Kitchen for Disability
The Problem
Gillian and Mike contacted us looking for a bespoke kitchen for her and her disabled husband. His wheelchair has damaged the bottom of all their kitchen units and it was looking tired and ready for complete overhaul.
A Kitchen for Independence
We designed a completely bespoke base cupboard which gave Mike freedom to use the kitchen by creating more floor space for him to move around in. Most importantly for him was to be able to make a simple meal and cup of tea when Gillian was out. With this in mind, we designed an area where Mike could sit in and reach the fridge, microwave and utensils without moving position. The microwave was built up to the exact height that Mike needed and there was also a Neff slide and hide oven which made it safe for him to use. Internal pull downs were placed in the wall cupboards, and the dishwasher was raised up for ease of access. He can now make his own breakfast whilst Gillian sits at the table with her morning up of tea.
Hidden Laundry
We used an awkward nook in the room to create a walk in laundry cupboard with her boiler, tumble dryer and space for her laundry baskets. It also blocks out lots of the noise from the boiler making it a more peaceful space.
More Light
We unblocked an existing window, previously covered by their old kitchen, which brought in plenty of light for their new eating area. We also replaced her windows with matching frames. The worksurface by one of the windows was stepped in to allow Gillian to open the windows, something she hasn’t been able to do easily for years.
Kitchen Colours
Gillian wanted a real WOW factor to the kitchen and decided to have large red glass splashbacks behind the units and went for a beech door with white drawers. She used an offcut of worktop to create a window sill for her new unblocked window to tie the room together. The colour scheme was based around some handpainted plates they had picked up in France two years ago, and by using a garden table in the kitchen it gives a real holiday feel to the room. “It used to be so dark in here and now it’s a lovely, we’ve even started cooking again”.
Because many aspects of the kitchen were designed specifically to cater for Mike’s needs, they received a VAT rebate on the specialist furniture.
A similar kitchen would cost around £15K