“In 2006, the Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association (KCMA) created the Environmental Stewardship Program to help cabinet manufacturers demonstrate their commitment to environmental sustainability and help consumers easily identify environmentally-friendly products. After meeting certification requirements in areas of air quality, product and process resource management, environmental stewardship, and community relations, cabinet manufacturers can display the ESP seal on their products. The ESP seal helps you identify cabinets and cabinet manufacturers who are committed to protecting the environment. Nearly a hundred fifty cabinet manufacturers have already earned ESP certification and more are on their way to completing the review process.”

The ESP is designed as a framework for manufacturers to highlight environmental business practices concerning: product and process resource management, air quality, environmental management policies and systems, and community relations.

Manufacturers must earn a minimum of 80 points based on compliance with stringent criteria to be awarded ESP certification. The criteria for ESP 04-11 include, but are not limited to:

• Manufacturers must demonstrate their commitment to protect the environment as evidenced by a written policy statement.
• The use of CARB ATCM compliant low-formaldehyde-emitting panel products is mandatory and mus tconstitute 80% of all particleboard, medium density fiberboard (MDF) and plywood used in the cabinets.  These products also must be certifeid by CARB approved third-party certifiers to meet low formaldehyde emissions standards.
• 80% of particleboard and MDF used in the cabinets contain 100% recycled or recovered fiber content
• Chain of Custody (COC) Certification of the manufacturer throught a recognized sustainable forestry program is encouraged.
• Hardwoods, softwoods and plywoods purchased are certified through a recognized sustainable forestry program
• A documented energy conservation program is in place
• A written Environmental Management System is encouraged
• An active recycling program for process wastes is in place
• All federal, state and local environmental requirements are observed and manufacturer agrees to report any violations to KCMA.
• The manufacturer demonstrates community involvement and leadership through service or charitable organizations

If you are interested in learning more about Holiday Kitchens green line of cabinetry, please visit our website or give your local Holiday Kitchens dealer a call.

By utilizing products that minimize VOCs, without added formaldehyde and are 100 percent pres-consumer recycled, Holiday Kitchens cabinetry offers the most complete line of elegant, healthy and eco-friendly cabinetry in the industry.

Established in 1946, Holiday Kitchens has always been a conservative and environmentally conscious company – part and parcel of its Midwestern work ethic.  The company is considered one of the most “greenest” cabinet manufacturers in the industry due its’ stringent manufacturing practices. Their focus has always been on producing beautiful quality cabinets with as little impact on the environment as possible. The result is the Holiday Kitchens “Live Green” collection that offers the most complete line of eco-friendly cabinetry on the market featuring products that are elegant, durable, low in VOC emissions, without added formaldehyde, renewable, sustainable, and much, much more.

You can read more about Healthy Home 2010 in the July/August issue of Traditional Home Magazine.

]]> http://blog.holidaykitchens.com/holiday-kitchens-featured-as-part-of-healthy-home-2010-in-traditional-home-magazine-healthy-child-healthy-home/feed/ 0 http://blog.holidaykitchens.com/holiday-kitchens-celebrates-st-patrick%e2%80%99s-day-with-green-kitchens/ http://blog.holidaykitchens.com/holiday-kitchens-celebrates-st-patrick%e2%80%99s-day-with-green-kitchens/#comments Thu, 17 Mar 2011 01:37:10 +0000 Tamy Severude http://blog.holidaykitchens.com/?p=1258 Green in color or “green” because their eco-friendly – we love all these fabulous kitchens!

Full Access RWH featuring Cucina di Festa

Beaded Inset Painted Sage Green Kitchen

Beaded Inset Painted Kitchen

Eco-Friendly Green Bamboo Kitchen

Tamy Severude and Nicholas Pedersen

Holiday Kitchens is committed to improving the social, economic, and environmental concerns of our community.

 Good luck, Nicholas, we are proud of all your accomplishments!

Fisher’s Kitchen & Bath in Topeka, KS has partnered with the Hy-Vee grocery store to sponsor their new Culinary Club Room Kitchen.  This room is host to catered business and community events, as well as Chef Alli’s cooking classes and corporate training events.

During the design phase, Hy-Vee & Fisher’s Kitchen & Bath were committed to using as many eco-friendly products as possible.  While conventional kitchens are anything but friendly to the earth (think non-sustainable woods & granite) the Topeka Hy-Vee kitchen is full of the latest green products.  These eco-friendly products include the Robin Wilson Home (RWH) Custom Cabinetry Collection by Holiday Kitchens  and recycled quartz countertops from Caesarstone’s Environment First collection. 

Lynda Fisher, from Fisher’s Kitchen & Bath, immediately thought of the RWH Collection by Holiday Kitchens custom cabinetry when the opportunity arose to help create a more user friendly space for Hy-Vee and its guests. The full access, European style cabinets brought new life and function to the space. 

