Dear Ageless Design,
My mother lives alone and, because of a stroke, is confined to a wheelchair. Cooking has always been her passion, but now she is having trouble in the kitchen. The counters are too high and everything is out of reach. What can we do to help?

Frustrated Cook

 Dear Frustrated,
You are dealing with two distinct problems. One is creating a kitchen that caters to the new needs of your mother now in a wheelchair and the other is considering how else the stroke has affected her.

Let's start with the basics. Appliances, utensils and food need to be accessible, so it's important to maximize storage. For easy and immediate results, move frequently-used items to lower shelves and cabinets. Stepped shelves that elevate the rear rows, making items stored there easier to see, can be purchased from Hold Everything or cut a 2" x 4" piece of wood to the width of your shelf (and decorate it with contact paper).

Stepped shelves elevate your cabinet's contents, making them easier to find.
To free up premium spaces, hang pots and pans within reach on walls and doors. You can also take advantage of devices such as Lazy Susans and roll-out shelves that will allow your mother to reach everything in a cabinet or on a shelf, even those items in the back. Two sources are Rev-A-Shelf and Rubbermaid, available at a local home improvement center.

You may need to lower your sink and certain counters to make them easier to use from a wheelchair. We recommend that working surfaces be no higher than 32," open below to allow Mom's wheelchair to roll underneath and help her reach items stored on the counter.

Whenever opening spaces below sinks for those in wheelchairs, protect bare knees that might touch sharp objects or hot pipes. Pipe insulation is available as foam rubber cylinders cut lengthwise and designed to fit easily around pipes. It is inexpensive and available at a local home improvement center. Specially designed pipe pads can also be purchased through companies such as Plumberex, Keeney Manufacturing or Truebro.

For local and more immediate help, look in your yellow pages under "Contractors ," "Interior designers" and "Architects" specializing in "accessible" design and construction. Contact local agencies in your area for recommendations.

Photo courtesy of Whirlpool, Inc.

Next let's look at those overhead cabinets. They are problems for everyone, not only those adjusting to a wheelchair. One company that offers devices that lower and raise cabinets and shelving, making their contents more reachable Easy Shelf. Give them a call and request their literature.

The stove is particularly important and potentially tricky. We recommend a smooth cooktop mounted in an accessible counter (open below with easy-to-reach controls in front). Many companies offer these cooktops, so check with local appliance dealers. In addition, make sure the counter next to the cooktop is at the same height (32"), making it easy to slide hot pots off the burner and onto a level surface.

Relocate outlets and switches (for lights, the disposal and fans) to more convenient locations -- such as the front of the cabinets. Any good electrician should be able to do this for you.

You'll also want to protect your mother from spills, especially if your counters make her lap vulnerable to liquids pouring over the front edge. You can do this easily by installing a raised lip or piece of wood molding along the full length at the front edge of the counter.

There are many useful books on making your kitchen more accessible at your library, local book store, or go to http://www.amazon.com and see what they have to offer. Two good books to get you started are Ideas for Making Your Home Accessible by Bettye Garee and The Accessible Housing Design File: Barrier-Free Environments by Ronald Mace.

The second concern is considering the unique needs of someone adjusting to the limitations of a stroke. For example, your mother may be affected more on one side of her body than the other. In this case, a right or left-hand, side-by-side refrigerator would be much easier to use than one that has the freezer on the top or bottom. Items stored in the kitchen may need to be stored where they are easier to reach for someone limited to using their right or left arm. Stroke not only affects one's reach, but also vision, hearing and, of course, mobility. Improvements in lighting and relocation of electrical outlets, switches and telephones may be much appreciated. In fact cordless phones are a wonderful luxury for anyone, much less someone who may fear missing a call because she was unable to reach or get to the phone in time.

Finally, include your mother in all decisions. After all, she is the one using the kitchen and the expert who will know exactly what changes will help her the most.