If you are a homeowner deciding whether to design or renovate your kitchen to make it more handicapped accessible, I suggest that you read this article. Making changes to your kitchen to add accommodations for handicapped guests, relatives or family members can considerably boost the costs of your kitchen construction project. Since most of us have to make our plans and decisions within a constrained budget it's essential to design your kitchen by keeping both issues in mind, which are convenience and costs. This article describes some of the points you must take into consideration when designing the perfect kitchen in handicapped accessible homes.
If your main objective is to design kitchen area which is friendly to handicapped people, then it is probably compulsory to remove or replace a wall, or to move heavy counters. Also, you must keep sharp edged to a minimum. If your current kitchen design makes you feel like you are restricted with counters and cabinetry, then it is recommended to consider some changes and maybe take some advice from architectural designer. After some essential modification you can easily make your kitchens more similar to the kitchen in handicapped accessible homes.
The counters in a kitchen should be lower so that people who are in wheelchair can feel comfortable. On an average, if we consider the height of an ideal wheelchair armrest then it will be approximately 29 inches. Countertops should be near or about at a height of 32 inches, and should be no higher than 34 inches. We can easily calculate that in approximately 24 inches from the floor we should make indents for handicapped person's knees, so they can feel comfortable and relaxed using kitchen counters. You really must keep these small issues in mind which will be beneficial to design wheelchair friendly spaces.
The kitchen appliances manufacturing industry also offers products with better accessible design. For example, since it's not possible for wheelchair users to reach the top of the refrigerator for kitchen in handicapped accessible homes it's better to use side-by-side refrigerators. In this way they can make best use of all the resources and they will not have to ask for help. All the main objects which are used by handicapped people should be installed keeping in mind their maximum height when in a wheelchair.
Kitchen in handicapped accessible homes must be designed in such way that their users could use them just as a healthy person can. Another important thing we should keep in mind is security. All the electric points should be placed at particular height and that points should be properly wired in order to minimize the risk factors.
Keep all these factors in mind while designing kitchen in handicapped accessible homes and every handicapped person that will use it will be satisfied.
As a architectural designer/builder expert, Ronald Moldenhauer has extensive knowledge in kitchen in handicapped accessible homes. In his articles he covers important information about Handicapped Accessible Homes. To learn more you can visit http://www.barrierfreehomeplans.com/
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