4 Questions to Ask Yourself When Crafting a Universal Kitchen
When crafting your dream kitchen, you may be concerned with the color of the walls complementing the trim. You’re focused on having all your appliances in a sparkling new chrome polish. Or you are more concerned with the amount of upper cabinet space you have. Yet, we often don’t consider what makes a kitchen an open space for anybody to explore. Or a more selfish reason, for you to grow into with age.
Figure 1: Grand Series Single Handle Pull-Down Kitchen Faucet Polished Chrome
SKU: 191-6600
In this modern age, we are often more concerned with the now, such as our wants and the weekly trends we follow. When crafting a universal kitchen, you must put aside those fleeting desires to determine what can truly serve you and others. Only then will you have a space that can age perfectly with you and accommodate those around you.
If you are unfamiliar with a universal kitchen, it’s just providing an accessible kitchen. Now, before clicking away because “this doesn’t pertain to me” think about accessibility in this way: everyone will need accessibility in their space one day. This can be due to simply getting older, possessing, or developing a cognitive dysfunction, or experiencing a traumatic accident. If you think an accident or developing something like that could never occur to you, so did others who have experienced it. This means that creating an accessible space is essential to everyone. Regardless of whether you need accessibility now or in forty years.
To discover how to craft a universal kitchen keep reading to discover the four key factors you should keep in mind when creating an accessible space in your kitchen.
Four Key Questions to Consider.
Figure 2
If you are an able-bodied person, it may be hard to consider what makes a space accessible. Especially considering that most interactions we get with accessible designs are in handicapped bathrooms or wheelchair ramps. To help you understand how to make a used space accessible, review these questions below.
- Equitable Usage
- How useful and marketable is a product designed for people of varying abilities?
- Example: Countertops that lower or lengthen based on an individual’s needs.
- How useful and marketable is a product designed for people of varying abilities?
- Flexibility in Usage
- Could this product design be beneficial and practical to people of varying abilities?
- Example: Kitchen scissors that can be utilized by left or right-handed people.
- Could this product design be beneficial and practical to people of varying abilities?
- Low Physical Effort
- Are these products’ designs easy to understand regardless of the user’s experience or knowledge?
- Does it require minimal fatigue to operate?
- Example: An automatic can opener.
- Room for Error
- Does the product design try to minimize potential hazards?
- Example: No protruding objects from the wall that may be difficult for someone with a visual impairment to detect.
- Does the product design try to minimize potential hazards?
Now We’re Cooking!
Using these questions as a guide can help you to create an accessible space no matter what you or others need! To learn more about the products that go into crafting an accessible kitchen be on the lookout for our next article “6 Tricks for Crafting a Universal Kitchen”.
If you have a CMI product and feel as though these tips haven’t helped resolve your issue, look to the Troubleshooting section of your product’s Installation Instructions. This section gives you some key problems that may occur, the cause of them, and the proper actions to take to fix them.
If you want or need personal assistance, our Customer Support Team is available for help from 8:00 am – 5:00 pm EST Monday through Friday. Our support team specializes in assisting customers with their product issues and directing them on how to fix them. You can call 1.800.626.3525 to receive help on the phone. Be sure to have the date of purchase from your receipt, the product SKU number, the product number, and the date code ready. You’ll be able to find the product’s SKU number, product number, and date code on the customer service tag. This is in different places depending on your CMI product. On kitchen faucets, it is located on the supply tubes. For lavatory faucets, it is located on the lock nuts. For tub and shower faucets, it is located on the escutcheon plate.
Having this information ready allows our Support Team to effectively help you and understand exactly what products and problems they are dealing with. If you’re not a fan of the phone, there are other options for assistance! For online assistance, email Help@cmiproduct.com to receive live, online help.
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FOR FURTHER INQUIRIES, CONTACT US!
Phone: 1.800.626.3525
Email: Help@cmiproduct.com
Citations
Fig. 1
CMI product. “Grand Series Single Handle Pull-Down Kitchen Faucet.” https://www.cmiproduct.com/product/191-6600-grand-single-handle-pull-down-kitchen-faucet/
Fig. 2
Iconicbestiary. “Questioning People Men, Women in Doubt Thinking.” stock.adobe, https://stock.adobe.com/search?filters%5Bcontent_type%3Aphoto%5D=1&filters%5Bcontent_type%3Aillustration%5D=1&filters%5Bcontent_type%3Azip_vector%5D=1&filters%5Bcontent_type%3Avideo%5D=1&filters%5Bcontent_type%3Atemplate%5D=1&filters%5Bcontent_type%3A3d%5D=1&filters%5Bcontent_type%3Aimage%5D=1&order=relevance&safe_search=1&k=thinking&search_page=1&search_type=usertyped&acp=&aco=thinking&get_facets=0&asset_id=461251907