Europeans have been in the kitchen a lot longer than us, which may explain why we can learn so much from them. While they were perfecting the art of cooking, they were also perfecting the art of kitchen design. Today’s European kitchens have three unique attributes:

• Innovative design
• Unusual materials
• Cutting edge technology

The new kitchen is “drawer-based”, the hottest trend in organization.  No more stooping over for Chef Allie!  Just pull out the drawer and you’ve got access to everything.  Items as diverse as tableware to tall olive oil bottles all have a specially designed drawer.  In one easy movement, everything is visible.  Searching in dark corners is a thing of the past.  Drawer-based kitchens are also particularly ideal for a handicapped user. Katherine, Hy-Vee’s Club Room Manager, and Chef Alli are delighted with the finished result.  The drawer based system allows them to find what they need with a quick glance. 

Adding to the organizational efficiency, the Culinary Club Room Kitchen is categorized by zones.  During the planning stage, tasks such as cooking, preparation, storage & others are all considered and placed in the most efficient location. The benefits are many, such as:

• Shorter journeys by correct organization
• Ergonomically correct & minimal lifting & movement
• Clearly arranged kitchen items
• Total access all the way to the back

The new Topeka Hy-Vee Culinary Club Room Kitchen is a brainy blend of precision kitchen organization & minimalist-styled cabinets that make it a pleasure to use.

Guest blog post by Susan Lund of Spacial Design – San Anselmo, CA

We would like to inspire you by telling you about five of the most important trends that are in our consciousness as we consider how we want to design and live in our kitchens. These are lifestyle trends, not the color of the month trend! Kitchens are once or twice in a lifetime projects, typically. We want to pay attention to new ideas, absolutely, but seek longevity in design and materials as well.

1.Open Floorplan – An open floorplan design concept comes to mind first. We’re busy. We want to connect with our family and friends while we perform the sometimes mundane tasks we need to do in the kitchen. We’re also feeling more relaxed, less formal, yet desire more control of our spaces. Taking charge of our family connections in our own home means designing our kitchens for easy, efficient, communication across disparate spaces. A loft-like design concept is gaining momentum as a coordinated “designed” response to the need for communication in our homes. Products of quality to better relate (as well as to better serve their purpose) to surrounding living areas are seriously considered for their longevity and classic design, be they modern, traditional, or artisan.

2.What’s Your Style? – We see a continuing movement toward tapping into one’s inner creativity, finding one’s personal expression. The gift from the internet gods to those redesigning a room or a home is the ability to find the nuance of our personal style online. There are also endless books, magazines and resources to tap into your own personal desires. Finding those nuanced products, ideas, methods, that speak to us, is a direct result of a fresh and new confidence, built up over recent years and a trend that has recently accelerated in light of our very difficult last 1 1/2 years. Personal expression aside, what many of us also seem to be moving toward is a warm, modern, feel with clean lines and simple design elements with an appreciation for design that is inspired by nature, and offers easy care as one advantage. We used to have one or two clear trends in kitchen design. Now we have quite a few trends, sub trends, mixed trends. The trend landscape has changed dramatically, a good change.

3.The Chef’s Kitchen – We’re loving fabulously fun cooking equipment, appliances designed in countless configurations offering any feature you can dream of, including cool high tech features and lots of color and finishes. We’re going to local farmer’s markets, and a desire for healthy foods of quality is also responsible for the renewed enjoyment of cooking. The grill pans, specialty knives, panini presses combined with an appreciation for the classics such as the cast iron skillet or the Le Creuset ovens as examples, bring us to a more sophisticated level in our culinary lives. We’re cooking at home again for family and friends. The “Healthy Kitchen”, connected in philosophy to the “Chef’s Kitchen” will include aging in place design/universal design principles (it’s own enormous trend/topic), non toxic surfaces, and appliances for healthy foods and homes such as steam oven, air scrubbing refrigerators, ventilation that automatically turns on/off, adjusting its speed, electronic on/off faucetry and many more innovations designed to create and enhance a healthy lifestyle in the kitchen.

4.The Social Kitchen – More than ever before, we want our kitchens to be social. So social, that we see islands becoming larger as walls continue to come down, even taking center stage to include a sink and a cooking appliance, and seating. We see furnishings (such as a kitchen sofa for example, which is raised to meet the breakfast room table or an island designed with a lower dining table attached) in the kitchen and it is all about comfort and function. We see finishes and colors which do not match, but blend. Fireplaces and larger windows in width and height create an open feel and add architectural interest as they do in surrounding rooms. Alternative finishes, textures and products add sophistication. Good artwork, sconces (and other non-typical kitchen lighting) and media media media of any size/shape/type contribute to the feeling that one is truly in a living/social area. Multiple work stations providing optimal function for various social lifestyle situations will be designed into the space. A desire for real comfort is strongly connected to the social kitchen trend.

