Accessible Kitchens
Design out Barriers to the disabled
The special considerations for access by the disabled (wheelchair bound) that are built-in to your redesigned kitchen can be many or few. The basics are shown here like providing an open cabinet under the sink, which is lowered, easy opening or sliding doors at kitchen island. It’s simple logic that access to by the disabled requires an accessible design which is differs considerably from the norm, and designed elimination of the common barriers to those in wheelchairs.
New hardware solutions arrive on the market every year and these innovative products serve the disabled well in an assessable kitchen environment. Abai thoroughly researches each and every hardware element in an abai designed assessable access kitchen before integration into the overall plan. The hardware solution is well tested in the field after installation to insure it provides the kind of access and the degree of access expected by the client and required by the disabled person for whom it has been designed.
We like to interview clients for ALL details they wish to include in the design of a new kitchen of a loved one. The design process starts with lots of questions and adherence to the standard accessible access guidelines listed in the AIA and AWI, then an initial drawing is rendered. Detailed discussion ensues, then the kitchen is drawn again including all nuances discussed. After the kitchen is built it is then staged in the shop with it’s actual footprint and elevations, the person in the wheelchair may actually try a mocked-up ‘use’ of the kitchen space. This allows a proof of the design and checking it’s function and performance under real life circumstances.
Style elements and personal details and preferences are then easy to incorporated into this newly evolved ‘accessible to the disabled’ design and a plan to retro fit back to standard kitchen dimensions can be inherent to engineering of the kitchen if the owner whishes.
