The kitchen of your dreams: before our renovate your kitchen, look over these plans for an eco-friendly, vegetarian-friendly place to prepare food - includes list of resources and guide to making a recycling center

* Install open shelving in some parts of your kitchen or pantry. Buy foods (flour, rice, pasta, beans and cereals) in bulk. It can save you money and eliminate all that extra packaging that gets put in a landfill. Put your bulk-bought goods in glass jars so you can see what's in them (and remind yourself you have plenty of rice but need to stock up on beans, and so on).

* Consider a flooring surface than is either from a renewable resource or one that can be recycled. We're talking wood. If you can, make sure the wood is obtained from a sustainable forest. You can find nontoxic floor finishes but they don't last as long as polyurethane.

* If you or members of your family are chemically sensitive, wood finishes may trigger your sensitivities. In this case, tile may be an option, but it is hard on the feet and leg joints, and it is noisy. Hard vinyl (commercial grade vinyl flooring) is also an option, if applied with a nontoxic glue. It isn't very recyclable, so choose carefully and live with it for as long as it stays in good shape, which will be years and years.

THE KITCHEN

ENVIRONMENT

* If you have the room, think in terms of work stations so that all members of the family can be involved in preparing, serving and cleaning up after family meals.

* A good place for holding fresh fruits and vegetables while they are ripening is in hanging baskets under the cabinets.

* Plant trees. Just trees trees planted on the sunny side of buildings can cut cooling costs by as much as one-third.

* Avoid curtains (they collect dust) and use dish towels (that you can put in the laundry) instead of paper towels.

* Put pots of herbs on the windowsills. Plants brighten up a kitchen and if you have fresh herbs nearby, chances are you'll be tempted to use them.

Resources

The Smart Kitchen, by David Goldbeck (Ceres Press, New York, 1994). To order, call or fax (914) 679-5573 or send $16.95 plus $3 shipping and New York State tax (if applicable) to P.O. Box 87, Woodstock, NY 12498.

Homemade Money, by Richard Heede and the staff of Rocky Mountain Institute (Brick House Publishing Co., New Hampshire, 1995). To order call Rocky Mountain Institute, (303) 927-3851; fax (303) 927-3420 or call Brick House Publishing (800) 446-8642.

Kitchens for Cooks, by Deborah Krasner (Viking, New York, 1994); $24.95