Eurocucina 2012: Green kitchens for healthier living

Snaidero’s LUX is one of the innovations that turn the kitchen into a fundamental part of the green home

As we celebrate Earth Day, we can’t forget the importance of building greener homes for us to live in. Given the central role that the kitchen plays in our home living, this is usually a good place to start. Yes, green kitchens have been a popular topic of discussion for quite some time, with much of the talk revolving around eco-friendly cleaning products, materials, and high-performance low-consumption appliances and LED lighting.

This week, the new trends coming out of Eurocucina 2012 point towards an expansion of
thinking in terms of environmentally-friendly solutions, including a plethora of built-in countertop plants and indoor garden/kitchen island design ideas.

Snaidero’s new kitchen design, LUX by Italian designer Pietro Arosio, belongs to this wave of innovative proposals thanks to its island extractor hood with a controlled bipolar ionisation technology that ensures better air quality.

Ions are often referred to as “vitamins of the air” because they eliminate polluting agents creating healthier environments for humans, animals, and plants. Ions are produced and diffused in the air by waterfalls, sea waves, lighting and can be “felt” when we breathe in the pure high-mountain air. The LUX Spring extractor hood basically reproduces this natural process to generate ions through a bipolar electric field that treats  and purifies the air in the kitchen.

So, what does ionisation do, exactly?

• It  eliminates the organic molecules suspended in the air, thus getting rid of  lingering bad odors;
• It  counteracts volatile organic compounds (VOC) by transforming them into CO₂ and water;
• It deactivates viruses, bacteria and allergens by breaking their external membranes;
• It prevents the creation of mildew, fungi and spores;
• It neutralises tobacco smoke.

In the LUX kitchen, the ionisation function can be activated any time there is a need to purify the environment. The sensor built into the extractor hood detects the presence of VOC, odorous gases like  formaldehyde, cigarette smoke, ammonia and any other pollutant in the air. The colour of the leaf on the push-button panel of the hood gradually turns from green to yellow as the conditions worsen, providing an excellent indicator to measure the fluctuations in air quality and making for a really valuable technology for your green home.

In addition to its benefits, the hood presents a new kitchen island design idea by not hovering over the countertop, as usual, but by extending from the floor with a stainless steel body placed on one end of the island (or the open end of a peninsula layout). The extraction unit is positioned under the base cabinets and expels the air through a special fume abatement device. This minimalist design solves installation problems and saves costs by eliminating the need for exhaust pipes and construction work or adjustments to
the existing architecture.

We will continue to cover the new kitchen trends of Eurocucina 2012 with a couple more posts over the next week.