to installation versus tiles that can be cut and set right on the job site. Kitchen countertop backsplashes sometimes look great when they match the countertop material, but you can alternatively enhance the countertop material by choosing a different tile to run from the top edge of the counter all of the way up to the underside of the head cabinet. If you decide on the tiles, also take care in choosing the right color grout and look for new tile grouts that are stain resistant.
DETAILS on End-Grain Countertop Installation:
Anyone can make a kitchen countertop out of green Bamboo plankings or, alternatively, you can use unfinished bamboo flooring planks. Not only is bamboo an attractive addition to your home, its great to work with and provides a wonderful sense of accomplishment.
When you construct the bamboo counter top, make it about two inches think. In contrast, the older bamboo planks with nosing edges were used earlier and not thought to be as attractive. The available colors are natural (a shade of green) and the more familiar caramel shade that most of us are familiar with. With this material you can make the countertop at your premises, including sanding and finishing, which are fairly straight forward tasks. Whether you prefer normal urethane or epoxy resin products, each will do the job just as well.
Bamboo is without exception a great choice for a durable countertop surface. Believe it or not, its even harder than maple. The bamboo sheets are think and stable. They also provide the added benefit of being beautiful, and best of all, are a green option to avoid further depletion of a vital resource. Countertops don’t have to be made from wood and they dont have to break the bank! A word of caution: if you are going to be cutting on a bamboo counter top, you will want to plan ahead to insert a separate cutting board into your design plan.
GREEN Considerations:
End-grain bamboo is at the cutting edge of eco-friendly kitchen countertop materials. It provides the consumer with an exceptionally strong and durable material that also is extremely low impact on the world's environment.
When installing kitchen countertops look for adhesives and compounds that are toxic free and take care to dispose of any waste in the most environmentally friendly manner. Naturally, try to reduce, or encourage your installer to reduce, the total amount of waste materials.
