Whether you’re a boomer, zoomer, or millennial, you likely can admit that the kitchen is the space that makes or breaks your days at home. When it serves daily household tasks including cooking and cleaning, it must be highly functional, strategically installed, and optimized to help you meet your goals as rapidly as possible and without scars, burns, or other damages. Nevertheless, in those fortunate instances when you’re gathering around the table with friends or family, it becomes the most important room in your home and the space that you always wish you had prepped up better.
A climbing life expectancy rate on the back of an ongoingly improved healthcare system and the progress of modern science have UK people living longer than before. Elders may have spent most of their lives outside their homes, living their lives to the fullest, whether they were inclined to work or party more. When the time to age in place comes and pressures them to spend disturbingly much time indoors, how will their needs be kept in check? You know a grab bar isn’t enough.
Well, we’re offering you the lowdown in the paragraphs below, so read carefully to learn and identify whether your beloved ageing family member does better with a complete makeover or a certain revamp of their kitchen.
Sliding doors
Kitchens get smaller and smaller, and harder to manoeuvre around, which is the last thing someone with decreased mobility needs. This makes space-saving strategies a must in your elders’ kitchens and has many wondering what areas take up considerable space uselessly. The answer you’re looking for is your kitchen’s doors unless it’s designed to be open-plan and doorless or has sliding doors already installed.
Incorporating sliding doors instantly revolutionizes how your elders move around, improving its functionality, efficiency, accessibility, and ergonomics. Maybe one of the leading advantages is that there’s no clearance space needed for the door’s swinging. Whether they’re open or closed, the space taken is negligible. Plus, this space-saving trick allows for more natural light, better soundproofing, nicer aesthetics, seamless interior-exterior flow, and a few other perks that make it a valuable addition to your elders’ overall home.
No handles, no knobs, no stress
With seniors’ ageing comes a range of ailments and aches that make opening doors and grabbing knobs more challenging than ever. Their coordination and mobility decrease as their joints usually deteriorate, transforming the primary task of adjusting the water or pulling cabinet doors consuming. Addressing such unpreventable concerns is sometimes as easy as getting rid of those irritating handles and knobs. Opening and closing cabinets should be a breeze for anyone, and this comfort is one of the main principles behind the low-maintenance and functional design of nowadays’ modern kitchens, besides eliminating the fear of elders accidentally bashing into those futile elements.
These kitchens’ sleek, minimalist profile characteristics help the kitchen maintain a clutter-free look even when your seniors haven’t wiped the doors for weeks. Your beloved elders won’t have to raise a finger to keep them clean since the push-to-open mechanism means no grime, crumbs, grease, or dirt gets collected where there used to be gripping mechanisms. Now, since this trend is downright a godsend for homeowners prioritizing utility and style in an easy-breezy kitchen, how much do you feel like it would level up your home?
More task lighting, more natural light
Can you recall the soothing feeling you get from waking up in full sunshine breaking into your room through the windows or the doors? If so, imagine how much your seniors need this natural element in their homes, especially when it comes to the room where they rush first thing in the morning for coffee and breakfast.
When possible, removing any blockages that obstruct sunlight from flowing into the room must be among the first upgrades you plan for your elders’ kitchen and overall house. However, such adjustment can be a luxury for many since constructions of homes aren’t always built with the thought of sunlight-flooded kitchens in mind. This means you’ll need to shift from a central chandelier in the middle of the kitchen to more lighting fixtures spread across the area and installed strategically. Once you cover this need, ensure your elders have task lighting in place, since this feat is essential for their cooking, cleaning, and other household things unfolded in the kitchen. For newbies, we encourage using under-cabinet lighting to brighten up shadowy areas. This will help elders see dirt more easily, clean it promptly, and prevent the spreading of foodborne illnesses.
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Lighting with specific needs in mind
Task lighting is necessary in elders’ kitchens to ensure increased safety, accidents are prevented, and eyes aren’t strained. But how can you ensure your elders are quickly reaching these switches? You probably can’t, which is why the best thing to do is install control systems on the wall or rocker switches. The latter is flatter and broader, meaning that your elders won’t have to force their hands too much to use them. Ensure these systems are easily accessible from a wheelchair, for you may never know when such power-driven devices could ease your elders’ lives.
Striking a balance of the various lighting alternatives may seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be this way if you start the project with your elders’ current needs in mind and a perspective of the future.
Finally, ensure every little thing is within reach.
Among the primary things that make a kitchen more manageable to use is how accessible essential spots are. If elders must sweat to get their hands on an item and risk losing balance or dropping that thing, then their time spent in the kitchen probably feels like a nightmare most of the time.
Reconfigure the whole kitchen, if needed. Relocate shelves lower so your ageing-in-place won’t risk feeling spasms in their back when reaching for items, yet not too low to have them crouch down. Install dowels to cabinets for streamlined dish stacking. Attach smaller, removable bins on the cabinets so they don’t have to walk long distances to throw something when cooking. Ask them what modifications would help them manoeuvre around the kitchen more effortlessly. Knowing what it feels like to be in their skin gives you the best insights, so it’s safe to say that there’s no better person to help your kitchen prep-up than your seniors themselves.
