indonesia hOme iNTeriors

Search Amazon.com merchandizes using this form   - Books

Home & Interior Design books:
Good Green KitchensKitchen

Today's info: "Best is reviewing several books first prior to purchasing at Amazon.com."

---

NOTE: All online transactions are processed at Amazon.com's secure server,
using the latest technology on internet's secure transactions.

Manufacturer: Gibbs Smith, Publisher

List Price: $29.95
Our Price: $8.68
You Save: $ 21.27 ( 71% )
(prices subject to change)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours

Average Customer Ratings:

With more than 150 color photographs, comprehensive text, and extensive resource lists of recommended products, manufacturers, and retailers, Good Green Kitchens is a must-have-whether taking small steps to a green kitchen, or planning a thorough remodel. This newest book from green living advocate, Jennifer Roberts, is loaded with inspiration and information for creating a dream green kitchen. What makes a kitchen green? Good Green Kitchens shows that eco-friendly design is a continuum that's shaded from light to dark green. At the light green end are easy-to-do steps such as choosing less polluting paints or selecting energy-efficient appliances. At the darker green end are strategies like using certified or reclaimed wood, consciously choosing to simplify or downsize, or using the kitchen project as a launching point for greening the whole house. Good Green Kitchens gives the low-down on what's green and what's not when it comes to kitchen design. It includes: up-close profiles of beautiful, green kitchens and the people who created them; tips for environmentally responsible redecorating, remodeling, and building from the ground up; in-depth chapters on greener alternatives for floors, cabinets, countertops, and appliances; strategies for greening the whole house; tips for keeping costs in check; and much more.



PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS:

Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 643.3
EAN: 9781586857004
ISBN: 1586857002
Label: Gibbs Smith, Publisher
Manufacturer: Gibbs Smith, Publisher
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 176
Publication Date: 2006-05-23
Publisher: Gibbs Smith, Publisher
Studio: Gibbs Smith, Publisher


SIMILAR ITEMS:

• Natural Remodeling for the Not-So-Green House: Bringing Your Home into Harmony with Nature (Natural Home & Garden)
• Good Green Homes
• Green Remodeling : Changing the World One Room at a Time
• Green Building Products: The GreenSpec Guide to Residential Building Materials
• The New Ecological Home: A Complete Guide to Green Building Options (Chelsea Green Guides for Homeowners)


CUSTOMER REVIEWS:

Green design anyone can afford -
Planning a kitchen remodel is overwhelming--there are thousands of choices you have to make about every little detail. And on top of that, you have to worry about whether the products you use will destroy forests, contribute to our fuel dependency, pollute, off-gas, etc.

This book does an excellent job of making the decisions simpler. During a time when every company is marketing themselves as green, this book provides a neutral resource for assessing the environmental impact of each of the items you purchase. It also covers the even greener option of re-using and re-purposing items for your kitchen, saving money and reducing your footprint. The pictures of the kitchens prove that a green kitchen can be beautiful and a joy to work in.

A reviewer claimed that this book is "greenwashing" but that word has clearly been misapplied. This book sticks to the subject at hand and doesn't get off topic telling you how to cook and eat and live your life--that's a plus.

Green is beautiful -
... and so is this book. It's packed with beautiful kitchens and guidelines on choosing the greenest items for your reno or build. Green includes considering the manufacture, transport, durability, recyclability and health effects of the materials or appliances.
There are 5 sections: an overview lays down general principles and considerations for affordability. Ch. 2 considers Flooring, Ch 3.is Storage (cabinets etc.), Ch. 4 is Counters and Walls. For each there is a table summarizing the pros and cons of the options, as well as more detailed text that will explain how it's made, if it can be recycled, whether it presents health concerns, etc. I found this text to be quite comprehensive. The final section considers energy use by major appliances (fridge, freezer, cookers, hood ventilation), water use (dishwashers, sinks, water heating, filtration and gray water), and cleaning (recycling, garbage, compost, and cleaners). There are sources listed in each section.
The only annoying thing was that a few brands seemed to be "pushed" -- mentioned with great frequency in picture captions and text. Perhaps that reflects the lack of competing green brands, however.
Bottom line: definitely worth getting if you are doing a kitchen reno or building a new house.

Best green kitchen resource -
I found Good Green Kitchens to be an excellent resource. The information is comprehensive, unbiased, and clearly presented. It's also a great read and beautifully put together. The mix of reference information, case studies, and design tips works very well. I think that the quality of content is far better than most other home design books.

Good Green Kitchens -
Anyone planning a "green" kitchen remodel will find this book very helpful.

Green or greenwash? -
This book is not worth much of a review. Far from being "green" it's what I'd call "greenwash". It's for people with a spare $20,000 - $50,000 who want to feel good by what they BUY, but there is precious little to indicate that the kitchens pictured actually lead to living a green life. You can't buy more stuff to become green - that's an oxymoron. The first thing to DO to have a green kitchen is to reduce your ecological footprint by what you do and then build a kitchen around your genuinely green lifestyle. This book is based on the unstated assumption that you first dream of living a green life, then you drool over plans and then you buy lots of stuff and that somehow makes you green. Sorry - this might fool your friends, it might even fool yoursdelf, but it won't fool the planet. Almost anyone can reduce their ecological footprint by a change in behaviour far more than they could by following the examples here. Any book on green design that features pictures of buildings, rooms and kitchens without people in them living a green lifestyle is - by my reckoning - just another example of greenwash. I give it two stars rather than one because there are a few ideas here that you might be able to adapt to support a green life. But you'll need to go elsewhere to learn about ecological footprint, environmental load and living green. There is one-third of a page on "environmental costs" when such a book should feature this at its core and the rest of the book should be about building a life and a kitchen around this principle.

---

NOTE: All online transactions are processed at Amazon.com's secure server, using the latest technology on internet's secure transactions.

| Home Design | Interior Design |