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Ergonomic aspects
The kitchen without a doubt is quickly becoming the most used room in the house. It is not only used for cooking and eating; social gatherings always seem to bring people together in the kitchen. For this reason, kitchen planning should be carefully thought out. Aspects such as ergonomics and optimized work flows (distance, time) should be taken into account.
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Bending & kneeling in the kitchen
Ergonomic factors concerning stress on the body play an important role.
Daily activity in the kitchen could be compared to a workout in the gym rather than a pleasant stroll in the park. That's because it involves long distances interspersed with lots of stopping, bending, stretching and kneeling.
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The alternative
Kitchens planned according to DYNAMIC SPACE:- Are easier to work in and create less stress on the body.
- Have shorten paths, freeing up more time for leisure activities
- Are truly functional
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The OWAS method
In order to demonstrate the ergonomic stress on the body during kitchen activities, the OWAS (Ovako Working-Positive Analysis System) method has been employed as a tool.
The colored ergonomic models symbolizes ergonomic stress classes using the following color coding.- Red: very severe stress on the body
- Orange: severe stress
- Yellow: light stress
- Blue: no stress on the body
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Bottom line
The red and orange ergonomic models demonstrate the stresses involved in retrieving items from a base cabinet with doors and shelves in a kneeling and bent position.
The yellow ergonomic model, which is accessing a full extension drawer, shows significantly better posture. The maximum stress level is still only yellow even when removing items from the bottom roll-out. This activity has none of the awkwardness and strain associated with reaching for items from static shelving in a base cabinet.
By planning drawers instead of shelves, you can do away with stressful bending and kneeling. You can easily remove storage items using a natural lifting motion.
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DYNAMIC SPACE
