Accessible Kitchens, or, should all kitchens be accessible?

We do quite a few accessible kitchens, and we love doing them. They are useful and important to people, of course, but they are also interesting and fun to do. An accessible project requires good layout and good ergonomics, and a high level of collaboration with the client.

There's a slideshow of some of these projects on our website.  Click here to see it.

Though there are generic standards for accessible kitchens, many of which are based on the Americans with Disabilities Act, we've found that it's much better to develop the design from the actual needs and situation of the people who will use the kitchen. The standard fix only roughly approximates what a real person will want or need; we've worked on some projects where we had to tear out an ADA-compliant kitchen to put in something that would actually allow the real users to use the kitchen.

However, there are some features or concepts that usually will come into play.

1: Drawers in base cabinets. Drawers are more convenient and accessible for most contents and most users, and that particularly applies to anyone with special needs.

2: Lower upper shelves. The standard placement of upper cabinets is actually rather high for convenience. For disabled users, or just for shorter people in general, lower is much better. We place uppers 16” above the counter, or even lower.

3: Counter heights that work. Standard 36” counters are OK for many uses, but don't work for everybody. It's good to tailor counter heights for actual users. For many people, including almost everyone with mobility issues, lower counters should be considered. It can make all the difference. It's often best to provide a variety of working heights in a kitchen.

4: Place to work seated. Early research kitchens always had a place where the cook could work seated. That's still a good idea for anyone, but even more so in an accessible kitchen. Often a knee space at the sink is needed.

5: Good lighting, easy to use faucets, D-pulls that are easy to grasp.

6: Flexibility for the future. People's needs change over time, particularly as they age. A kitchen that's accessible today might not work tomorrow. A good design should be adaptible.

The photos below show the renovated Horton House at Highlander Center in New Market, TN. Click here to read more about this project on our website.

Figure 1, Horton House at Highlander Center, Photo by Charis Horton

Figure 2, Horton House at Highlander Center, Photo by Charis Horton

Figure 3, Horton House at Highlander Center, Photo by Charis Horton

This kitchen was going to be used by a variety of people, so we wanted it flexible. It's fairly standard to look at (figure 1). But to provide a lower work counter, with a kneespace, there's a pullout counter. If a disabled resident was coming for an extended stay, some further adaptations are easily done. The whole cabinet under the pullout rolls out, to create a bigger kneespace. The rollout cabinet becomes a lower counter. (figure 2). There's no kickspace under the sink; the doors can come off their hinges to create a kneespace.

There are other good examples on our website.

But I think there is another important point to be made. It often makes a lot of sense to incorporate some of these ideas in any kitchen. After all, we all age, our needs change. We might be injured at times. Older, shorter, or tired people might want to cook in any kitchen. Sometimes it's nice to sit down to work. We always incorporate some of these features in our kitchens, like the plethora of drawers. But the other stuff should be considered too.