Yesterday I cooked.
In fact the day before yesterday I cooked as well, because, drum roll please.... we finally have a working kitchen!
Yes, a mere five weeks after moving into our new home it is now possible to prepare and actually cook food, utilising our brand spanking new oven, and our brand spanking new hob. This is something that fills me with more excitement than a healthy, well balanced man should feel over kitchen appliances, and it's also highlighted something else as well.
Inspect a gadget
Before we get into that dear readers I'm sure you'll forgive me for geeking out, just ever so slightly, over how lusciously lovely our admittedly unfinished facilities are. I am, of course a boy. A forty-two year old manchild of a boy, but a boy nonetheless and, as with all boys, I do love a gadget.
The fact then that we have such luxuries as a self cleaning oven, an induction hob (which I believe works on electro-magnetism, that or witchcraft, definitely one of the two), an extractor hood that looks like it came straight out of the Bat-cave; and perhaps least importantly, but most pleasing of all... a pop up plug socket... well these are things that fill me with a possibly unhealthy amount of childish glee.
via GIPHY
Before and After
Of course all of these decadent details are far removed from the kitchen we were faced with when we moved in. I've been asked to supply some before and after photos on the back of a previous post from when we first moved in (see here), and possibly the best way to highlight the difference is to show you...
This. (Yes, that is a bathroom cabinet by the way. No idea why.)
And then... This.
So yeah, as I'm sure you'll agree; biiiig change.
I saw design
Now this post is not here just to brag about how lovely the room is (alright, maybe just a tiny little bit) but also to point out how important design is, especially for a wheelchair user.
The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed that there are cupboards that appear to have been set back from the rest. These are in fact half-cupboards, the same width as the rest but half as deep, and they are there for a very specific reason. You see, the size of the room necessitated a long, thin, galley style kitchen which gives a wheelchair user some challenges, the chief of which is turning round
This is where the recesses come in. Offset as they are, they give me the ability to perform a little three point turn, which occasionally I get right. It's still a tight fit but thanks to the kitchen designer, Cain (who was more than able), and the ingenious Dave who fitted and wired the kitchen in, it is possible to wheel to the oven, remove whatever cremated remains remain, and leave the room to dispose of them without having to employ the reversing camera I'm sadly not equipped with.
Step by Step
All of which goes to show what a huge difference a little bit of thought and some good design can make to a person's life, especially for those of us with disabilities of one stripe or another. I long ago reached the conclusion that this world was not designed for me. Things like high kerbs, narrow aisles in shops and restaurants, lack of leg room in coaches and aeroplanes, and of course the ever present menace that are stairs and steps (oh, to have the Dalek-like ability to EL-E-VATE!) only serve to confirm this.
But here is the annoying thing: it could be so much better. Cain had a wheelchair user in front of him when he put together the layout. I was very much present. The challenge was staring him in the face, so he gave it his due consideration. This is not usually the case however and buildings and public spaces are still, to this day, being designed without enough regard for the disabled. It's getting better, that's for certain, but I'm still firmly of the opinion that any prospective architect or shopfitter should spend a week in a 'chair to see first hand how overlooking small things can cause massive difficulties.
I'm not advocating knocking Britain down wholesale but, especially for new builds and preplanned refurbishments, a little thought goes a long, long way..
Anyway, enough of such deadly serious matters, I'm off to play with my pop up socket.
Until next time...
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