In our home, the kitchen belongs to Aadam — and it always has. After his spinal cord injury, one of the things he missed most was being the family cook. So, once he had reached the point in his rehabilitation that it was safe to do so, Aadam wanted to get back into the kitchen. As a first step, we created an accessible mini-kitchen, where he could practice his skills and begin cooking independently. Even now, though he has taken full control of the kitchen again, this is still his favorite spot to prep food.
To create the wheelchair-friendly cooking space, Brooke started with a desk, which offers great clearance for a wheelchair, paired with a rolling cart. She added tools that Aadam could use safely, including a toaster, single-cup coffee maker, and an air-fryer! Realizing that our air-fryer is essentially a small oven was a game changer (#lifehack!). We also have a microwave in the main part of the kitchen that he can reach. He could heat up frozen meals, make bacon (soooooo much bacon!), and basically take over his lunchtime meal prep on his own. The air-fryer was a game changer in our quest to make sure that Aadam could cook independently.
A few of the products we found helpful as we worked to adapt our kitchen for use by a quadriplegic.
- OXO Good Grips 3.0 qt Cookie Jar (great for small snacks)
- OXO Good Grips Flexible Scoop (great for the cookie jar above)
- OXO Good Grips 2-cup Angled Measuring Cup (1 or cups is a nice size for someone with low hand strength
- KitchenAid 4 slice Toaster
- Chefman 6.3 Quart Digital AirFryer
- Keurig K-Mini Single Cup Coffee Maker
- Grippy Jar Opener (we had a white one, but this might be easier to find in a drawer)
- OXO Good Grips Grate and Slice set
- OXO Good Grips Bag Clips
- OXO Good Grips Cutting Boards
- OXO Good Grips Soap Dispensing Dish Brush (if he can cook, he can clean a dish!)
- OXO Good Grips Ground Meat Chopper
- Prep Solutions Heat Resistant Mat (for pulling hot things out of the microwave)
- Dyson V7 Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner (Quadriplegic life is messy. This is, by far, one of my best purchases)
- Rolling Kitchen cart
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