Yes, a proper toe kick size is one of many details that should be oncorporated into a barrier free home. What are the "mamy universal design features" you are incorporating into your house's design?

I live in a retirement area and don't know anyone in a wheelchair. Most people go from being able bodied to being dead, and a few use a cane/walker in between.

The main thing we did was minimize any steps. We only have one step from garage to house and one step from driveway to front porch. We also did large curb-less roll-in showers.

The 9" toe kick reduces base cabinet space, but it also makes it easier for an ambulatory person who has some issues bending over to reach the bottom shelf. But you have to make up storage somewhere else. A client of mine just bought a fully accessible unit designed for a wheelchair bound person (who had been a friend of hers), and it is a bit lacking in kitchen storage space, and also has no conventional oven. (Which is one of the things we are working on). It has a combination of regular height and dropped height counters (which also reduces base cabinetry storage. (This client will probably end up using wheel chair but being able to transfer and take a few steps on her own or with a walker/cane.) My mother was able to walk a little bit, walk with a wheeled walker etc. most of the time, but also used a wheelchair sometimes, outside the house. When she was no longer able to walk and needed a wheelchair, she was no longer able to live at home anyway. She was able to live at home for years, with almost no universal design features but she was also not able to get anything out of the lowest part of base cabinets or above the first shelf of the upper cabinets.

I appreciate the comments. We are planning the usual things like making doorways wider. Levers instead of knows. Switches/outlets at lower/higher positions. Little or no steps, on one floor. Barrier free shower. One bathroom will be built with the 5 ft turning radius and the other could be easily achive it if needed.

I'm really aiming for the home to be walker friendly. My mom used a walker for many years and I remember all the little things that helped and those things that were frustrating.

Doing all drawers. The kitchens sinks (2) will have doors that open and side in. No base. That could accommodate someone on a seated walker or a wheelchair. Doing that for the style (1920s vibe) but it naturally makes the sinks more accessible

Just wondering about the cabinet toe kicks. I've read that it really doesn't help with access but helps not having your cabinets destroyed by constant foot rest collisions.

You never know. I think maybe by the time we may need wheelchairs we won't be cooking anymore or even able to live independently but also know people who went from being well and active to a wheelchair in an instant.

If you could cut down the sides of some of the drawers I think that would be helpful. My mother could not lift stacks of things like bowls out of deep drawers from the top but she could use her hands and arms to slide out a stack from the side.

If you are in a wheelchair or a rollator, you are sitting down and the countertop will be at about chest level. It will be hard to set something in the sink.

There are so many ways your old age can treat you, it is hard to predict. It treated each of my parents very differently.

Borrow or rent a wheelchair and live in it for a day or longer in your existing home. Make note of the experience and the things that could not be done or difficult to do.

My dad had their 1970 house designed to be mobility-impaired-friendly, especially to accommodate his mother who lived nearby. What he didn’t plan for was negotiating certain turns. When he was in a wheelchair later, negotiating the turns in their bedroom suite was done with difficulty with two people assisting, but he could not do it himself. We could use the smaller transport chair but that wasn’t suitable for all-day use. Mom managed just fine with her walker and rollator, but the distance from bed to bathroom was to slow. Fortunately, Mom designed the kitchen herself, so the counters and cabinets were all lower than standard to accommodate her 5’ frame, so even when she shrunk to 4’0” she could still reach the faucet.

Young, able-bodied people can have accidents or surgery, where recovery requires a wheelchair, walker, or scooter for a period of time. Planning for accessibility is always a good idea, regardless of your age or current mobility.

ADA Requirements for Kitchens and Kitchenettes - Technical

Note the section on the removable sink cabinet which can be removed later without disturbing the sink itself if needed by a wheelchair-bound person.

You might look up Nancy_in_mich’s bathroom here, to see how she designed her bathroom for herself. It’s beautiful.

We remodeled a house for my brother, who has always been disabled.He uses a wheelchair, The thing is, a totally ADA place would not work for him.
He prefers a bathtub…he just drops to his knees and goes in overthe edge…..for him, so much safer and easier than all of the
transferring that would be involved with a roll in shower and a chair. You don’t know what you don’t know, so it is very hard to future proof! My suggestions would be to make sure there is blocking in all the walls in the bath, so grab bars can be installed wherever. That there is enough space for both a wheelchair and an attendant in a bathroom….you can easily remodel, but you cannot conjure up square footage! that you put a seat in at least one shower in a home, and make sure every shower has a hose feature. I have an active family, at least 4 broken bones, a knee surgery, a hip replacement, and various surgical incisions have benefitted from the seat/ hose concept.
Side by side fridge, so the person in the chair can reach things…downdraft ventilation on the stove, because they cannot reach the switch on the hood! Controls on the front of the stove, not the back. Never the microwave above the stove, so
dangerous!

Good ideas! A better alternative to the downdraft is a range hood that automatically turns on when the induction cooktop does. I saw it This Old House. Microwave is planned to be over the wall oven which will be lower than usual. The wall oven will have a side door.

