Those of us fortunate enough to avoid mobility concerns can accidentally overlook obstacles for those in a wheelchair.
A simple door opening, cabinet location, or step can prevent someone in a wheelchair from accessing a typical kitchen.
So, how can you make your kitchen wheelchair accessible?
Today we will discuss a few common ways to make a kitchen more wheelchair friendly as well as how to identify what should be modified.
How Do I Make My Kitchen Wheelchair Accessible?
There are a few ways to make a kitchen more wheelchair friendly. The standard most builders and manufacturers use is the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), although residential homes are not required to comply with the ADA.
The ADA guidelines address concerns like doorway width, inclination and declination, and the locations of grab bars and handrails.
When in doubt, answering three basic questions will often illuminate potential problems in need of correction:
- Can the Wheelchair Enter the Kitchen?
- Once in the Kitchen, Can the Wheelchair Reach the Amenities?
- If the Wheelchair Can Reach the Amenities, Can the Rider Reach Them?
Those in a wheelchair need more width, as level a floor as possible, and open spaces under surfaces to move comfortably in a wheelchair accessible kitchen. The dimensions of a normal wheelchair are 26” wide by 42” long, and this is the standard size by which the ADA requirements were designed.
This means if the kitchen design cannot accommodate a wheelchair of this size, it is not considered wheelchair friendly. Clear paths from the front to back of the kitchen are required. In addition, a wheelchair user needs the ability to reverse direction. If a wheelchair cannot perform these maneuvers, the kitchen is not wheelchair accessible.
Doorways
Doorways entering a kitchen should be no less than 30” wide. Ideally, any doorway in a wheelchair friendly home will be 36” wide, like a front or back door. Homes with 36” wide interior doors are very wheelchair friendly, especially bathroom doors. To make a kitchen wheelchair accessible, the occupant must be able to get in, so narrow doorways must be modified.
Inclination/Declination
Elevations in the floor are particularly difficult for those in a wheelchair, especially a manual wheelchair. For this reason, the ADA guidelines require that the floor cannot exceed certain pitches (or angles). For example in a commercial setting, wheelchair ramps cannot rise more than one foot for every 20 feet of length.
In a residential setting, homes are not usually required to be wheelchair accessible, unless the owner wants them to be considered ADA compliant. Sometimes, in retirement communities for example, marketing an ADA compliant home is a premium buyers will invest in.
Cabinet Height and Location
Those in a wheelchair need additional space in front because they are sitting down. As such, the distance from hip to knee must be accounted for when reaching forward.
For example, a kitchen sink usually has a cabinet below it to hide the plumbing. For a wheelchair rider, this puts the sink fixture approximately 24” further away than a person standing.
How to Know if Your Kitchen is Wheelchair Friendly
To modify a kitchen to allow for easier access for someone in a wheelchair, we need to allow passage into the kitchen and make sure the wheelchair can access the facilities. To accomplish this we may need to modify the doorways, floor, and cabinetry.
Wide Doorways
Most doorways into kitchens will be at least 30” wide, but some older homes built before building codes were enforced may have narrow doorways. Narrow doorways can be the most challenging type of ADA modification because the wall containing the doorway may be weight bearing.
Professionals like a structural engineer or building inspector can identify any potential structural support concerns widening the doorway may cause. It’s a great idea to consult with a trained professional before attempting any widening of doorways. Not doing so risks doing structural damage to a home, which may cause more problems than it solves.
Adding Wheelchair Ramps
Most residential homes will not require modification to a structurally sound floor, but those connected to a sunken living room for example, will require a wheelchair ramp.
The passageways between cabinets and appliances must also be kept at least 30” wide, which can be a challenge in structures like mobile homes and tiny houses.
Removing or Modifying Base Cabinets
Base kitchen cabinets are the lower kitchen cabinets at waist level. For reference, the cabinets hanging on the wall are simply called wall cabinets. In a wheelchair friendly kitchen, both may require some amount of modification.
As mentioned earlier, base cabinets can often become an obstacle for someone in a wheelchair because they need the additional 24” in front of them to reach amenities like the sink.
Clear Passage
In many homes – like those with a galley kitchen – the distance between the cabinets and appliances can be narrow.
Generally, building codes require at least 36” between any permanently mounted things in a kitchen, like a refrigerator opposite a kitchen island. This is primarily done to provide passage for furniture and keep open oven doors from contacting a cabinet.
Normally, a 36” passage will allow for most wheelchairs to move forward or backward, but not necessarily turn around. As such, the ADA specifies that a wheelchair path must either allow the rider to continue moving forward and return to the original point, or be wide enough to turn around.
In many small kitchens, this can be a problem because the ADA requires a 60” open area for a wheelchair to turn around. If kitchen tables, detached islands, or other obstacles encroach on this 60” measurement, they must be modified or removed.
Will My Home Lose or Gain Value if I Make the Kitchen Wheelchair Accessible?
Whether your home gains or loses value after making your kitchen wheelchair accessible often relies on the design. For example, many large, elaborate homes have the very same features required to be wheelchair friendly. Stairwells tend to be shallow, stairs tend to be wide (allowing room for a stairlift), and doorways tend to be wide to match the large walls.
So, if these features lend themselves well to the design of the home, a future buyer might never even notice how wheelchair friendly the home is unless you tell them.
Many buyers are purchasing their retirement home, so features like wheelchair accessibility could be very desirable. Empty floor spaces for future wheelchair elevators are also popular for the same reason.
It is possible, however, to take steps that may ease the burden of the wheelchair user, but make the kitchen unattractive for those without disabilities.
For example, a kitchen designed for a person in a wheelchair could have a very spacious area underneath the counter tops, which would require removal or modification of the base cabinets. Wall cabinets might be lowered as well.
Unfortunately, cabinet space can often come at a premium in a small kitchen so future buyers would likely miss the base cabinet’s storage.
As an alternative, small, removable wheelchair ramps can be constructed that allow a wheelchair rider to elevate to waist level with the countertop. Doing so can allow the rider to approach the counter top from the side, as opposed to from the front.
Building For Disabilities
About 12% of Americans are classified as disabled, with approximately 1% being confined to a wheelchair. That means about 10 million people need access to homes with wheelchair amenities like wide doorways and wheelchair ramps.
Since kitchens tend to be the most used room in any home, modifying one to make moving around in a wheelchair easier is never a bad idea.
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