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For people who care about the environment, Refacing
(recycling your old cabinets) is the only sensible option.
Unless major layout changes are going to be made with your
kitchen cabinets, refacing makes both ecological and economic
sense. New cabinet boxes can be installed where needed, using
the same custom made doors being put on the refaced cabinets.
How much waste is involved with tearing out your old cabinets,
and throwing them away? On a weight basis, about 1/3 of the
cabinet is in the doors. Which means refacing cuts environmental
waste by 2/3. But that's not all. Since new cabinet boxes
don't have the be manufactured when you reface your kitchen,
you are saving the trees and pollution that go into making
up the replacement cabinet boxes. Consider that:
1. Most new cabinets are made of a heavy compressed mixture
of chipped wood and chemicals.
2. The manufacturer of each new cabinet contributes to
environmental pollution. And the waste has to be hauled
to the landfill (using fuel for hauling) and put in the
dump.
3. New cabinets, and the raw materials of which they are
made, involve transporting the new cabinets several times,
typically over long distances, utilizing Diesel fuel.
By recycling the major components of your existing kitchen,
through cabinet refacing, you will contribute to the growing
movement towards environmentally responsible building and
remodeling practices. Something that those of us at Amercian
Cabinet feel strongly about. |
