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| Forest Stewardship Council-certified cabinetry and water-saving appliances are just two of the green features available in this stylish kitchen.
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A new, LEED-certified condominium community has taken shape on Maui. It shares its name with a beach close by called Maluaka. The word, which means “shades of comfort,” seems like a perfect title for the idyllic locale. “There’s a cooling cloud that comes down from Haleakala every afternoon and protects the area,” explains Jennifer Stites, green development manager at Dowling Company Inc. “That’s where that word comes from.”
While some might deem it a bit of a stretch to compare a condominium development to a natural Island area, the relationship solidifies as Stites recounts the features available to Maluaka’s prospective buyers. Why? For many, the most important room in the home is the kitchen. And Maluaka’s kitchen amenities are as green as they are beautiful. “We wanted to incorporate Hawaiian culture into [the construction of] this project,” says Stites.
“Sustainability dovetails nicely with Hawaiian culture. That’s a big piece of the puzzle.”
A collaboration between Riecke Sunnland Kono Architects and design firm Philpotts and Associates yielded the natural, open, airy look of Maluaka’s kitchens. Sound science combined with thoughtful design made many of their features green.
Take the cabinetry, for example. “All of our cabinetry cores are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council,” says Stites. “It guarantees that the wood is coming from a forest that’s sustainably managed.” Prospective buyers can choose from several cabinetry options, including FSC-certified oak in light or dark shades. To boot, adhesives used in cabinetry construction contain low amounts of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which help keep indoor air quality healthy.
Then there are the floors. “Many customers prefer wood flooring in the kitchen,” says Stites. For these clients, Dowling offers FSC-certified maple as well as rapidly renewable hand-scraped bamboo and coconut-palm-wood options. For those who prefer stone, offerings include natural limestone and travertine.
Appliances and fixtures are greener than average, too. “In terms of water efficiency, we’re achieving a 30-percent reduction in water use overall,” says Stites. That’s because the kitchen sink is low-flow, meaning it uses 1.5 gallons of water per minute instead of the standard 2.2 gallons. But with all that science the sink is anything but standard. It boasts stylish construction, including an extra-large stainless steel basin and a sleek, swan-shaped faucet design. Customers can also choose between two ENERGY STAR dishwasher models, one made by Fisher & Paykel, the other by Bosch, companies known as much for style as for high-end functionality.
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Each nook incorporates task lighting, which cuts down on energy use.
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Finally, parts of each kitchen will be lit by compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) and the design incorporates task lighting, which ensures that areas of the kitchen not currently in use will stay unlit (thereby saving valuable energy). Conservative lighting is part of the reason the entire Maluaka project is 50 percent more energy efficient than current standards require here in the Islands.
No green kitchen would be complete without a place to stash recyclables. To that end, Dowling has built a recycling center into every unit. “We’ll also have a pickup program where people will actually come to take the recyclables away and take them to the redemption center,” says Stites. “We want to make it so easy that—well—why wouldn’t people want to do it?”
Though it already has a few LEED-certified commercial properties under its belt, Maluaka marks Dowling Company’s first foray into residential green building. Happily, it won’t be the company’s last. “When the public really became aware of how serious global warming was, that was our catalyst,” she says. “We feel we have a corporate responsibility to act. We’ve learned so much on this project that in our future projects we’ll be able to do so much more.” For more information on Maluaka, visit
www.Maluaka.com and
www.dowlingco.com.
