Good Green Kitchens [Hardcover]

Jennifer Roberts (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 23, 2006

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This is an encyclopedia of great ideas on how to build a kitchen with a conscience. -- The Los Angeles Times, June 1, 2006

About the Author

Jennifer Roberts launched two retail stores in San Francisco specalizing in environmentally sensible consumer products, including household goods; amd is freelance writer and editor on topics that include energy-efficient building design and systems.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Gibbs Smith; 1 edition (May 23, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586857002
• ISBN-13: 978-1586857004
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 10.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #883,524 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #56 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Interior Design > Professional Reference

More About the Author

Jennifer Roberts is the author of Good Green Kitchens, Good Green Homes, and Redux: Designs That Reuse, Recycle , and Reveal. As a writer, lecturer and consultant, she specializes in ways in which we can improve our environment and enrich our lives by building better buildings and making smarter choices at home and at work. She has written about green buildings and healthy living for publications as varied as Dwell, Professional Builder, Body + Soul and The Financial Times of London. She holds a certificate in urban permaculture design and has professional accreditation from LEED, the U.S. Green Building Council program that recognizes expertise in green building practices. She lives in San Francisco with her partner, their dog, and four chickens. Visit her website at www.jenniferroberts.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Green, but top of the line, Kitchens, September 29, 2006

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Good Green Kitchens (Hardcover)

What? Yet another book on kitchens? And what does GREEN mean in terms of a kitchen, certainly not the color?

San Francisco based writer Jennifer Roberts has developed a philosophy that discusses the remodelling of a kitchen in terms of its impact on the world.

Key to her philosophies are reuse, recycle, salvage, and when buying new avoiding old-growth or tropical woods, particleboard or plywood made with urea formaldehyde-based glues (that can out-gas bad things into your house). Green includes appliances that use less energy, less water, and cost little more (if any more) than un-green equipment.

The book is a heavily illustrated study of several green kitchens that clearly illustrate that being green does not have a penalty in design, style or utility. Nor do they have to be cheaply made. Here are green kitchens with professional grade appliances.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Green is beautiful, January 9, 2008

By 

Biology teacher (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Good Green Kitchens (Hardcover)

... 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.

31 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Green or greenwash?, March 16, 2007

By 

Keith Thomas (Canberra, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Good Green Kitchens (Hardcover)

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.