I am disabled and in a wheel chair, do you know how i can reach my top cupboard?

Question

I'm am disabled and can't reach my top cupboard. I have no where else to put my food as I am short for space all ready. . I know I can lower my cupboards but i do not want to do that, is there any other options?? like moving cupboards?

Answer 1

There are cupboards that are on bars that elevate the cupboard up and down. http://www.accessible-kitchens.com/autom...

There are also basket like devices that fit inside your cupboards that you pull down similar to the cabinets that pull down.

Answer 2

There are these long metal bars that have three finger like things on one end and they are accesible from the other end, the bar is udjustable to longer heights, you might wann look at that they are really helpful.

Answer 3

Moving cupboards are heavy, expensive and awkward.  They have to move some where.  

There are clamps on the market intended for reaching for food that extend and clamp.  If you are not already getting them, do an eSearch for 'Independent Living'  or 'handicapped accessories' to get catalogs or survey them on line.

  You might consider looking at what you can swap that you can put on the higher shelves to bring the food down.  Plates etc. can be stored in the dishwasher.  Lighter pans can be put on upper shelves and be safer to lower down.  Heavy plates and glass ware can be put below the counters.  Heavy plates can be replaced with unbreakable plastic for everyday use.   Storage racks with handles intended for excessive neatness in cabinets can allow plates and bowls to be stored on the counters and moved with one hand to get them out of the way.

  Most of the storage in our kitchen below the counters is in drawers rather than those stupid deep shelves.  If you have deep shelves, you can buy shallow racks which s***w to the shelves and pull out to give you more reasonable access to stuff in the back so the back doesn't have to be long term storage.

  If you have enough space in the middle of the kitchen, you might buy or have made a cabinet on good (easy to move) wheels that you can push out of the way of where you want to work, but which contains drawers or shelving and the most commonly used stuff.  A 2x2 foot cabinet 36 inches high can have 12 to 14 feet of shelving 1 foot deep and be rolled to the dishwasher and filled with plates, rolled/pushed/pulled to the frig to get out everything for dinner (on top), and/or stocked with all the common spices, flour, etc. used for cooking plus with advanced planning - all the canned and dry goods for a week of meals, so it doesn't go on the high shelves.  If you are thinking of doing a rebuild on your kitchen to provide roll under space to use a counter from your chair, the cabinet could be built to go in the knee space when you wanted the middle of the room empty.  You might also get pull out pantry shelves which give access to the sides.

  There are motorized roller shelves that take the shelves up and over.  Typically they cost a couple of thousand and are about 3 feet wide and 6-8 feet tall, thus taking up a lot of space which would have to be ripped out your current cabinets.  

Answer 4

They have those retractible claws for such problems.  Or you could practice telekinesis.

Answer 5

my grandma has a long arm sort of thing that grips stuff from 3 feet away. i dont know if thats high enough but it might owkr, try looking for one.

Answer 6

Try using a tongs-reach-extender.

Answer 7

Rather than lower your cupboards, how about raising your wheelchair?  There are a few wheelchairs on the market that actually raise the user to standing or near-standing height.  One such device is the iBot, which is based on the same technology as the SegWay to allow the chair to balance on two wheels.

Answer 8

they have those reacher things that has a clamp on the end just for that purpose, and have someone rearrange your cabinets so that your food is on the bottom and stuff you hardly use is on the top.