Accessible Kitchen Tools and Devices

These websites are just some among the many that specialize in cooking products for people with disabilities.

For cooks with any disability (general tools):

• The Wright Stuff also offers generally adaptive kitchen tools.
• Allegro Medical has a list of cooking aids.
• Disabled World has gives descriptions about and links to different kitchen aids, such as jar and bottle openers and easy-to-use utensils.
• Independent Living Aids, LLC offers cooking accessories, baking gadgets, and multi-purpose items.
• The blog post from Apostrophe Magazine entitled “Not Your Grandma’s Kitchen” has information on adaptability in the kitchen for people with a wide range of disabilities.
• There are many videos on Youtube that can be useful for cooks with disabilities, such as this one that shows an adaptive cooking class.
• The University of Washington’s SCI Forum features a video and long list of tips and tools for cooks with spinal cord injuries.
• “The Kitchn,” details good strategies and tools for cooking with a physical disability.
• “The Disabled Foodie” rates restaurants in NYC and beyond in terms of accessibility.
• “Crip Confessions” has a section on cooking entitled “A Taste of My #Crip Cooking,” in which the blogger offers fun commentary and several tips about accessible cooking and recipes.
• Our resident kitchen safety whiz recommends using a food processor for shredding and slicing jobs. It is much safer than handling knives and will evenly cut your food, which is imperative for cooking anything.
• For cooks who experience discomfort from standing for long periods of time, he also recommends investing in a “chef’s mat,” which is a soft, rubbery mat that can be moved around wherever you’re working. It’s a joint-saver, back-saver, and knee-saver and also easy to clean.

For one-handed cooks:

• The Wright Stuff also offers equipment for people who cook one-handed.
• This video on Youtube shows a woman who has injured her wrist and uses one hand and some adaptive tools to navigate the kitchen.
• The Children’s Hemiplegia and Stroke Association (CHASA) website includes a portion on adaptive tools.
• Blog-writer, Marcelle had a stroke, uses one hand for cooking, and shares information about accessibility in the kitchen and adaptive cooking utensils. Visit her blog, Up Stroke, to learn more.
• On a site called Engineering at Home, a woman named Cindy shares the adaptive tools that help her live an independent life, even with limited dexterity in both her hands.

For cooks who are blind or low-vision:

• Cooking in the Dark is an ACB radio show with two blind hosts who cook a meal or two per show.
• Blind Mice Mart is an online resource for kitchen tools specifically designed for cooks with visual impairments; one of the hosts on Cooking in the Dark uses this resource often.
• Braille Bookstore is another online resource where you can find kitchen tools specifically designed for cooks with visual impairments.
• This NPR article is about Christina Ha, a blind contestant on the show “MasterChef.” In this BBC article, she offers her own tips for navigating the kitchen while blind.
• The National Federation for the Blind offers a document entitled “Suggestions for the Blind Cook.”
• Perkins Scout has a website with several links about making the kitchen accessible and safe for people who are blind.
• Infinitec.org gives readers a long list of kitchen devices that are helpful for people with disabilities, including some devices that are particularly helpful for blind and low-vision people.
• The North Carolina Rehabilitation Center for the Blind has a helpful list of adaptive tools via googledocs.
• Foodie4Access has an article about the show “Cooking for the Blind,” and here is a link to a video of episode number six of the show itself.