daytondailynews.com

Greener options in kitchen remodeling

By Nancy Young, For Cox Ohio Publishing

Thinking 'green' is becoming part of daily life, yet when considering home remodeling, most people still imagine tearing out the old (dumping it in a landfill) and replacing it with new.

So, are there greener options in remodeling? Patrick Mattingly, local Kitchen Tune-Up franchise owner, gives the answer. "There are greener options that most consumers are not aware of. And, the homeowner receives the additional bonus of a less expensive project!"

The greenest kitchen and bath remodels involve improving what is already there. The Tune-Up - Kitchen Tune-Up's namesake - is a wood restoration process bringing older, worn woodwork to 90 percent to 95 percent like new. Wood is a natural product requiring occasional maintenance, but almost nobody knows how to properly clean and maintain it. The Tune-Up is a nine-step process that cleans, repairs and treats wood.

Combine this with new hardware - being sure to recycle the old - and you'll feel you have brand new cabinets. Best of all, this process typically takes one day, leaves no mess, and is a fraction of the cost of replacement. This process isn?t limited to cabinets; woodwork throughout a home or business can be restored. This process is popular with home sellers and buyers, and businesses with extensive woodwork in customer areas, including banks and restaurants.

Alternatively, if you want to change the color or style of cabinets, try redooring or refacing. Redooring replaces doors and drawer fronts with new ones, followed by painting cabinet face frames to match. With refacing, doors and drawer fronts are replaced, and cabinet fronts are veneered to match. With solid wood doors, real wood is applied to the cabinet fronts so the whole cabinet looks new. Doors and drawer fronts can also be ordered larger than previous size, so less of the face frame is visible. This 'European style', or 'full overlay' is increasingly popular.

What's involved in adding or changing a cabinet? Many nationwide suppliers manufacture both new cabinets and refacing products. The company can install new cabinets where needed, and reface remaining cabinets to match. The result is a kitchen that looks brand new.

What if you just have to have new cabinets? Rather than dumping the old cabinets into a landfill, allow Kitchen Tune-Up to relocate them to a garage, laundry or storage area, or donate them to Habitat for Humanity's ReStore project. New cabinets can be made by a green-certified manufacturer, ensuring the best for the earth, or from beautiful man-made, renewable materials that wear better than wood and are more affordable.

Bathroom remodels offer the same vanity cabinet options. And instead of tearing out a tub or shower, an overlay and surround system can be installed over them, saving landfills from dumping of tubs and tile and avoiding tear-out mess. Kitchen Tune-up's manufacturers use the thickest acrylic materials available to ensure a quality finished product. If there is a need to go from tub to shower for safety reasons, a walk-through cut out can be installed to a current tub.

Kitchen Tune-Up is a onestop shop for remodeling. Cabinets, tub systems, flooring, countertops and lighting are all available. To 'go green', contact Kitchen Tune-Up for a no cost, no obligation in home consultation - or arrange a meeting in their showroom (by appointment) at 2730 Cincinnati Dayton Road, two miles off I-75 at exit 32. Call (513)-320-1191 or visit kitchentuneup.com.