Many homeowners today are trying to balance maximizing the value of their homes with their concern for the environment, so have turned to using natural, renewable materials when making home improvements. Cabinetry is one feature in which natural hardwoods have long been highly prized, but hardwood forests can take decades to regenerate; their beauty and durability come at an ecological price.

Add to that the fact that the decimation of forest covers around the world may be a major factor in climate change, and the need for a natural hardwood cabinet substitute which can be easily renewed is even more crucial. One answer is bamboo cabinets. Bamboo cabinets will imbue your décor with a tropical aura, giving it an exotic atmosphere uniquely you own.

Bamboo cabinets are fashioned from canes of bamboo plants, which are actually grasses, and not wood. But the terrific thing about bamboo cabinets, for the environmentally conscious homeowner, is that they come from a source which renews itself in a remarkably short time. Bamboo not only survives cutting; it thrives on it with new growth which is thicker and stronger than before.

Bamboo has been used in Asian flooring, cabinetry, and furniture for centuries Bamboo is indigenous to several areas of the world, and each species of bamboo will create bamboo cabinets of unique appearance. But bamboo cabinets, no matter where their bamboo is grown, are all strikingly attractive and remarkably durable, with a hardness rating fifty percent greater than most hardwoods and equal in strength to red oak.

Of bamboo's more than one thousand species, the one most commonly used for building material is the Moso bamboo, which can attain a height of forty feet and a diameter of between six and eight inches, with its stalk walls up to an inch thick.

Bamboo's Amazing Positives

Bamboo's strength has made it a perfect material for fishing poles, because it combines that strength with flexibility and minimal weight. Bamboo cabinets will be exceptionally strong because each of the strands in a bamboo cane is absolutely straight, and because bamboo has no branches, it also has no knots. The "knuckles" which the canes do contain are dense enough that they do nothing to weaken the structure of the bamboo cabinets. And bamboo's stability means that it is much less likely to warp in hot or cold conditions than hardwood.

Given that bamboo cabinets are built from an all natural material which can renew itself completely in five years, and that their durability exceeds that of most hardwoods, and finally, that they simply add a look to your décor which is not achievable with any other type of cabinet, bamboo cabinets may well be the undiscovered gems of the cabinet industry!