5.Environmental Awareness – No list, even a short one, would be complete without mentioning the importance of sustainable living in our everyday life and thinking sustainability in the products we select. Appliances have made enormous strides in energy conservation in recent years, and faucets and cabinetry, flooring, tile, and countertops are made with recycled or certified environmentally safe materials. Conserving water and energy is our collective goal. Energy saving lighting fixtures has made great strides as seen in CFL and LED fixtures. Yes, you can still have your glam touch with (energy saving) lights at your sink or countertop! Green design, in our opinion, does not work without longevity built into products. Longevity built-in, equals quality. More than a trend, real quality, as it always has, simply makes sense. Environmental awareness brings with it a desire to experience the natural character of wood species, natural textures in metals, stone, and fabrics. A parallel to this trend is enjoyment of hand crafted, artisan, items, an easing up from perfection, toward organic shapes and joinery.

The word for design in 2010 and for the foreseeable future just may be “Authenticity”

Holiday Kitchens is sponsoring the speaking event and will be hosting a book signing with Wilson at its booth after Saturday’s presentation.  Holiday Kitchens’ eco-friendly collection – Robin Wilson Home Custom Cabinetry by Holiday Kitchens, is featured in three spaces in the Kennedy home including the kitchen, kitchenette and main laundry room.

Holiday Kitchens offers the most complete line of eco-friendly cabinetry in the industry.  The Robin Wilson Home collection features over 100 door styles in various materials including sustainable materials from bamboo, coconut, wenge, stainless steel, plus hardwood in cherry, maple, oak with low-VOC (volatile organic compounds) finishes. This frameless, custom-cabinetry line has over 10 percent more usable in-side space maximizing storage, cleaning and functionality, compared to framed cabinetry.

Local kitchen design firms Colorado Kitchen Designs, The Kitchen & Bath Studio, Lifestyle Kitchen & Bath, and NK Kitchen Design Studio will be in the Holiday Kitchens booth to speak with attendees concerning all their kitchen design needs.

Speaking Dates and Times 

September 10^th 4:00 p.m.

September 11^th Noon – book signing to follow at Holiday Kitchens’ Booth #951

Please stop by and say “Hi” – we would love to chat with you!

Kennedy Green House, documents the eco-healthy remodel of Bobby and Mary Richardson Kennedy’s mold infested Westchester County home by a ”Green Dream Team.” From the drawing of architectural plans to the selection of eco-friendly building materials and power sources to the retooling of the home with health-promoting, energy efficient appliances and furnishings. Along the way, author Robin Wilson provides information and tips on how these changes can be implemented by any homeowner, whether it’s a broad renovation or simple, affordable replacements of common household items.

Holiday Kitchens’ eco-friendly collection – Robin Wilson Home Custom Cabinetry by Holiday Kitchens, is featured in three spaces in the home including the kitchen, kitchenette and main laundry room.

To purchase a copy of the Kennedy Green House, visit Amazon

See complete results for the 2010 Independent Publisher Book Awards at www.independentpublisher.com.

Arbor Day is a very special day at Holiday Kitchens and we celebrate every year by providing all our employees with a tree to plant.  While many people have heard of Arbor Day, many do not know the history behind it. 

Arbor Day was founded by nature lover J. Sterling Morton on April 10, 1872 in Nebraska.  It was declared a legal holiday on April 22 in 1885 – Morton’s birthday. You can find out more about the history and how you can make a difference by visiting http://www.arborday.org/index.cfm

If you are interested in finding out the benefits of planting trees in your specific area, check out the The Tree Benefit Calculator, which allows anyone to make a simple estimation of the benefits individual street-side trees provide.

Celebrating Arbor Day is just one of the ways Holiday Kitchens protects the enviroment – you can learn all about our different shades of green at http://www.holidaykitchens.com/livegreen/

The vast majorities of VOCs are not harmful or regulated and are found in both the manufacturing environment, and surprisingly significant amounts, in our natural environment.  Remember that all plants and animals “off gas” in various ways.  The VOCs that are known to be harmful are regulated in the United States on a federal level by the EPA , and often on a more stringently basis by individual state environmental protection agencies 

 VOC’s are present in or emitted by thousands of products:

 What do VOCs have to do with Kitchen Cabinetry?

When it comes to your kitchen cabinetry, it is important to realize that “Not all boards are created equal!”   Cheaper varieties of products are cheap for a reason.  The product’s price more often than not will indicate if it was manufactured with resins containing high levels of urea formaldehyde , or with no added urea formaldehyde (NAUF) compliant resins.  Cheaper cabinetry may also contain high levels of VOCs from varnishes, stains and glues.  The finished product may be “cheaper” in the short run, but could cause traumatic and costly health problems in the long run. 

Holiday Kitchens is a privately-held cabinet manufacturer that has been in business for over 60 years and is one of the top 10 custom cabinet manufacturers in the USA.  Our Robin Wilson Home Custom Cabinetry Collection offers the most complete line of eco-friendly cabinetry in the industry.  Our focus is on creating quality, healthy, eco-friendly cabinetry through the utilization of low-VOC paints and stains and VOC- free glues.  Our Robin Wilson Home Collection of green (eco-friendly) cabinetry includes no added urea formaldehyde options.

This is just one of Holiday Kitchens’ many shades of Green!