What makes bamboo more sustainable than wood?

Bamboo grows super fast and does not need fertilizer, but only water and sunlight. No pesticides are needed to control weeds or fungi. KOAK kitchen doors are made from Moso bamboo. This giant bamboo grows to a length of 20 meters within a few months. Then it takes about 4 to 5 years for the trunk to mature and hard enough. Even harder than oak and almost as hard as tropical wood. By comparison: hardwood is only ready for cutting after 50 to 100 years, which takes at least 10 times as long. Did you know that bamboo is not a tree, but a grass? One plant has several stems. After harvesting, a new stem just grows from the same plant, very different from when you cut a tree. Some other advantages: bamboo produces 30 to 35 percent more oxygen than trees. They also absorb a lot of carbon dioxide.

How do you make kitchen doors from bamboo?

The bamboo harvest consists of hollow trunks of about 9 centimeters in diameter. How do you turn that into a floor or kitchen door? Flat, rectangular dots are cut from the bamboo trunk. These strips are glued together. Because a bamboo plate consists of strips, they work less than solid wood. The glued plates are sanded so that they are nicely flat and smooth. So it takes quite a bit of work to make plate material from a stem. That is why it is important that the bamboo is processed in a safe factory, taking good care of the workers and the environment. Moso bamboo is made in a factory that is ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certified:
- ISO 9001 is the international standard for quality management systems and helps companies improve their processes. - ISO 14001 is the internationally accepted standard with requirements for an environmental management system.

What else can you pay attention to if you want sustainable bamboo in your kitchen or home?

Which other quality marks does the bamboo have? Moso bamboo, for example, is FSC certified, which means that the forests where the bamboo is harvested are well taken care of. Moso also scores well with BREEAM and LEED, these are labels in the field of sustainable construction.
With which glue is the bamboo panel material glued? There are environmentally friendly adhesives without formaldehyde and free from VOCs - volatile organic compounds.
Where is the bamboo processed into sheet material and into the end product? Bamboo grows in China, it is most sustainable if it comes directly to the Netherlands for processing and is not processed in another country.

How do you best take care of your bamboo kitchen? Our bamboo kitchen is oiled by KOAK, which protects against stains. You can clean the doors with a damp cloth and an ecological detergent. And over time, you can re-oil the kitchen. This way your kitchen will remain beautiful for the longest.

Below you can read why we would like bamboo in our sustainable kitchen. I found various providers online, but I preferred to order from a Dutch company. I already knew KOAK from their solid oak kitchen doors, through a tip on Instagram I discovered that they also sell bamboo.
We split our kitchen into 2 parts. The part in the existing house will have a 1930s feel with a fresh green color like Piet Zwart's 1930s kitchen. The right-hand part in the extension will have a modern Scandinavian look. The extension is made of blond Larch wood and I was looking for a dark bamboo for the kitchen. If the color of the wood and the bamboo are just not the same, this causes unrest. So I consciously chose to contrast with the dark bamboo Density Dark from KOAK.
With bamboo you have the choice between a horizontal or vertical grain direction. You can see the difference above. I chose vertical because it emphasizes the contrast between the two styles in the kitchen even more. Finally, you can choose from various handles, from metal to leather. We opted for a milled handle.

Bamboo kitchen doors from KOAK

For our kitchen, we consciously choose a Dutch company that also produces in the Netherlands in connection with transport and the associated CO2 emissions. KOAK Design makes solid oak and bamboo doors for IKEA kitchen cabinets in Abbenbroek. How does that work? Well like this:
First, we made a mood board for our kitchen. There is so much choice in material, handles and color that it is good to first determine which atmosphere you want in your kitchen.
Then you take the measurements of your kitchen. You can register a kitchen yourself with the IKEA kitchen planner or make an appointment at IKEA in the store. You then sign your dream kitchen in 2 hours with an advisor. This costs € 39. You will receive this amount as a discount on the purchase of your kitchen from € 500.
I made an appointment with an IKEA consultant and showed our plans. The fact that we order the doors elsewhere ourselves was fine. They do not find that strange and they help to order all the parts that we do need.
With your IKEA design you can now request a quote from KOAK. On the site you can see which fronts, side panels and handles there are. Would you like to see everything in real life? Then make an appointment to visit the showroom.
Once the quotation has been approved, KOAK will get to work. Your kitchen is custom made and oiled in their own workshop in Abbenbroek. Above you can see how our kitchen was made.
Then KOAK makes a delivery appointment and they bring the covers carefully packed to your home.

The result: Sustainable bamboo kitchen

Everything is ready, next week we will start to assemble the kitchen. As soon as the kitchen is finished, I will add pictures to this article.