Greener Gifting from Kitchen Design Notes

With Black Friday quickly approaching I thought I’d share a post from Laurie at Kitchen Design Notes.

She writes about the importance of being mindful this Holiday Season of the waste our wrapped gifts can create. If each American family wrapped just three presents in recyclable materials, we would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields.

For people who aren’t crafty I like one of her suggestions of “wrapping” a gift in a towel. If you are staying with a relative or friend for the holiday a monogrammed hand towel wrapped around your gift tied with a grosgrain ribbon is perfect.

My family often decorates packages with ornaments. It adds a great decorative touch and can be enjoyed year after year.

I’d love to hear about other great things people do.

November 18, 2007

Induction range

Very soon Diva de Provencewill be making it’s new Diva 365 induction range available . The 36-inch stainless steel professional range is an industry first, combining an all-electric convection self-cleaning oven with a five burner induction cooktop.The five burner Diva Induction cooktop utilizes electromagnetic energy that heats only the cookware. The onyx vitroceramic glass surface remains cool to the touch providing easy clean up of spilled food that would typically burn on the surface of a regular cooktop. Also, Diva Induction Cooktops heat food faster, boiling water in half the time of the most powerful gas or electric burner, while the kitchen stays cool. This rapid heating process saves time and energy.Not all pots and pans will work for induction cooking. For your cookware to work on induction it requires a ferrous metal base or layer. This ferrous metal is necessary as it is the layer that will get hot when placed in the electromagnetic field. Generally speaking, most stainless steel cookware and cast iron cookware will work on induction cooktops. Copper, glass and aluminum cookware will not work on induction. To test your cookware to see if it will work on induction, try to stick a magnet to the base. If it sticks it will work.

November 15, 2007

Appliance Recycling

If you don’t want your old appliances to go to the dump when your new ones arrive consider sending them to a Steel Recycler.

Appliances are typically 75% steel by weight and very recyclable.

The SteelAlliance and the Steel Recycling Institute have an online database of 30,000 recycling options across the country.

Just fill out a simple form on their website and recycling locations in your area will be email to you. If you need immediate assistance you can call 1-800-876-7274 x 201.

November 12, 2007

Concrete Sinks

Gore Design Company uses nature as it’s inspiration for it’s Erosion countertops and sinks. The water from the faucet looks like it has worked away layers from the surface just as a river might cut through a canyon. Fortunately your sink won’t wear away.

Gore attributes being able to make their complex designs by working with glass-fiber reinforced concrete (GFRC) with is lighter and better for casting complex shapes. Gore uses water-based sealers so there are no VOCs. Their pigments are also environmentally conscious by being free of heavy metals. By dry polishing their pieces Gore saves about 600 gallons of water per project. Their website proclaims they are “leading the concrete revolution, at the forefront of environmentally responsible design.”

Gore Design Co. also offers concrete classes. There are 4 classes scheduled for 2008. Gore Design Company’s workshop [only64] offers a rare opportunity to learn how to fabricate Glass-Fiber Reinforced Concrete. According to their website less than 1% of concrete fabricators know this method.