Abstract:

Compared subjective evaluations of the heights of some kitchen facilities and furniture made by older adults in Finland with an expert's opinion of the same heights and with the height recommendations derived from the participants' anthropometric data. Experiments were conducted in a mock-up simulator, with 55 women aged 70-80 performing tasks similar to typical daily living activities at home. The participants included 41 healthy older adults (mean age 74.4) and 14 older adults (mean age 77.1) who needed a cane to move around. The mock-up room consisted of kitchen task surfaces and chairs whose heights were adjustable to various fixed positions. In their subjective assessments the participants rated the 450 millimeter-high chair as the most suitable. The height of the lowest kitchen shelf should not be lower than 300 millimeter, and a work surface height of 850 millimeter seemed preferable for most of the participants.