The kitchen is usually the most important room in your home or apartment…and probably the one with the most barriers to independence!

The Kitchen Work Triangle - Of the three main kitchen work triangle layouts, the U-shaped and L-shaped layouts work best. The galley and island style layouts with the cook-top in the island across from the sink creates a potentially dangerous situation. In order to transfer hot liquid filled containers and pots filled with items such as pasta from the cook-top to the sink, the pot can be accidentally dropped and severe burn injuries sustained.

Energy efficient, high quality, electronic ballast fluorescent ambient and task lighting fixtures are essential for function and safety. Skylights produce great diffused day-lighting. Laminate, granite, and quartz counter-tops look great and are easy to maintain. Tile is a poor choice as the grout is hard to clean and collects mold. Radius all countertop end corners for safety. Provide a 5'x 5' clear open space.

Mount upper cabinets at 13" to 15" above counter-tops. Place the microwave on the counter for ease of use. Select easy to clean and maintain non-slip flooring. Counter-tops should be between 30"- 36" height from the finished floor. Vary the counter heights for ease of use by adults and children.

Lower wall oven height so that middle inner shelf is same height as adjacent counter-top for ease of safe hot food transfer, and Easy to see and use control panel set at 48" maximum height from floor to center of panel. All lower cabinets should have pull-out drawers with full extension heavy duty slides instead of doors and fixed shelves.

Raise the dishwasher 6" to 9" high from finished floor. Sink and cook-top to have a 30" wide x 27"high x 19" deep open space underneath. Use 170 degree hinges on these doors. This accessible open space under sink and cook-top is concealed when doors are closed.

Install easily removable back panel under sink to access concealed plumbing lines. Install anti-scald hot water valve in main hot water line from water heater set at 120 degrees maximum.

A double basin 18 gauge, 6" deep, stainless steel sink with drains offset to the rear works great. The faucet should be an easy to operate single lever type, with a tall spout for large pots and tall pitchers… and with a handy built-in gooseneck attachment with flexible hose.

Provide a finished open access area under cook-top for easy use when seated. Select an easy-to-clean cook-top with large easy to see and use controls in front. Install a high efficiency very quiet 1.5 sones rated exhaust fan unit with control switch mounted in an easy-to-reach location.

Select Energy-Star rated appliances. Provide sufficient countertop work space adjacent to all appliances. Allow food preparation spaces of at least 18” next to refrigerator, and 24” on both sides of sink and dishwasher.