apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Genius! No more aching back from vegetable chopping!

Whoa - I can't even imagine having to work on such a low countertop. And I'm only 5'6". That *has* to suck - what a great fix!

Oh that would be so nice. Yeah after a day chopping and such I ache. At my mom's when I cook during the holidays I pull the built in cutting boards out and put them on top of counter top. This moves the surface up about 6 inches and while it isn't enough it is a huge difference. At my apartment I always put my cutting boards up. It is never enough, I might consider something like this. It sure would make things easier. (I'm 6'2" but my counters are a little bit taller than standard. Yay)

I'm 5'8" and my back hurts working on a standard height counter top & washing dishes in a standard height sink. I'm sure it's really terrible for the truly tall!

I have the shorter board in the photo (it is 6.5" which works out very well for my height). These are very solid and are also useful where there may be a couple of mixed heights. My wife is ok with the standard 36" counter, but I'm not.

They can be made in any size ... so if you need a 5" or 9" or 15.5" working surface, they can do it for you. The legged varieties probably can be made to work for cooks starting at 5'9 or 5'10 ... everyone has different proportions, but you can measure yourself and find out.

Oh - these are really beautiful. They are solid hardwood and the photos don't do them justice. One of my best kitchen purchases ever!

As a 6'5" guy I absolutely applaud these cutting boards and will definitely be making my own (since I'm also a poor guy).

I may not be tall but I think this is brilliant for those who are. Love it!!!

I can't imagine needing one of these, I'm 5'2". I have little to no leverage on a standard countertop making it difficult to chop of mix. Unfortunately there is no way to lower a countertop. Tall people should be glad that at least they have an option for raising the height of the counter when needed.

Is that countertop designed for someone in a wheel chair? I think that is the first problem - the countertop height, not the height of the person. The second problem is the posture of the person posing (and doesn't seem to be actually cutting anything.) Third, the height of the booster cutting board is WAY too high. As caeebe mentioned, there would be no leverage at elbow height. Fourth, imagine the food (if you're actually cutting, and not just posing) falling onto the counter from the booster. Not a good idea.

On the other end of the spectrum: When my grandparents were planning their move to their retirement home, my grandmother, who was 4'11" in heels, had the kitchen lowered -- all counters a few inches lower than standard height, and all upper cabinets starting and ending a few inches lower, too. They lived there for around 20 years, and it made her life a lot more comfortable.

Caeebe, would a small and very portable stepstool help you, maybe one you could just kick to wherever you needed to be? Still a pain to have to move it to any spot you need to be in in the kitchen, but if you'll be in one spot for any length of time, it could be quite a boon.

If you're feeling really ambitious, you could build (or have built) a low step/riser in front of all your counters, to cover some or all of the kickplate area on the lower cabinets and give you a higher place to stand.

caeebe: try a half-apple-box: http://tinyurl.com/yja3cqn

@krunkinator - I don't think the cabs are extra-short. I think Colleen is extra tall (6 foot 6 inches to be precise). I have a friend who is that tall, and he looks just the same in front of his standard-height cabinets.

to krunkinator

Colleen, the young woman in the photo, is really tall - 6'6 without shoes. Those are normal 36" countertops as you'll find in most kitchens. The height chosen is from the results of numerous ergonomic studies. I have a shorter one to match my 6'1 height and the relief over not using one is large. Both of us get good leverage - the surface is about 4" below elbow level.

to caeebe

I've been in a kitchen with nice risers for a cook who was about 5'0. They much more stable than the stool she had been using.

krunkinator, she explains on her blog that the counters are the standard 36" high. They look so low because she's very very tall. It seems like she's comfortable with the cutting board height. I think this is an excellent idea! I don't need it myself, but it is perfect for those who do.

Bathroom countertops, which are often lower than 36", have always bothered me. When we redid our bathroom, we used a kitchen cabinet for the vanity so that it would be at a better height. It is so much easier to wash your face at that height!

