Green Homes Special Series: Part Fifteen: Safety and Sustainability in Cabinetry

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Cabinetry is commonplace in our kitchens, bathrooms and often our home offices and family rooms. But while durability, style and color often dominate our selections, other factors to consider are their effects on indoor air quality and the sustainability of the materials. Neil Kelly base cabinet cases are made of agri-board, a compressed straw product, with a frame door in re-milled CVG (clear vertical grain) fir boards with an insert of Kirei board, a product made from sorghum stalks. Health Concerns Volatile organic compounds, known as VOCs, are emitted as gases from certain solids and liquids, including some paints, lacquers and binders. Formaldehyde, one specific VOC, is typically found in pressed wood products such as particleboard, hardwood plywood paneling and medium density fiberboard. The problem is that all of these materials might be found in cabinets. With homes increasingly air tight, the off-gassing of VOCs can present significant health risks from asthma to cancer. While their levels may decrease over time, they can linger for years and, with people spending about 90 percent of their time indoors, that is a problem. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) does regulate formaldehyde as a carcinogen. The EPA says it is advisable to mitigate formaldehyde that is present at levels higher than 0.1 pap but there is no These Koch & Co. cabinets in their green line offer rustic beech wood certified by the PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes) with a low-VOC finish. standard regulating other VOCs in non-industrial settings. Key symptoms of eexposure to VOCs range from watery eyes, burning throat or headache to difficulty in breathing and dizziness. Get the Details Annette K. Stelmack of Louisville, Colo.—incoming chair for the American Society of Interior Designers’ National Sustainable Design Council, sole everyone else thought about it.” It was in 1998 that the Portland, Ore., company came out with its Naturals collection that used no-added-urea-formaldehyde agri-board panels, binders and glues, FSC-certified wood veneers and low VOC glues, adhesives and finishes. It was the first in the U.S. market with a full range of environmentally friendly materials and construction techniques. In doing that research, the sustainability of products can also be ascertained. Materials for cabinets can come from repurposed materials such as the compressed straw leftovers after wheat or rice grains are removed, from reclaimed and re-milled wood, from rapidly renewable crops such as bamboo or from forests that are sustainably harvested.

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