Organic and eco - terms we encounter every day. Everywhere. So I wasn't really surprised when I read something completely new the other day : Organic food is supposed to be all the rage right now. But what exactly is organic food? Cooking in the open air over a campfire? Of course not. Nevertheless: No one around me could help me. The eco-kitchen? shrug your shoulders. That's why I started looking for answers myself.
We came to the following conclusion: an eco-kitchen is produced in an environmentally friendly way under ecological aspects. This includes all kitchen furniture, electrical appliances and also wall coverings (tiles, wallpaper, ...) as well as floor coverings. People who take care of a healthy diet often also attach importance to the fact that the place where organic food is prepared is suitable for this diet. But even those who are not organic food buyers are increasingly taking care that the furniture and appliances around them meet environmental standards.
Tropical wood and plastic do not go with organic cooking.
The path to an organic kitchen begins with the choice of materials. Tropical wood may be beautiful, but it is taboo. What about plastics? You can't always do without plastic one hundred percent. But in many cases you can. It starts with the materials used to assemble the kitchen cabinets. Corners, angles and joints can be made of wood or metal - instead of plastic. For the worktop, you can use local wood or marble.
And what about all the plastic containers we all use? I think that plastic objects should absolutely not be thrown away immediately. If you throw things out in a hurry, you are not helping the environment either. Only when kitchen utensils are broken should they be recycled. But now you can make sure that the next pasta strainer is not made of plastic, but of stainless steel, for example. And we can gradually replace all the cans we have in the cupboard with glass containers when necessary.
Ecological kitchen furniture
For cost reasons, many inexpensive kitchen cabinets are made of particleboard and fibreboard, which may contain formaldehyde. It causes mucous membrane irritation, eye inflammation, asthma and allergies, and creates circumstances conducive to cancer.
If you don't want this, you can assemble individual cabinets and complete them with a stove and sink. This principle is generally followed by suppliers of high quality organic kitchens. Of course, here you go a little further in your pocket first. But it's usually worth it: Solid wood kitchen furniture lasts longer and is much easier to move around.
Quality certificate for eco-kitchen
Here is a list of many quality labels from different fields. Do you know of other reliable quality labels?
Kitchen furniture bearing the voluntary Golden M quality label from the furniture industry may only contain half the permitted amount of formaldehyde (0.05 ppm). There are, for example, the Blue Angel, the ÖkoControl label of the European Association of Green Furniture Stores, the RAL quality label and the EU energy label. And that brings us to the second important part of kitchen furnishings, the electrical appliances.
Saving energy with kitchen appliances
You can save money with energy-efficient appliances in the kitchen and throughout the house. But of course, it only really becomes "eco" when green electricity comes out of the socket.
What makes the eco-kitchen different ?
- The economical use of water and energy in production.
- Non-toxic and renewable or already recycled materials are used in production.
- Transport: short distances for the materials to the production site and again short distances to the final consumer.
- Let's not forget the social aspect of working conditions and fair remuneration.
- Electrical kitchen appliances, which consume a lot of energy in their manufacture, must be economical in operation and have a long service life in order to guarantee a correct ecological balance.
So - even though "organic" and "eco" are often criticized as fashionable: When my kitchen is worn out and I need a new one, I will pay more attention to materials and sustainability. Not only for the sake of the environment, but also because a kitchen made of real wood simply seems more comfortable.