Faith: My 5'2" mom has a wood "step" in front of the stove / main prep area that is about 36" wide by a few inches tall. It is made of pretty wood and actually looks nice in her kitchen. Unfortunately I have no idea where she got it or if the landlord made it for her... will have to ask next time I talk to her!

An excellent idea for tall people! I'm not that tall (5'8") but my back does hurt if I work in the kitchen for too long, since the counters, stove, and sink are too low for me.

As for the short people, you have an easy fix too! My mother is short, so she uses a simple step stool.

Sure, 6'-6" is tall, but not freakish. Common, I'm 6'-3", and don't have an issue whatsoever. If she likes it, that's fine, but I don't think it's the dream-solution you make it out to be. (I'd bet money the counters are not 36" inches. Look, there scant gap between the floor & the cabinet.) The height of her booster board is still way to high, regardless of her height or her counter height. And I'm not sure how safe it is to put a cutting surface on stilts. BAD IDEA.

Be careful with step stools! I am 5'1" and I used to use a step stool. I fell off it several times...I am grateful I never did so while holding boiling water or a sharp knife, but I am sure an accident would happen eventually.

I personally don't have much of a problem with the countertops, unless I am doing something that requires a lot of downwards force. If that's the case, I will go [knead dough, whatever] on my kitchen table, which is a few inches lower than the counter.

(By fell off it, I mean that I stepped off it without remembering I was raised and therefore tripped.)

all this is lovely but shouldn't we rethink the standards from the 50's when the average height was far less than it is today? i, for one, will build my dream kitchen to MY specifications, and not those from some nebulous ergonomic study for a mythical 5'4" population. if you fit into that size range, good for you, but both my husband and i are 5'10" and we cook a lot.

And, when the contractor gives you the bill for your entirely custom-built kitchen, get back to us on how that plan works out for you.

@ krunkinator if you watch the video she measures her counter top with a meter stick on camera. It is just under 36". I thought that was weird at first, but I guess it does help people understand just how tall 6"6 and that the image is an accurate representation of an average kitchen.

Just watched the video of her sawing through an onion. Maybe someone should tell her that if she's trying to pass herself off as someone who spends time in a kitchen,, she should turn around her knife block (so that it faces her,) learn how to hold a knife, quit sawing the onion, and not call her motion a "chop."

I'm 5'11" and a standard counter/sink IS a pain in the back/neck. This may be the reason (excuse) for not washing dishes everyday. It's a huge pain.

If 36" cabinets are optimal for 5'4" people, then cutting with your elbows at a 90 degree angle, as in the second picture, is right. I'm 5'4", and my elbows have to be at a 90 degree angle at the counter. I'd be much more comfortable if the counter were a couple of inches shorter. Though I also prefer a deep sink, which is supposedly better for tall people. So maybe it's just that my arms are long for my height.

To those of you who say your back hurts from washing dishes or chopping... Professional kitchens aren't built any taller than normal kitchens, even though I'm sure the majority of people who work in them are taller than 5'6". What they do have are anti-fatigue mats. Your back will hurt no matter what you're doing, no matter how tall you are, if you stand on your feet for a long time. (You see those mats at the grocery store cashier stations as well.)

The Polish Chick wrote:

"all this is lovely but shouldn't we rethink the standards from the 50's when the average height was far less than it is today?"

These standards were also introduced when women were in the kitchen more often than men. Come to think of it, they still are. I'm not sure what the stats are for the US but the average woman hasn't grown very much taller since then.

http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2007/SimasCeckauskas.shtml

This is a great idea. I am 5'10" and the worst is doing dishes. I wish there was a way to raise the damn sink. By the time I'm done I feel absolutely hobbled. And bathroom sinks, fie.

That's such a good idea. I'm 5'5" but my partner is 6'4" so this would be a great option to suit both of us.

The sink and drainer in our rented kitchen were lowered for the previous owners and I get back-ache all the time (I'm only 5'7") so I can't wait to get back to a house with real-sized counters. We're hoping to buy the house but we'll have to rip out the kitchen and replace it. Unfortunately the window behind the sink is also lowered so that's a huge task.

