sockets

[JohnW2]

And that translates to back pain for millions of people. ... Taking the 171cm mean, and with σ = 9.1 for the UK, a worktop height of 91.4cm is at least 2cm too low for over 19M people aged over 25 in the UK. ... A height of 92.6 is at least 2cm too low for about 15.7M people.

I haven't checked your sums but, assuming you're right, it would be equally true that a worktop height of 92.6 cm is at least 2cm too high for about 15.7M people, woudn't it? So your (male-biased) 'half empty' is another (wo)man's 'half full'.

I don't really know what you think is a practical solution, except maybe in single-sex households (and even then, there would be problems, probably cost, associated with appliances etc.). We live in relatively 'enlightened' times, with males and females contibuting to work at many kitchen worktops. Given an average M/F difference in height of aboit 140 mm, hence (per your formula) about an 84 mm M/F difference in optimum worktop height, I really don't see what one can do other than compromise somewhere in the 'middle'!

Kind Regards, John

 

[ban-all-sheds]

A practical solution would be for kitchen companies to make it easier to adjust the height over a much wider range.


I suspect that most, if not all, of them just plod along doing what they have always done because that's what they've always done, and that most customers put up with the way kitchens are and have always been because that's the way they have always been.

Having had a worktop in my kitchen at about 1m high for several months, I can definitely say it is far more comfortable.

Also as it rarely involves much heavy effort (slicing and chopping food etc isn't like sawing wood or using a hammer), a shorter person can tolerate a higher worktop more easily than a taller one can tolerate a lower one. The former finds their arms raised more to the position recommended for precision work when people are standing at benches, the latter finds they have to stoop.