I now have a kitchen of the future. My cabinets are crafted from renewable bamboo and the floors are made of wood from forests managed for sustainability. There is no formaldehyde lurking in the glue of my shelves, few VOCs (volatile organic compounds, or gaseous pollutants) wafting from the paint on my walls. My major appliances are Energy Star-rated, the walls are insulated with material made from recycled newspapers, and my lights are electricity misers.

Just one thing: It took 484 days to get here.

Time for an eco-reality check. Despite all the green hype, building an environmentally correct kitchen can be a lot of hard work. Unless you hire a green-educated architect or general contractor, some serious homeowner hands-on is still required. During my journey, I pored over sheets of bamboo plywood in Brooklyn, N.Y., hunted down energy-saving accent lights in Illinois by Web and phone, and spent one frigid afternoon cleaning spilled cellulous insulation off the lawn. I also interviewed five cabinet dealers before finding one who would meet my eco-specs.

“This is an industry that hasn’t changed a lot, aside from air-conditioning, in the last 100 years,” says Michelle Moore, a senior vice president with the not-for-profit U.S. Green Building Council. “It takes courage on the part of initial homeowners to step into the waters.”

Forget courage, this was a selfish endeavor. A recent study of real estate listings in Seattle found that certified green homes sold for an 11-percent premium per square foot and sat on the market for a quarter less time. Next year, California will begin limiting the formaldehyde emissions permitted from composite wood products commonly used in kitchen cabinets; the World Health Organization classifies formaldehyde as a carcinogen, and it’s been linked to respiratory problems such as asthma. That is fueling interest in eco-oriented cabinet lines like Neil Kelly and Breathe Easy, and sparking mainstream brands to go greener.

Meantime, as more new-home builders go green, owners of existing houses must adapt or become edificial dinosaurs. As much as 20 percent of new construction will be green by 2012, according to a study released this week by McGraw-Hill Construction. So when an ice-maker leak in January 2007 prompted me to gut my damaged kitchen, I decided to rebuild eco-logically. However, I had two rules: I wouldn’t break the bank for trees, nor would I sacrifice design or efficiency.

When the sawdust finally settled, the $83,119 renovation cost for my 300-square-foot kitchen was about $26,000 less than the average upscale, 200-square-foot kitchen remodel last year, according to Remodeling Magazine. (A portion of my bill was covered by insurance from the leak.)

I requested an unofficial report card from David Johnston, who helped launch the Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design initiative and co-authored Green From the Ground Up. He gave me 24 out of 30 points (my small wine refrigerator wasn’t Energy Star; I don’t have an on-demand water pump) and awarded extra credit for using local vendors and recycling my old appliances.

Noting that purists always will find flaws, he still gave my remodel a top “platinum” rating for energy, resource conservation, indoor air quality and, equally important to me, “for beauty.”

Here’s how I did it:

Cabinets

I investigated cabinets made from rapidly renewable products, such as bamboo, or waste materials, such as sunflower-seed husks. Other criteria: no added formaldehyde in any fiberboard, and water-based finishes that are low in volatile organic compounds. Most popular brands didn’t meet all the specs, although 107 makers now belong to the Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association’s new Environmental Stewardship Program, which requires that they adhere to at least some of them. Other custom cabinet retailers wouldn’t risk experimenting.

“It’s a cultural meshing, and it’s all going to work out, but right now it’s kind of messy,” says Sarah Beatty, founder of building-supplies retailer Green Depot, in Brooklyn, N.Y., which sells along the East Coast and online.

After two months of fruitless searching, I phoned a shop near my home called Hudson Valley Cabinet & Woodworking, in Cold Spring, N.Y. “You mean like bamboo and wheat board?” the owner, Jeanne Allen, answered promptly.

Allen and her husband, Rick, had never built a green kitchen, but they were itching for an eco-guinea pig. With the help of the Internet, we stitched together a plan: custom-built cabinetry of Plyboo (a bamboo plywood) and Arreis (100 percent recycled wood fiberboard with no added formaldehyde), and water-based Enduro coatings from General Finishes. The bamboo is grown in China, and eco-sticklers criticize it because of the energy used in transport. But hiring a local cabinet maker helped offset the overall energy consumed by my renovation, according to Johnston.

We met the owners of Bettencourt Green Building Supplies, in Brooklyn, to buy Plyboo, and learn about cutting it, and we solicited design aid from a nearby shop called purekitchen.

There were surprises. The bamboo left tiny splinters in workers’ hands, and it needed five coats of water-based coating instead of the usual two of solvent-based finishes. Allen otherwise pronounced the project “a piece of cake.” My cabinets came in at about $1,000 a linear foot, on par with quotes with no eco-tweaks.

