KC's Green Cabinets

Affordable, environmentally friendly kitchen cabinets? Sounds like an oxymoron.

2bg is available at Elements of Green, 1919 Wyandotte St., 816-842-0500 or www.elements-of-green.com

But Stuart Brown of Tudor Woodworks in Kansas City (along with several other local cabinetmakers) has introduced a new line of cabinetry called 2bg, or “to be green.”

The typical kitchen features 13 boxes of cabinets. The 2bg cabinets sell for between $3,500 and $5,000, comparable to prices for cabinets found at home warehouses.

“The difference is that these are premium cabinets,” Brown said. “Not builder grade.”

The boxes are made of a Forest Stewardship Council-certified material that is recycled wood coated in melamine. Doors are made from a choice of:

Wheat board, similar to particle board, small fibers glued together to make a larger board. It’s made from straw, the stalk of a cereal plant after the grain or seed has been removed. Recycling this unwanted agricultural byproduct into building materials increases the useful yield from the crop and reduces the pollution created when it is burned to clear the fields.

Plyboo, bamboo plywood mixed with resin. Moso bamboo is harvested from a forest that requires no irrigation, fertilizers or pesticides. Each year, only 20 percent of the plantation’s bamboo — or only the five-year growth — is cut, ensuring the forest canopy remains intact and the ecosystem is not disturbed.

Materials, including finishes, are free of formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds. Customers have their choice of painted or stained, or to save costs, unfinished. Door hinges are soft-closing and drawers are self-closing