Formica Gets Its Mojo Back -- and Now It's Green

Move over (quarried, imported, non-renewable) granite.

Did you see yesterday's d5R article about furniture recycled from beetle-killed pinewood, an otherwise "unusable" but abundantly available resource that, if not recycled, is a leading cause of forest fires? Here's a similar comeback story involving a sustainable, often-overlooked material. Sort of. 

From NPR's Marketplace program:

"...[B]y the 1970s and '80s, Formica had a bit of a bad rap. The smooth surfaces had been chipped or rubbed down to show the brown paper under the pretty colors. By the 1990s, expensive stone countertops became a status symbol, paving over passe Formica.

"But last year, Los Angeles designer Scott Lander chose white Formica for the kitchen in an award-winning project.

"'Most people were asking, 'What is this surface?' Most people didn't even know it was Formica,'" Lander says.

It's also getting more popular with budget remodelers. And, green builders. The company has switched to non-toxic resins, and uses recycled paper. Just one more way Formica is clawing back a little more counter space.

Formica is a classic, no doubt. At a museum several years ago, I saw a familiar item in a display case: a piece of 1950s-era Formica in the classic "boomerang" style. Not long before, I had purchased an old home whose kitchen had last been remodeled in the 1950s, as far as I could tell -- and the wonderful aqua-blue boomerang Formica countertops were a vintage highlight, along with the copper-colored double wall oven.

Too bad I didn't keep them when I remodeled.



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Kitchens: Transformed (New Contest ... $250 prize!)

Hey, remodeling pros. How many times have you been asked to take a look at a client's kitchen ... and known from the start that they needed way more than a cabinet refacing or a tiny bump-out? 


How many times have you ended up dramatically transforming a dated and/or unaccommodating and/or dysfunctional and/or cramped kitchen into a pretty spectacular space?


Even if none of those "before" kitchens were quite as remodel-ready as this one...

 or this one

... the "afters" were invariably more functional, stylish, comfortable, inviting and timeless than anything the client imagined. 


Announcing "Kitchens: Transformed." In d5R's February Snapshots contest, we invite remodelers, designers and architects to share your favorite kitchen remodel.


Send in no more than two "before" photos, and no more than two "after" photos, along with a brief description (including budget, if you like) of how you solved your client's kitchen challenge.


Email this package -- starting now and through the end of February -- to snapshots@daily5Remodel.com. Type "Kitchens: Transformed" in the subject line.


Give your transformed kitchen the opportunity to reach an audience of remodeling pros nationally -- and perhaps a broad new base of potential clients for you as well. What else? Well, if your entry receives the most votes, you'll also get a $250 gift certificate from National Lumber! 


p.s.: Also to come next week: voting begins for our January Snapshots contest, "America's Ugliest Bathrooms: Solved."