Igor Crook decided to start his own eco-minded kitchen remodel business after he noted the way people responded to a green approach.
“When I mentioned someone could remodel their kitchen in only five days, they’d be moderately interested,” he said. “When I’d tell them we could save 80 percent of the material from going in the landfill, their interest was piqued.”
Crook worked for a similar company in Portland, Ore., and decided to move to Bothell. He started Eco Kitchen in April.
A company specialty is cabinet refacing, which Crook said not only keeps materials out of the landfill and saves energy, but takes less time and money than completely replacing the cabinets. Most jobs are finished in five days, he said.
Crook likes to joke that he’s in the “de-oakification” business, since many of his jobs involve refacing oak cabinets from the 1980s and ’90s.
“Oak was just way overdone and people are tired of it,” he said.
With a cabinet refacing, workers remove the moldings, doors, hinges, drawer fronts, toe kicks and sometimes the drawer boxes if they’re in poor shape. What’s left gets cleaned up and repaired. Then a real wood veneer is attached to the outside of the cabinets.
“At the end of the week, you can’t tell it was an oak kitchen,” he said.
Like any other remodel project, prices vary considerably based on materials and the scope of the project. He has charged as little as $2,000 for a modest remodel of a galley-sized kitchen and as much $30,000 for a large, lavish project.
If a kitchen remodel is in your future, Crook recommends choosing the wood for the cabinets first, followed by the countertops, backsplash, flooring and paint.
It makes sense to start with materials that offer the most limited choices and work toward those that offer more, he said. The cabinets and countertops tend to make more of an impact visually.
The company is young and includes three employees, including Crook.
“Our approach is don’t over-do it,” he said. “We’re staying high quality.”
Debra Smith 425-339-3197 dsmith@heraldnet.com
ECO KITCHEN
425-495-0290 www.ecokitchensnw.com
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