Going green does not necessarily mean spending a lot of money and buying new products. Here are a few tips on how to redesign and use your kitchen in environmentally-friendly and budget cost fashion.

1. Kitchen cabinets are nothing but simple wooden boxes with fancy doors and hardware. Keep this in mind before you tear your kitchen cabinets down and send them to the trash heap. Consider painting them or staining them with low VOC paints and deck stains. Then pocket the savings and use the money to buy replace your aging appliances.
2. Reusing your existing cabinets is the ultimate way to go green in your kitchen. Even if you do replace your existing cabinets, see if you can repurpose the cabinets in your garage or give them away to neighbors and friends who may be able to use them. Any place is better than the landfill. Also consider offering them for free by listing them in Craigslist.
3. Before you replace that those kitchen knobs and pulls give them a good cleaning in ammonia or 409 cleaner. You may be suprised just how good they look after all those years of grime are washed away.
4. Replace your old existing appliances with energy efficient ones. Look for those appliances that have a good Energy Star Rating. Also some devices will qualify you for an energy tax credit, read up on this. Finally ask yourself if you really need that high end appliance to begin with.
   
   
5. Eliminate plastic bottles by not buying bottled water. Assuming that you drink one bottle of water each day, you could eliminate 365 empty water bottles from landfills and oceans in a year. Buy a water pitcher that filters tap water instead. They come in various sizes for home and office. You'll save money and do the environment some good.
6. Make your own compost with a small compost pail. We saw one in Crate and Barrel for about $40. It has a countertop-worthy design, an odor-absorbing filter, and generous one-gallon capacity make this shining stainless pail the ideal way to compost right in the kitchen.
7. Consider using old reclaimed wood in your kitchen floor. Also consider an engineered wooden floor which is composed of recycled wooden materials instead of hardwood. Don't just assume that bamboo is the ultimate green material. Sure it grows fast, but you have to put it on a ship and get it to markets half way across the world and use petroleum to do it.
   
   
8. Use LED lights to illuminate part of your kitchen. some of the newer designs are very attractive and are decorative as well.
9. Use recyled material for your counter tops. These are readily available and also come in a greater variety of colors than the natural granites and marble.

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