Interviewing Pauline Ng, Chief Editor of we60.com
Stepping into Pauline’s newly renovated home, my first perception was that it looked spacious. It is mainly because it has a wide corridor and an open kitchen.
Small but fully equipped
The kitchen has taken a U-shape design. From right to left, one can see first of all a tall cabinet which stores away large items like iron board, vacuum cleaner, etc. Then there is an inbuilt refrigerator and freezer, microwave oven, steamer oven, dishwasher, gas stove, induction cooker, a range hood above the stoves, washing basin, and finally a washer dryer combo.
Above or below these appliances, every usable space has been turned into a storage area – drawers for cutlery, bowls and plates, mugs and saucers, racks for pots and pans, seasonings, and anything you can name of. Linking the appliances are two kitchen workbenches. “Small but fully equipped” is certainly a suitable phrase to describe the kitchen.
Height of the workbenches
Pauline mentioned that the greatest challenge in designing the kitchen was the height of the workbenches, basin, and cooking stove. If tailored-made for the wheelchair-bound, the height has to be lowered by 4-5 inches. However, this would be a bit low for those who do not use wheelchair and thus would affect the back. Pauline explored different designs including adjustable cupboards and workbench, the heights of which can be adjusted electronically. However, she found the quality of such products currently available in the market not good enough and they usually take up a lot of space. As a result, she decided to keep the normal height for the work top to align with the height of the washing machine and dishwasher, but she also allowed sufficient flexibility for the other storage units so that they could be modified easily when the need arises in future. Pauline named her current kitchen “Area-60” (i.e. an area suitable for those who are around 60 years of age) and hoped that more designs on kitchen would be coming onto the market in the days to come.
When Pauline was preparing the afternoon tea for us, I found that she moved from one side of the kitchen to the other with great ease, just a few steps in-between different tasks, like washing dishes, boiling water, all at a height not too high for her. In Hong Kong, the kitchen workbench is usually quite high in order to fit the height of washing machine, making it necessary to also adjust the height of the cooking stove and basin upward. If manufacturers of electrical appliances can take this into account and provide designs with lower heights for their appliances, universal design can become a realizable dream in the near future.
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