Fortunately, finding a green renovation partner is getting easier. Green Depot is rolling out its “360 Network” to connect consumers with green-savvy tradespeople. It also started a Flip it Green consulting service, and it puts the consulting fee toward the cost of materials. Also, the National Association of Home Builders lists certified green pros online.

Eco bonus: Selling some of my old cabinets for $1,000 counted as recycling, according to Johnston.

Paint and countertops

The key for paint was that it contain little or no VOCs. There are smaller brands, such as Yolo Colorhouse and Mythic, that sell such paint, and big brands, including Olympic and Sherwin-Williams, that are also in the green game.

I used a Benjamin Moore low-VOC primer and Home Depot’s Fresh Aire, which is VOC-free. (The latter costs $34.98 a gallon, compared with $19.98 for the chain’s Behr brand.) The result, which took no more coats than ordinary paint, looks similar to walls I painted five years ago.

I wanted the counters to be stain-  and scratch-resistant and otherwise durable. Natural stone, such as granite, can satisfy those criteria, but it can consume a lot of energy in transportation. I pored over eco-alternatives: a translucent, recycled glass material seemed fun until I learned that the sheets were shipped from Italy. Companies such as PaperStone and Richlite make beautiful, recycled paper-based countertops, but the colors are limited.

My choice was concrete, because of its clean look and longevity, and because two of its main materials, sand and water, are in abundant supply. The major eco-drawback is that most concrete uses Portland cement, a standard building material whose manufacture takes a lot of energy. Most green consultants believe that cement should be diluted with fly ash, a coal byproduct, and that it should incorporate recycled content, such as glass chips.

I hired a local artisan, Mark Lacko, of Garrison, N.Y.-based Betonas LLC. His design included 10 percent fly ash and a hearty V-Seal finish that’s part epoxy, part urethane. The coating is not as low-environmental-impact as simple wax, but it is water-based, billed as low-VOC and durable.

Eco bonus: Local production eased the energy used in transport; plus, I got to help ladle wet concrete into my counter molds.

Flooring

Cork, linoleum, recycled rubber . . . the options are endless. I wanted to match my home’s existing red-oak planks, which were installed in 1978. Retailer Green Courage, in New Paltz, N.Y., suggested boards certified by the Forest Stewardship Council and coated with a tinted, low-VOC (less than 350 grams per liter), water-based finish from AFM Safecoat. At $4.85 per square foot, the planks were two to three times the cost of ordinary red oak, but I swallowed the difference.

When my installer, Kevin, who’d never worked with Safecoat, spread the product, it went down too dark and unevenly. He blamed the finish. Green Courage called its supplier (Green Depot), and it blamed Kevin. The impasse highlighted a challenge in getting new products into the mass market.

There was a happy ending: Kevin sanded the floor and applied an extra coat of clear finish Green Courage, provided at no charge. The match is nearly seamless. Johnston warns that some water-based finishes may not hold up as well as solvent-based products, so I’m putting a rubber-backed rug near the sink.

Eco bonus: There was no odor while the urethane dried.

Energy and water efficiency

To add natural light, I knocked down an interior wall and added two windows. Those windows, plus two I replaced, are double-paned and have Solarban 60 coating, which keeps more heat in the house in winter and reduces sun-generated heat in summer. (This helped earn a $200 energy credit on my 2007 taxes.) I had Nu-Wool insulation, made from recycled newspapers, blown into my wall cavities behind mold-resistant DensArmor wallboard, and I bought an Energy Star-rated refrigerator and dishwasher.

For under-cabinet and accent lights, I hunted for affordable LEDs (light-emitting diodes), which are the gold standard in energy efficiency for their low electricity use. They spread a nice low-heat glow throughout the room, and my electricians loved them because they were easy to install. The rest of my fixtures use dimmable halogens.

Eco-bonus: Knocking down the wall to let in southern light means I rarely need to turn on the lights during the day. Tips for Going Green

•Recycle: Donating or selling old cabinets, flooring and appliances counts for green points. Craig’s List, Habitat for Humanity, RecycleMyOldFridge.com and the Building Materials Reuse Association (ubma.org) are places to start.

•Use local talent: It reduces gas consumption and pollution output. Greendepot.com and nahb.org have programs to locate green tradespeople.

•Air quality: Use water-based paints and finishes. Consider cabinetry with reduced or no added urea formaldehyde.

•Insulate: When walls are down, add layers. Consider cellulose, formaldehyde-free fiberglass with recycled content, VOC-free urethane foams or recycled denim.

•Conserve: Floors and countertops can be made from many recycled and sustainable materials: scrap metal, glass, bamboo, concrete, wood and paper. Test samples for scratching and resistance to red wine, olive oil and lemon. Look for FSC certification from wood vendors.

•Remodeling resources: For more guidelines and suggestions, see buildinggreen.com, greenbuilding.com, regreenprogram.org and treehugger.com.