Beware of lowering your counters unless you plan to be there a good long time since I would imagine the sale value would be lowered if the next purchaser has to put in a whole new kitchen.

I am having the opposite problem in my new apartment! We didn't really notice until moving in that the cabinets and counters in the kitchen were much higher than normal. My partner is 6'0" and I am 5'9", and we both have to use a step stool just to get dishes from the cabinets. I stand on the tip of my toes to do the dishes! But I guess I'd rather have them too high than too low.

When we get around to buying a place, we're having 'tall' work-surfaces in the kitchen, and I don't care how much it costs.

I'm 5'9", doing the washing up makes my back hurt (and it's not just from the standing - I can stand & cook for longer than I spend washing up and not wind up feeling completely broken), but I do it all because my fiance is 6'6", and washing up REALLY makes his back hurt. The quid pro quo is that he cleans the toilet because he can't smell it at all.

The average height has increased, the average height of people likely to be in the kitchen has also increased (since more men are more likely to be in there now, rather than it being a women-only zone), and all salesmen who assure you "but it's ergonomically designed!" thinking that this means you should love it regardless of your size, and not actually understanding what "ergonomically designed" means should be made to do all of my washing up for a month. So there!

Having lived in a lot of different places throughout my life, all with standard height counters (leading to lots of backache in my slightly taller than avg frame), the easiest kitchens to work in had a wall mounted faucet, rather than deck mounted. The wall mounted faucets were always a little higher, which meant, even though the sink itself was at a standard height/depth, I could stand up taller for washing dishes, rinsing veg, etc. It's surprising how much difference it made.

We're saving up for a kitchen reno, and though it will have to be modest in scale (thus making custom height counters unlikely), I definitely plan to do a wall mounted or tall, gooseneck style faucet to help save our backs.

I find it hard to believe that the standard counter height is 36". I'd go check, but I'm not sure where my husband put the yard stick and I'm on crutches, not especially mobile at the moment. I've only ever had or worked in one kitchen with counters I'd believe were that height--a very old cottage--and even though I'm 5' 5", it killed my back to stand working at those counters for more than five minutes. Possibly, that counter was even shorter than 36".

It turns out the average height for women in the US has not increased since the 50s - even adjusting for immigration - it is still a bit over 5'4.

The 36" standard dates to the housing projects that sprung following WWII. The builders needed mass produced cabinets and the question of size came up. It was noticed the average woman (heaven forbid a man should work in the kitchen!) was comfortable with a 36" countertop and that stuck. No careful ergonomic measurements were made at the time, but subsequent work has shown that most adults in the 5'4 to 5'5 range find the three foot high countertops close to ideal.

Careful measurements have been made for many activities and most standing kitchen work as the surface about four inches below the elbow.

It is amazing how many things just doesn't fit. I'm about 3.5" taller than average at 6'1, but many things designed for average males don't fit and items, like countertops, that are for the average female can be dangerously uncomfortable.

A really interesting question is what do you do if you are much below 5'4. I'm checking to see if ergonomic work has been done for people who are much below that size. The 4 inch "rule" probably should work for someone who is about 4'10 or so, but less than that I don't have a clue.

I've had mine for three months and can give an updated report. Working standing upright with good posture turns out to be worth the expense. I found myself helping out in another kitchen recently and really started noticing my back after about twenty minutes.

The unit is very solid and rugged. There are little plastic feet that stick out maybe a quarter inch on the bottom of the feet to protect your counter. Mine aren't showing any wear and I suspect they'll last for many years.

The working surface has been re-oiled with mineral oil a few times and is still in excellent shape. I suspect it will be at least five years before it is time to sand it.

Our kitchen is small and the 18x18 surface works well. If we had more space I'd probably go for a wider model and use it more like a countertop surface like Colleen does - I think hers is 24x18 inches. You can go as large as you like.

One thing I didn't expect was how we store stuff under it. The space on our countertop is actually slightly expanded as a result.