Electrolux Silver Generation Project

Team:     DIY (Terrence Teo, Kong Wen Da, Chong Hock Liang Nicholas, Chua Li Ping, Jasmine) 

School:   Temasek Polytechnic

Kitchen workstation: helping the silver generation navigate the kitchen, and using innovative gliding panels to maximize space usage

Summary

Kitchen workstation helps reduce movement required in the kitchen by providing key functions on panels that glide around the top of the kitchen work space.  An upward facing oven lid provides easy access and viewing of cooking food. The workstation is very easy to clean, designed for all spilled fluids to flow into a special drain.

Objective

DIY’s objective was designing a kitchen workstation that helps >60 consumers produce a broad variety of food in even the tightest of kitchens.  What’s more, the workstation had to be aesthetically pleasing.

The Problem

Siew Yee is a very pragmatic and well organized lady over 60.  She regularly cooks simple meals for her husband and two grown up children, and enjoys experimenting with recipes.  As she has grown older, it is increasingly difficult to move around her small kitchen, performing tasks such as carrying trays and pots, and bending over to reach into cabinets.  Cooking, one of her great joys, is becoming very strenuous.

The Solution: Kitchen workstation

The Kitchen workstation has five main components: 1.organic waste bin, 2. basin, 3. Oven, 4. Worktop, 5. Induction cooker.  The worktop and induction cooker can glide around on top of the 3 other portions.  Users have the option of arranging the workstation with only those functions they need.  Minimal movement is required, with the oven lid facing upwards.  The sliding and operating controls are designed to enhance the user’s work flow.

Benefits for the Silver Generation

Older people tend to live in smaller homes with less kitchen space. What’s more, their ability to move around, carry things, and bend over is impaired. Kitchen Station addresses the issue of smaller flats and decreased mobility.

• Accessibility: Having all functions on one countertop means users do not need to move around as much, performing tasks such as bending over or carrying things from place to place.  
• Size: Kitchen workstation’s compact size is ideal for older people, who often downsize to smaller homes when their children move out.
• Worktop: The worktop surface is slightly depressed to allow liquid to flow easily into the organic waste bin. The lid below the worktop sits just below the worktop surface for easy disposal.
• Elevated oven: The oven is elevated to simplify access. An airflow makes the oven surfaces cool when elevating to avoid burning accidents.
• Aesthetic appeal: The Kitchen Workstation’s elegant design means that it looks good in the kitchen, but could even be placed in the living room.

Siew Yee (the target consumer) and Kitchen Workstation

Kitchen workstation helps Siew Yee prepare meals for her family with the minimum amount of movement in her small kitchen.  The workstation’s innovative gliding system means all the cooking appliances she needs are easily within reach, which helps her experiment with new dishes for her loved ones.

The workstation’s glide feature makes it much easier for Siew Yee to store her utensils.  It also maximizes Siew Yee’s kitchen space by combining more functions into one appliance.