Development and design of a kitchen solution using Inclusive and Pleasure Design.

Abstract: The largest age group in western society, the baby boomers, was born between 1943 and 1964, considering different definitions for the time span. All these people have an age between 62 and 48 years old. The life expectancy of these people is the highest in history and they will be more and more willing to stay independent as long as possible. The core of independence is being able to provide and take care of oneself. In order to do that, the instruments that surround the person have to be adjusted to the needs of the person and aid as much as possible. This is the report of a Bachelor Degree Project that has the intention to develop a kitchen accessible for all people, both people with full ability and people with limited capabilities, using the inclusive design toolkit. At the same time it has to be appealing enough that people without limited capabilities also enjoy the use of this kitchen, this will be pursued by applying the pleasure design methodology. Apart from the objective to come up with a kitchen concept, attention will be given to study, compare and discuss the relation and compatibility between different methods and design philosophies.   The project resulted in a conceptual kitchen aimed to be suitable for nearly all people. The design was approached through various angles to obtain a broad variety of solutions, which was combined into one kitchen concept, to comply with the demands that a future user may have. The main aspects taken upon are the layout, storage solutions that require minimum effort and a stove and sink solution. The kitchen concept complies with the predetermined requirements set forth in the project specifications. Extra attention was put into the storage methods. Not necessarily in the amount, although most space was taken advantage of, but in the ways the user can use the storage spaces. The stove and sink are located on a height-adjustable platform for maximum comfort and adaptation to the user. The layout was determined according to the space needed for mobility, storage and function.