Ahhhh this post has been SO long in the making! In fact, after 9 months, we’re not even quite finished as we’re currently still waiting on the floors to be refinished and the base trim to be put on but I just couldn’t wait any longer to share our green kitchen renovation. I’ve gotten tons of questions along the way as I’ve shared bits and pieces on social media, so I’ll try to cover the most asked, along with sharing some of the unexpected challenges of trying to source mostly green, nontoxic materials and find contractors willing to work with them.

All after renovation images are by emmaloo.co.

Before- The original listing picture from when we bought it. It was like a cave!

We knew when we moved into our nearly untouched house from the ’80s that we’d make some changes. While it was a little dark and dated, it’s a classic Georgian style home and had everything we needed. Initially, we’d set out to do the most eco-friendly option: spare the kitchen cabinets by painting them and then just replace the countertops. Easy peasy. Well, of course it wasn’t that easy. Once we stated having work done, we realized some things weren’t up to code (position of vent hood, the spacing of the island, etc) and quickly knew we’d need to replace the cabinets and move some things around.

While things did get way more complicated than we anticipated, I’m so happy with the outcome. We did our best to stay true to sourcing materials that were healthy for the planet and for our family and despite some compromises we had to make for the sake of money & availability, I think we’ve done a pretty good job! And I got all my wishes like a huge sink and lots of drawers.

Our Green Kitchen Renovation

Cabinets

Let’s start with one of the hardest and most important: Cabinets. This was an area I was especially mindful of as most cabinets have a variety of materials that off-gas harmful substances like adhesives, particleboard, MDF, and more. They also tend to be finished with varnishes, lacquers, or paints that off-gas. We looked into having the cabinets custom built using solid wood, but as you may imagine, that was astronomically expensive. There also are some online stores like Green Building Supply which offer cabinets made with nontoxic materials, but ultimately we decided to source them locally.

This is where we made a bit of a compromise and made the best choice we could given our options. Teddy found a semi-custom cabinet company close by that uses real wood, with no MDF (except for one style of cabinetry, which we skipped). They didn’t use a lot of adhesives except for the trim on the door fronts and a couple of smaller places. So while these are not the greenest & most nontoxic out there, it checked a lot of my boxes and after touring their studio and seeing some of their cabinets sawed in half to compare to other mainstream cabinet brands, I was satisfied with the materials they use.

The cabinets are mostly built and painted at their shop, which I liked because any initial off-gassing wouldn’t be happening at my house. I got so many questions on the paint! They used Sherwin Williams brand low VOC paint. The color is labeled “Dove” on our paperwork and on the SW paint touch up kits they gave us. After searching I can’t find a SW paint listed just as “Dove” on their site, but it’s a warm gray. Many asked about the smooth finish- they applied the paint using a paint sprayer and used a type of baking process to harden it. If you’re trying to repaint your cabinetry at home, I would talk to a painter about spraying it. It does leave a very smooth finish, but the rest of the room needs to be entirely taped up and covered (I know since we had our built-ins sprayed in the living room).

Installation was a little rough. They lost our cabinets and then figured out that they shipped them to another state  and didn’t tell me until literally minutes after I had someone disconnect our appliances and kitchen sink, which resulted in us going a very long time without a working kitchen. They then installed wrong cabinets in some areas, had to rebuild new ones and then re-install. It was not fun. If you’re local and want the cabinet company’s info, I’m happy to share, but I wanted to be honest about the whole experience.

Find the cabinet hardware here.

Paint

After switching out the cabinets, we had to repaint the ceiling and walls. We used Benjamin Moore Natura Paint which is zero VOC. We’ve used it several places in our home and it covers well and holds up nicely. The walls are Classic Gray and the ceiling is Swiss Coffee. No and low VOC paints aren’t perfect and can still contain SVOC’s. You can easily go down a research rabbit hole on that and try to source a paint that is completely pure, but ultimately we went with the Natura since it was the cleanest paint that our painters were comfortable working with.

Countertops

After a lot of research, the consensus seems to be that quartz is one of the most non-toxic materials to go with here. It doesn’t need any type of sealer and it’s not very porous, so it cleans easily. We had a lot of moving parts around the time the counters were installed and some things got away from me. I will admit that on install day I wasn’t prepared for the fumes from whatever they were using to glue it down. I’d been working in another room to stay out of their way, so by the time I figured it out they were more than halfway done. Fumble. I hadn’t even thought about that. I was able to open windows and air out the house which helped, but had I known before to look into that and make sure they used a non-toxic adhesive, I would have. File it under things I’ll know for next time.

Backsplash

We used a lot of tile and even tiled up to the ceiling in a few places that we’d forgone cabinets which really opened up the room and made it feel much bigger. We found a local tile store that I can give a glowing recommendation of. If you’re in North or South Carolina check out Palmetto Tile Shop. They have a lot of options, many are stocked at one of their local stores so you’re not shipping tile across the country. They also have some wonderful green options. One tile that I fell in love with is handmade in Mexico using recycled roof tiles from old buildings (the shiny gray tile at the top of the photo above). Ultimately we went with the cross and star tile and love the matte white finish. With white grout the pattern fades into the background enough to just add a bit of interest and texture.

What kind of grout and thinset you use is entirely based on what kind of tile you’re using and where you install it. We talked to our installer ahead of time and had him use an unmodified thinset which didn’t have any added chemicals to impair mildew, etc.

Lighting

I’ve mentioned before that we had some wiring issues and previously have had to have some of it replaced. The electrician told me at the time that older light switches aren’t compatible with LED bulbs (which explained a lot since ours kept burning out). Since LED is more energy efficient, we took the opportunity to change the light switches and fixtures to LED compatible ones.

I’ve been asked about the fixtures so I will link to each one: Island pendant, Sconce above sink, Breakfast nook light.

Furnishings

My wonderful photographer did a great job of not capturing the still-in-progress areas (at my request), which is mostly a buffet by the breakfast nook that we’re waiting on floating shelves for, so you don’t see that side in many of the pictures- just little peeks of the rug and table and chairs.

If you’re a long time reader then you know I love getting vintage Turkish rugs on Etsy, which is what we again used in this area with a nontoxic rug pad.

The table is an antique that I picked up at an estate sale. It’s currently sanded down and I’m going to finish it with PolyWhey.

The chairs we’ve had but they’re pretty basic. You can always pick up used chairs and refinish them with PolyWhey or a zero VOC paint. We’ve also had the stand the Berkey is on for quite some time.

The counter stools are from Serena and Lily and may not have any claims to being nontoxic but I absolutely love them so what can I say? It’s that 80/20 rule.

That about sums it up! The floors took a lot of damage during the renovation so we’ve been trying to have them redone for months (some of you may have been following along with that saga over on Instagram ?‍♀️), but alas! It seems like we have found someone to come next week to refinish them using Rubio Monocoat which is a zero VOC floor product. I’ll be sharing all about that once it’s done!

*Some affiliate links used, which means if you purchase through that link I earn a small percentage at no additional cost to you. All thoughts and opinions are always my own.