furnishing and ergonomics

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Furnishing and Ergonomics

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This document evaluates my design of a kitchen for a client with a bad back.

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Furnishing and Ergonomics

Kitchen Report Ergonomic Explanation

The client has asked for their kitchen to be redesigned. The kitchen is housed in an open plan space forming the ground floor of a two story dwelling. The new kitchen is to be located in the same area as the current kitchen, which includes a standard width door and two windows. The client struggles with a bad back and so has trouble bending to reach into base cupboards so cur-rently stores everything on the work surfaces.

As you can see the current kitchen hasn’t been updated for a long time, and looks very dated. The client wants to keep the island although this can be moved. The area under the staircase can be opened up as it is currently unusable, however the radiator will need to be removed and replaced.

Ikea's Faktum base units offers a range of storage solutions within them. For users with back pain, units with shelving can be hard to reach into - especially to the back. By having drawers, the user is able to pull them open and see everything in them, without any difficulty. The drawers come in different depths and units different widths so are suitable for storing different objects. Ikea also do a range of drawer inserts to help organise the drawers.

The Rationell cutlery tray is a shallow, plastic tray that separate cutlery into different compartments. Plate organisers come in a range of different sizes, so are suitable for most plates/bowls/saucepans etc. Stacking these things allows them to be accessed easily and less cluttered.

The units are sat on Ikea’s Capita which are adjustable from 110-210mm. This allows the client to adjust all the units to a height that is suitable for them. This will make it easier to access the units without agitating the user back further.

Standard corner units are hard to access and are often left unused. In the past a carousel mecha-nism has been used to try and solve this problem, however this still leaves a lot of unused space within the cupboard. Instead a kidney shaped, shelving, pull-out mechanism maximises the cupboard space. The bottom shelf automatically comes out when opened, but the top shelf is able to be pulled out if needed. The pull-out mechanism allows the entire shelf to be seen, meaning that the user doesn’t need to overstretch, again agitating their back further.

All cupboard handles will be long, so that the whole hand can open it, without moving the hand out of the natural position. Door knobs can become difficult to grip and could put the hand under strain and cause injury.

In order to reach the high units, a step stool will be provided so that the user isn’t over-stretching and agitating their back. Currently the high cupboards have shelves in them. This may be okay if the cupboards are not used regularly, however, the client may want to add other storage mecha-nisms to the units. Ikea sell a range of units add on such as drawers and pull-out containers.

The high units also house the oven, microwave, fridge and freezer. The oven door will open from right to left instead of straight down. This makes it easier to reach into the oven as you are not hav-ing to over-stretch over the door to reach the back, which puts strain on the lower back. This oven also has a self cleaning mechanism so it shouldn’t need to be cleaned thouraly very often, which should help the client.

As the user suffers from back pain, she finds it difficult to bend into a front loading washing ma-chine. I believe that reaching over and down into a top loading washing machine, especially when uploading it, will put more strain on the back than it would if the user was at the same level as the washing machine. As well as helping the user reach the higher cupboards, a step stool can act as a seat for the user when loading and unloading the washing machine.

In talks with the client, she specified that she’d like a Butler sink as she likes the ceramic finish it has. However, these can be deep and cause the users to have to reach over and down into the basin, putting more strain on the users back. An under mounted ceramic sink, has the same white, ceramic finish as a Butler sink which the client likes, but isn’t as deep. Taps with paddle handles instead of twist knobs will make it easier to turn on and off without having to use excessive grip or move the hand out of the natural position.

Under the stairs, the space is opened up into a seating and storage area. With a bench seat across the area, this snug area, is where the client could sit comfortably or have guests sat there whilst cooking, so that she can still entertain. This bench will be at the right height so that the step stool can be tucked away underneath, so that it is out of the way when not being used, but when it is needed it is easily accessible. Also under this area, should be rollable storage boxes. These would have to be made to specification by a carpenter, however being made from wood and given a rus-tic look, this would be an excellent vegetable storage solution.

The smaller window will be blocked up, in order to allow more high units to be put in, in order to provide the client with the storage they need. This shouldn’t make too much of a difference as it is a small high up window and there is a large window at the front and, double french doors at the back of the house. The larger kitchen window should let in a lot of light which should add to the open plan feeling of the room.

Finishes ExplanationFrom the first client meeting it was clear that the client wanted a bright, light design that’s easily cleaned and maintained. She pointed out that she likes primary colours, especially yellow. Of course, this could change; especially if you had to look at a bright yellow kitchen everyday. Instead, I have incorporated a range of colours within the design in order to keep it bright and colour, and give the user the choice of coloured appliances that could be changeable, without having to change the whole kitchen.

