PITTSBURGH - Simple Green Cabinets has pegged its market niche as a local provider for Pittsburgh of quality-built, environmentally-friendly cabinetry and furniture constructed exclusively using locally-sourced materials.

Pete Schoonmaker, founder of Simple Green Cabinets, says his firm creates high quality, eco-friendly cabinets, casework, and furniture. It operates in a 10,000 square foot workshop and showroom. Glues, stains and finishes are water-based and non-toxic. Plywood is CARB compliant. Hardwoods are sourced locally from responsibly managed forests.

To market his offerings the custom cabinetry maker sponsored a website called GreenerPittsburgh.com, and also is reviewed at Angie's List.

“My business is green and sustainable in just about every aspect, and I have had many experiences with other green organizations in town,” said Schoonmaker, “but I decided to be a sponsor of GreenerPittsburgh.com because I think they have the right recipe for getting the word out.”

Simple Green Cabinets offers standard-sized framed and frameless cabinetry, and completely custom built designs. It also works with customers that want to design their own cabinets, and will help do-it-yourselfers who want to install projects built in the Simple Green Cabinets workshop themselves.

“We recycle and reuse everything that we possibly can, only use certified non-toxic glues, stains, and finishes, and also buy about 95 percent of our materials locally,” says Schoonmaker. “We donate plywood scraps to a local school for use in art projects, and all of our sawdust goes to different local organizations – urban gardeners for use in compost, for example. We throw away very, very little.”