[Greenbuilding] green cabinets or green wash?

[Alan Abrams]

<Green, and green building is about more than the label.  If you are truly 
green, then you are looking to buy local.  Buying products that are 
harvested, processed and manufactured locally is the best whenever possible.

When local (within 500 miles) won't work look to source products extracted 
and manufactured as close to home as physically possible.  The 
sustainability of the forest/environment is inextricably linked to a 
sustained economy.>


THANKS for the excellent comments and perspective--last point is well taken;
when I did my own kitchen last year--and after a more than diligent but
unsuccessful search for stock cabinets with FSC material and low-voc finish
(and plaguing this list with my angst) I fell back to a position based on
three compromises: 

1. Reduce the number of cabinets required, using open shelving above counter
height--which we love in the finish

2. use plywood construction rather than particle board, to reduce the
quantity of urea formaldehyde glue (this decision was based on assumption,
not fact)

3. use a local manufacturer--in this case, Yorktowne, based in PA, 

It was quite a surprise after talking to countless distributors, to discover
yesterday--the stewardship program--which may actually have been in
effect--and may also have included the cabinets I purchased--last summer.

To a builder at the less than stratospheric end of the market--this program
is of enormous potential significance.  For a current project, we've gotten
bids over $30,000 for custom cabinets made of wheatboard substrates, using
imported low voc finishes, etc--the bid for a nice Yorktowne product is
under $9,000

-AA