The splash back area will be tiled in a patchwork effect in a range of nine different coloured tiles. These tiles are ceramic and have a gloss effect. Although the client requested a matt finish, if everything had a matt effect, the design could look quite flat. Gloss tiles help to minimise this, as well as reflecting light around the room. The splash back will act as a focal point within the kitchen, being the main source of colour. A sample of these tiles in Teal and Raspberry can be on the client presentation boards.

A neutral colour on the walls will make the room feel light and and open, without detracting or clashing with the brightly coloured tiles. I would recommend that the client uses this colour through-out the entire downstairs space as well as the stairs/hallway. As it is an open plan area, this will give a sense of uniformity throughout the area.

The client specified that she wanted a light, wooden floor in the kitchen. A white wooden floor will make the room feel bright and clean and won’t clash with any of the other woods or colours within the room. Laminate flooring would be better than real wood flooring as its doesn’t mark or dent as easily. It is also easier to clean, and won’t faded when it is mopped. As it is an open plan area, this will give a sense of uniformity throughout the area. A sample can be seen on the client presentation boards.

These red, globe ceiling lights should provide a enough light over the island, the main work space, but not so much that the room is too bright. Being red, these lights fit in with the primary colour scheme that the client requested and are also easily changed should the client wish to change them if she decides to change the colour scheme after a few years. Being glass they are in a finish that the client likes and are easily cleaned, another requirement of the clients.

In keeping with the multi coloured theme running throughout the design, a dim out blind will be made out of bright, striped fabric. As the kitchen isn’t habitable, a black out blind isn’t really necessary. However if the client does wish for one, a thicker lining can be added. To keep continuity throughout the design, the same fabric will be used to upholster a pad to go on the bench seat. A sample of this fabric can been seen on the client presentation boards.

All the kitchen appliances will have Lidingo off-white doors on them creating uniformity across the design. The doors have an off-white, matt finish which the client wanted and are easily wiped cleaned. The oven and the microwave cannot have a door fitted to them, however they are in a stainless steel, metal finish, with a glass ‘window’ in each, which the client mentioned that she liked within the first meeting.

Client EvaluationAfter discussing with the client my idea for a classic style kitchen, she gave the following feedback.

Gillian agreed that an entire yellow kitchen could become over powering and she liked the idea of having a range of primary colours.

When talking to the client, she confirmed that the large front window does let in a lot of light and she liked the position and finish of the globe lighting over the central island.

The client liked the idea of having two separate sinks, and the ceramic finish of the sink I specified. However, she pointed out that there was no drainage board and that this would cause a problem when washing up.

The appliances were in a finish that Gillian liked and she thought that keeping them in the same place as the current appliances are is the best layout. She liked the side opening oven rather than having to lean over the door. She was also very keen on the 5 burner gas hob however, she was unsure about having the knobs on the front, as she thought it would be more confusing than if they were on the side. However, in my opinion it would be just as easy to have them on the front, and the client is just used to having them on the side, although the client is unsure about this.

Having separate recycling bins for different materials appealed to the client, as it has become more common for different materials to be collected separately recently. She liked having it positioned underneath the sink as it is easy to access.

The client liked the idea of having a stool to reach the higher units are really liked the fact that it can be easily tidied away, under the stairs.

After moving the radiator, the client liked the new position. She also liked the idea of the new radia-tor being a design feature.

Having gone against the brief and specifying a black worktop, I explained to the client that finding a wooden worktop that goes with the floor and unit wood colour is difficult and having a black work-top, matches with any current unit or future units.

Changes to the design Taking on board the clients feedback, I propose the following changes to the kitchen design.

The client requires a draining board, which the current specified sink doesn’t provided. In order to keep the current sink, which the client liked, an added on could be bought, such as this one from Ikea’s Ordning range. Instead, this ceramic sink from Homebase, provides the client with a draining board in a ceramic finish, as well as the two sinks she liked.

From looking on suppliers website, for 5 burner gas hobs, it is impossible to find the 5 burners, that the client liked but with the knobs on the side of the burners rather than at the front. The client would need to decided which is more important; 5 burners or having knobs on the side. I would suggest that the client should go with the 5 burner with knobs at the front as this should be rela-tively easy to get use to and gives the clients lots of cooking space, which a 4 burner does not. Ulti-mately this decision is down to the client.

As the client doesn’t like the black worktops originally specified, I would suggest a white, matt worktop. The client has suggested that she likes white, matt finishes, and I would recommend that a white worktop, such as this one from B&Q, would be more aesthetically pleasing than a wooden worktop that wouldn’t match the wooden flooring and units.