Aluminum is truly an incredible material, particularly when viewed through the “green” lens so prominent and important in contemporary culture. Endlessly recyclable and infinitely useful, this wonder metal is one that exudes potential in our resource-strapped times. Let’s see how the material that revolutionized the soft drink industry can bring some much-needed green thinking to one of the most important rooms in our homes. Today’s buzz words when discussing kitchen wares usually involve “stainless steel” and, if you’re pushing for a more energy-efficient cooking space, “Energy Star.” But what about aluminum? Doesn’t this commonly used but typically forgotten metal deserve some shelf space?

 

Well, for the ecologically minded homeowner, it most certainly does. Outside of the single-use soda cans we’re all familiar with, aluminum can be used to make utensils, utensil holders, shelving systems and even appliances like this awesome toaster, blenders, pots and pans and more. Restaurants (and serious cooks) can even extend the usefulness of this metal that was once valued even higher than gold by installing snazzy-looking aluminum chimney hoods over burners. Yes, there are possibly infinite uses for aluminum in the kitchen. One of the most common is the freshness-saving foil that can be used to freeze, store or grill our favorite foods. And while most other packaging is playing catch-up with today’s recycling efforts, aluminum has been there all along, being pragmatically malleable for even the most oddly shaped foods and containers. If you’re really serious about including such a wonderful material into your food preparation, there are ways to literally build your kitchen out of it. As mentioned prior, this bendy, friendly metal is capable of forming into nearly anything. Yet it would still surprise many to see it pass along as cabinetry, let alone cabinetry that looks exactly like wood. Shown above, Modern Aluminum Kitchen has somehow learned to achieve such alchemy. Like the number of times it can be melted and remolded into a new product, this company offers seemingly endless options for styles, colors and looks when with aluminum cabinetry. Aluminum cabinetry even promises to be termite and rot resistant as well. For many, a faux-wood kitchen might not sit right, regardless of the environmentally friendly aspects. Nonetheless, with mankind’s ingenuity and the ever-important issue of resource conservation at the back of our minds, aluminum cabinetry (and kitchen products in general) is surely only the beginning for this wonder metal.