In the Kitchen

Switch over from chemical based cleaning products to natural products. Generally speaking, what’s good for your body is good for your kitchen.

Even if you can buy organic fruit and vegetables from a nearby orchard or farm, be sure to clean them with a natural vegetable wash.

The most expensive appliance in your home may be your refrigerator. It requires five times the consumption of the average television set. Buy an Energy Star fridge with the freezer on top and do without the water dispenser and icemaker which uses a lot of energy.

Place it somewhere in your kitchen away from the stove or dishwasher so it won’t use more energy competing with the heat. Keep your coils clean, which means pulling it out from the wall and cleaning it every year. Keep the temperature at 37 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit for the fridge and 5 degrees for the freezer.

The better environmental choice for a stove is generally gas over electric. And believe it or not, self-cleaning ovens, because they have more insulation, use less energy than regular ovens. As in every other room of your home, your kitchen should be lit with compact fluorescent (CFL’s) instead of the incandescent that most of us grew up with. Only about 10% of the electricity used by incandescent is light. The rest is heat.