How to Update Your Kitchen to Be More Senior-Friendly

The kitchen is the heart of every home, and it is one of the most important rooms in the house for families to gather and enjoy one another’s company. If you are approaching old age and are looking for ways to update your home to be senior-friendly and more manageable, a great place to start is in […]

The kitchen is the heart of every home, and it is one of the most important rooms in the house for families to gather and enjoy one another’s company. If you are approaching old age and are looking for ways to update your home to be senior-friendly and more manageable, a great place to start is in the kitchen. Making minor adjustments to the kitchen will ultimately make a huge difference in the long term, alleviating many potential accidents and risks.

In order to establish positive ageing strategies, the kitchen should be renovated in a way that makes self-care and general day-to-day cooking simple. After all, cooking is one of the main factors in being independent, and most seniors will take pride in being able to prepare their best-loved meals in spite of ageing. Here are several budget-friendly ideas that will make the kitchen more safe and senior-friendly

Make storage easier to access

Start by reassessing the storage and organisation of the kitchen. Make sure all of the daily-use items, like pots, pans, silverware, and dishes, in low cabinets that are easy to reach, even by wheelchair users. You can install ready-made inserts, like lazy Susan trays, slide shelving, and pull-down shelves for enhanced access. It will be safer for seniors to be able to pull shelves down instead of having to bend and search inside a lower cabinet or use a step stool to reach higher shelves.

Use contrasting colours and labels

For seniors who may have limited visibility or symptoms of dementia, using colours and labels will certainly be helpful in the kitchen. To make sure that seniors turn off the oven or stove after usage, colour the knob’s “off” position with a red label or nail polish. This way, seniors will know when the stove or oven is indeed off. You can also utilize coloured tapes or glues to make raised markings on the details and functions of frequently used appliances.

Add a work table

A third idea that can be easily incorporated is adding a table specifically for working in the kitchen. Purchasing a corner wooden table or kitchen island will be helpful for seniors who may have lost a bit of height due to osteoporosis in a kitchen with otherwise tall countertops. Plus, it will enhance the organisation of the kitchen if there is an additional worktop for chopping and preparing meals that is out of the way of the other appliances.

By implementing any of these ideas into your kitchen, you will transform the space into one that is usable, safe, and organised in a way that makes it easy to manage for seniors.