A Gina Makes field guide

Cook the food you actually want to eat — from your chair.

A research-backed, plain-language guide to working in a standard, non-adapted kitchen as a manual wheelchair user. No remodel required.

Start with kitchen setup About this guide

Overhead view of a person in a wheelchair prepping herbs on a wooden board that sits across an open kitchen drawer.

What this is

Kitchens weren't designed for us. That doesn't mean they don't work.

Most kitchens are built to ADA counter heights of 34 inches maximum for a fixed accessible work surface, with adjustable counters ranging 29–36 inches — but the vast majority of American kitchens don't meet that standard. This guide is for cooks working with what's already there: standard-height counters, a range with rear controls, a wall oven or freestanding stove, a fridge with a freezer on top.

01 — Foundation Kitchen setup Turn a drawer into a lap-height prep surface. Rearrange for reach. Where a rolling cart earns its keep. 02 — Cooking Stovetop & oven Angled mirror, front burner, long tongs. Why induction changes everything. Side-hinged ovens. 03 — Technique Prep & reach One-handed prep alternatives, non-slip everything, a pizza wheel is a knife, and reachers that actually grip. 04 — Gear Toolkit The 22 tools OTs and wheelchair-using cooks recommend most, with what each one solves. 05 — Safety Fire & burn safety Wheelchair-specific fire response from the FEW program at University of Illinois — the only such curriculum in the country. 06 — Rhythm Meal planning Energy conservation, batch cooking, and the low-spoon strategies clinicians teach. 07 — After Cleanup & sink Shallow-basin strategies, sink caddies, and dish-drying without lifting a wet stack. 08 — Before Groceries & storage Shopping, unloading, and where to store what — so the things you use daily aren't the ones you can't reach. 09 — Fixes Troubleshooting Real problems, tested fixes: dropped everything, tight galley, no lower cabinets, hand fatigue. 10 — Backing About & sources Who wrote this, what it isn't, and every source cited across the guide.

Grounded in

Occupational therapy research and disabled cooks who've been doing this for years.

Every recommendation here is either sourced from a named clinician, an ADA/accessibility code, or the lived experience of a wheelchair-using cook writing publicly about their own kitchen. No "AI-generated tips."

34"

ADA maximum height for a fixed accessible kitchen work surface (865 mm)

29–36"

Adjustable-counter range in ADA §804.3 (735–915 mm)

40"

Minimum clearance for a wheelchair-accessible pass-through kitchen

60"

Minimum clearance for a U-shaped accessible kitchen

Source: U.S. Access Board — 2010 ADA Standards, Chapter 8: Special Rooms, Spaces, and Elements (§804).

"When you use a wheelchair, as both my wife and I do, cooking can be challenging. One thing that works for me is to make a surface that I can wheel under for cutting, mixing and doing other prepping of ingredients." — New Mobility, "My Three-Step Plan for Happy, Accessible Cooking"