The NKBA updesited their design guidelines a few years ago to include the Access Standards. https://media.nkba.org/uploads/2022/05/Kitchen-Planning-Guidelines.pdf

One of the better options is to create a height changing attached table that can be counter height or table height, similar to a changing height desk. You can pull up a stool at counter height, and if you need a chair later, the height can change to lower. And it can be a prep+table to eat at in the mean time as well.

A little over 5% of seniors in the US use a wheelchair. I would not create a kitchen for the 5%. And, if I did, I would not do it by ADA guidelines as those are guidelines for public use and to accommodate the greatest variety of users. You want a kitchen that accommodates one or two users' needs and preferences. I suffer from sometimes debilitating back pain. Most ADA standards place things so low to the ground that it hurts my back to stoop and reach for them. This is really something to consider.

How tall are you and whomever else is using the space? What is a comfortable height from which you would not have to strain? How high are YOUR hands when you reach in front of you? Consider your grasp, your needs, and the likelihood of you being in a wheelchair.

I 100% agree with @palimpsest about the height of each drawer. Ones that are too deep require stacking items inside and lifting things out to access items on the bottom. That can be hard to do as you age.

Bathrooms - even if you don't need the turning radius of a wheelchair, the size can be nice to have to park a walker or to accommodate enough room for a helper/caregiver.

It's great that you're planning ahead. Although I required the use of a wheelchair a few times in my 40s and 50s, I did not choose to do ADA recommended toe kicks in our retirement home's kitchen. I was able to manage before without damaging our cabinets, but understand those were short term situations. My husband also needed to use one last spring. If either of us needs one permanently, we'll likely consider if a single family home still meets our overall needs. My guess is that a walker is more likely to be necessary while we're here.

Kendrah's point about the heights of the users is very important. We range from barely five ft. (me) to nearly six and a half ft. (son.) The main counter is standard height to accommodate the dishwashers flanking the larger - but not too deep - sink. At the end of an 8 ft run is a 6 inch higher counter which suits the tall ones. We did all drawers, and I like Palimpsest's recommendation about lower drawer sides and wish we'd done that.

Where the induction cooktop is located the counter is 4 - 5 inches shorter than standard, which makes cooking easier for me. The Trade-Wind vent hood above it has a remote control for the lights and vent fan. The prep sink is also on the short counter about 2 ft from the cooktop, making it easy to fill and drain pasta pots.

Side-opening Bosch stacked ovens are located a few feet from the cooktop. I had them installed a little lower than usual, and the upper oven works well for the tall ones. A Sharp microwave drawer, with tilt controls that are easy to see, is below the third counter.

We have 36 inch wide doors with as few turns as possible, and used lever handles. Light switches are the Decora rocker style, easy to use with an elbow when hands are full. Outlets were placed a bit higher and switches a bit lower to allow for an easy reach from a wheelchair. The thermostats and humidistats were placed a little lower than usual as well.

The house has no steps and the lot was graded to allow for no steps to the front and back porches. The showers were built with no thresholds. They have both fixed and handheld shower heads, with the controls located so that the user won't get wet when turning on the water. A lot of bracing was done for grab bars, both current and future ones.

You may have already planned all of this, but just in case I wanted to add these suggestions. Best wishes on your new home.

Reading this reminds this 70-year-old to head to the gym.

The condo my client bought has a mix of conventional height counters (more or less, I think some are 34" rather than 36") with a sink and cooktop that are dropped a little lower. I would have no problem with a dropped cooktop, because cooktops used to take into account that pots with rims would be used on them, rather than the whole surface sitting on top of the 36" counter and ending up with the grates at 38", and so forth. But as short as I am I have found using a lower sink in the kitchen bugs my back.

If you have a standard dishwasher, beware of lower countertops. The dishwasher won’t fit. Mom settled that by having the dishwasher set lower into the floor. Fortunately it was a KitchenAid that lasted 47 years. And we found an amazing servicer. At which point replacement parts were too hard to find, so it became a handy dishrack,

Consider dishwasher drawers.

Thank you all for the great suggestions and insight! Going to pass on the higher toe kicks but will include many of the other things mentioned.

Countertops will be standard on perimeter but lower on island.

A lot of these things could be helpful, but no one has mentioned lighting - which at an advanced age can be extremely important. Your vision dims way before any mobility issues.

You need general and task lighting and pay attention to appliances that have hard to read touch controls of small gray font on black. Or worse, on white.

bpath: "If you have a standard dishwasher, beware of lower countertops. The dishwasher won’t fit."

There are ADA-compliant dishwashers such as the Bosch SGE53C55UC and Whirlpool WDF550SAHS which are shorter.

Regarding dishwashers. We plan to start with a traditional unit but when that goes, maybe replace with drawer style. I know they cost more and maybe aren't as reliable but hoping that 15 years from know they will be better.