Ecological Kitchen
Green Kitchens – Ecological Kitchens.
Green is not just a color any more – if you are reading this blog, you have access to a computer and therefore are familiar with green, ecological products – it’s everywhere! The question is – how do you find true green products or in our case – a green kitchen?
Apparently, there are many shades of green and it is not easy to defferentiate between a ’true deep green’, a ‘faded, washed out green’ and a product that only claims to be green… In the case of European made kitchens it is a little easier because the European standards are very high and already forces manufacturers to produce greener products by default – make sure that the product has an ‘E1 Emission Class’ – a very high European standard that insures a greener product.
A few points to consider:
1. The box materials – An ecological kitchen is made without cutting down any trees, as simple as that – ecological furniture must not be merely “recyclable” or contain a percentage of recyclable wood - it must actually be made of 100% of recycled wood! A few companies have already made the commitment to use only 100% recycled wood in building their kitchen products. Make sure the box and panel materials are made from a certified ‘Ecological Panel’.
2. The doors – obviously, a solid wood door will be the least green. A veneer door, from a non exotic, sustainable wood, will be better. ‘None wood’ material, such as glass, laminate or lacquer finishes, which are produced properly are the greenest.
3. Is the product toxic? Many products, available in the market these days, are made without any consideration for the environment or for you – they have a high emission of formaldehyde and other toxic fumes. A green kitchen should have very little to no VOC (VOC stands for Volatile Organic Compounds, the toxic fumes from most building products.) .
Now, if all this sounds complicated and very expensive to achieve – think again. On the contrary – companies like Pedini Kitchens have been producing these types of products for years. Their costs have not changed, as a result of producing green kitchens and the quality level did not suffer at all.
Some other importent ideas for designing a green kitchen – recycling center, energy efficient appliances (not just in terms of energy but appliances that are suitable to the family size – 2 family members with 3 refrigerators in the kitchen is not very green…).
Go Green!
Servo Drive
It’s so easy!
If you have done a new kitchen in the last few years, or even if you haven’t, there’s a good chance you’ve heard the term – ‘Blumotion’ – the latest and greatest drawer system from Blum, the world’s best manufacturer of hinge, lift and pull-out systems for the kitchen.
Blumotion is simply a drawer system that allows soft closing, without the drawer banging into the cabinet. When it reaches the point of almost closing, it breaks to a very quite and soft close. With the introduction of this mechanism, in 2001, it was the best thing since full extension drawers… Any other drawer system in the market was simply none existing. None existing until early 2006…
In April 2006, while at Euro Cucina (the worlds largest and most important kitchen show, held in Milan every other year) at the Pedini Cucine booth – I saw the Servo Drive® for the first time – It was incredible! Pedini had a locked-up glass room, with a chrome finish kitchen inside it. People were walking around it looking in, trying to figure it if this ‘thing’, that looks like a kitchen, actually works.
Pictures: Pedini Display, at Euro Cucina 2005.
This prototype kitchen was named Cubika – it did look like a shiny chrome cube. The kitchen had no handles, pulls or even a recessed channel to open the drawers –If you waited long enough, someone from Pedini would open the glass door and demonstrate how these cabinets actually work – all you needed to do is tap lightly at the drawers, with your knee or hand and as if someone said ‘open sesame’ – the drawer opened…
About half an hour before the show closed, a couple of guys showed up, dressed in grey work-robes/aprons (the type that workers use in German and Austrian factories) and took apart the drawer mechanisms. They put them in special cases and were on their way back to Austria. They did that, I found out later, to insure that the competition doesn’t even get a glimpse at how this new wonder works…
This new look was finally in production by Pedini in the beginning of 2007, under the name Q2 and you can now get the ‘cube’ look, in many finishes, including one that looks very similar to this prototype from the 2005 Euro Cucina booth, in all glass.
Picture: Pedini Q2
I’m not sure why, but Blum is calling the new drawer system in two different names – ‘Tip On’ and ‘Servo Drive’. Maybe they are undecided on the name yet…
Want to view the Servo Drive in action?
