Cohousing-L Mailing List: accessible kitchen counter

[Lynn Nadeau (welcome]

>I also wish we had at least one preparation counter that was low enough to
>be wheelchair accessible. And such a low counter would also be easier for
>children who are helping in the kitchen to reach.

Our center island has an awesome butcher-block-type top we recycled (with 
infinite sanding) from the maple bowling lanes when the bowling alley 
closed here: it even has the pin-setting dark inlays! More relevantly, we 
made one end of it about 6" lower, with cantilevered supports, so a chair 
actually can be put there. But usually it is used -- often-- for mixing 
and kneading jobs that work better, especially for short people, at a low 
counter height. Sometimes a kid uses it, maybe on a stool. In the "rise" 
between the counter heights, we have an electric outlet, which gets used 
for the mixer and Cuisinart. On the sides of the island, underneath the 
counter, we have shelves where we keep the crockpot, blender, rice 
cooker, etc, and pots and pans on the other side, which is across from 
the stove. 

Even in home kitchens, a lower counter area is very useful. Mine is next 
to my fridge, and is where I do all my prep cutting, with the whole top a 
cutting board. 
>
>Oh, by the way, I strongly recommend that every common kitchen have padded
>mats of some sort, especially in the clean-up areas, because standing on
>one's feet while pushing dishes around and scrubbing sinks and counters,
>etc.  can be wearing on the feet and the back when the floor is even a
>little hard.

Our floor has been fine: it's Marmoleum (real cork-based linoleum) on a 
wooden subfloor. Very easy clean up, without any extra mats to clean. So 
many people are involved in clean up here that it's rare that one person 
would be standing at a job for very long. It's common that someone who 
finishes supper early fills and runs the first two trays through the 
countertop dishwasher. They then sit and steam dry. A bit later someone 
else does the next few racks. On a good night there are a dozen people 
cleaning up (and last time I cooked everyone seemed to have somewhere to 
dash off to and I played Cinderella till 830.... but that's rare.)


Lynn Nadeau, RoseWind Cohousing
Port Townsend Washington (Victorian seaport, music, art, nature)
http://www.rosewind.org
http://www.ptguide.com
http://www.ptforpeace.info (very active peace movement here- see our 
photo)

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