Your counter is made of what? Part 1 - Material Selection

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A short time ago, we posted a video about our first bGreen building project.  This being our first major project, everything has been a learning experience.  From establishing a relationship with our fabricator to realizing home construction scares Maggie the bGreen dog into pooping in the house.  All in all this process has been a tremendous learning opportunity for bGreen.  So how did it work out?  What was the process and what can you expect if you choose bGreen for you next home renovation project?



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Let's start with the basics; define the project.  We wanted new counters. Our apartment in Boston's North End came with plain white Formica counters.  They had no character, were hard to clean, and worst of all, ugly (no offense Formica people).  The Formica counters were put in by the builder solely based on the fact that they were cheap.  At bGreen we are big believers that you can have nice looking materials in your home and not have to break the bank. This is  a topic for another post, but there is no real advantage to using cheap materials in a home project.  The bottom line, quality products will last you longer.



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We settled on counters from Richlite.  Richlite is made of compressed paper that comes from pre/post consumer waste and FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) Certified lumber.  Richlite is stain resistant, heat resistant, and denser than some wood counter tops.  It also comes in a variety of great colors.  We went with Chocolate Glacier - yes, it sounds more like something you'd want to eat on but it's a nice looking counter.  Look-wise, you can compare it to slate or soapstone - really stunning.



Prior to our project, the walls in the kitchen were just painted.  We wanted to do some sort of back splash throughout the kitchen to set it apart and because it is easier to clean then a painted wall.  Luckily we had leftover subway tile from a previous project.  The actual title is not green in any way.  However, using leftover materials is green.  If you are starting from scratch obviously we think you should use all green materials, but if you have something you want to reuse bGreen won't stop you! In fact, we'll help you figure out how to reuse what you already have and incorporate new green materials into your projects.



Now that the materials have been selected (Richlite counters and a Subway Tile back splash) we move onto the next step, Part 2 - Templating/Fabrication/Sink & Faucet selection.