7 Useful Kitchen Appliances for People With Limited Hand Use
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These small kitchen appliances make cooking easier for people with arthritis and disabilities that cause limited hand strength and impair fine motor coordination.
A lot of people with disabilities struggle with fine motor skills which can make cooking and using ordinary kitchen appliances difficult. Perhaps you have tremors, perhaps your hand strength is limited, or you have shoulder limitations, trouble with hand dexterity, or arthritis — or you just think these items are cool like we do! Here is a list of tools that will make your kitchen a little “handier” if you live with a disability or chronic illness.
Salad Cutter Bowl
Fresh salads can be an amazing meal, but chopping all of the lettuce, veggies, and whatever other yummy goodies you have by hand can get tiresome, especially if you have limited hand strength. Enter this salad cutter bowl. With this nifty item, you can rinse, drain, cut, and eat your salad with just one bowl! Not only does it make it simple to cut everything up, it also makes kitchen cleanup that much easier, especially considering all the parts are dishwasher safe.
OXO Good Grips Salad Chopper With Bowl White 12.5 x 5.5 x 12.5 inches
6 used from $22.97
Fruit Slicers
With summer upon us, that means it's fruit season! If you love fruit, you know not only how yummy it is but also what a pain it can be to get to the point where you can actually eat it. Many people who live with arthritis and/or chronic pain struggle to cut up fruit and end up buying more expensive and less environmentally friendly pre-packaged and pre-cut fruit. But now there's an alternative. Enter these fruit slicers. The apple corer and mango slicer are easy to grip and can help you enjoy your fruit quicker and easier than ever before. If you struggle with hand dexterity and strength, consider one of these fruit slicers to make a summer treat much simpler.
OXO Good Grips Apple Slicer, Corer and Divider
$10.90
OXO Good Grips Mango Slicer, Splitter, and Corer
Jar Gripper
Limited hand strength can lead to difficulty opening bottles and jars. If you need to open a jar or bottle but don't need the complete electric jar opener, this silicone jar gripper might be the nifty gadget for you. It creates better grip on the jar and helps you open it, making it easier for people who have decreased hand strength. If the jar gripper doesn't offer enough assistance to you, you can always try out an electric jar opener, but for smaller items this might do the trick!
Regent Round Multi-Purpose Jar Gripper Pad Bottle Lid Opener, 4 Piece Set, Colors May Vary
$6.50
Electric Jar Opener
Things like arthritis and cerebral palsy can make it difficult to open jars due to decreased fine motor skills and hand strength, but that's where this guy comes in. If you tried the jar gripper and need a little more ‘oomph,' this is the product for you! It has a magnet to help secure and attach it to the jar lid, fits a variety of jar sizes, and has a softer edge to make sure you don't hurt yourself. Chronic pain, fatigue, and other disabilities or chronic illnesses can make things like opening jars more difficult, but this should help you open jars with the least amount of effort.
Higher Torque and One Touch Electric Jar Opener Easy Remove Almost Size Lid with Auto-Off, Powerful Bottle Opener for Arthritic Hands, Automatic Jar Opener for Weak Hands and Seniors with Arthritis
KitchenAid Standing Mixer
If you've ever made cookies, you know how tough it can be to mix the cookie dough once it starts to come together. Even basic mixing can be tiring, especially with a whisk or handheld mixer. If you have hand weakness or poor eye-hand coordination and lose your grip, you're liable to send your cookie dough or cake batter flying across the room! (Been there, done that, and it was the last straw for the handheld mixer.) The iconic KitchenAid Standing Mixer is the easiest way to mix pretty much anything and has a myriad of attachments like a slicer/shredder, grinder, and even a pasta maker. The possibilities are endless with this mixer, and other than adding the ingredients to the bowl, there's very little physical effort required since the machine does it all for you. Save your hands, your hand strength, and your energy for something else, as we all know how valuable those spoons can be!
KitchenAid KSM150PSER Artisan Tilt-Head Stand Mixer with Pouring Shield, 5-Quart, Empire Red
KitchenAid Artisan Mini 3.5 Quart Tilt-Head Stand Mixer - KSM3316X - Ice
Hamilton Beach Electric Stand Mixer, 4 Quarts, Dough Hook, Flat Beater Attachments, Splash Guard 7 Speeds with Whisk, Blue
10 used from $69.24
Food Chopper
Slicing, dicing, and chopping can be EXTREMELY tiring, and they take a lot of fine motor skills and control. If you have decreased fine motor skills, have chronic pain or arthritis, or any other disability/chronic illness that makes chopping and cutting difficult for you, this food chopper can save valuable energy and time. Simply put your food in and push down a few times to chop it up, and you are ready for the next task in your kitchen. The blades are concealed, and since you don't have to use a knife, your risk of injury (for us accident-prone ones) is very much reduced. For those of us that live on our own and don't have help readily available, the added safety of the food chopper over a knife makes this a must-have small kitchen appliance.
Geedel Food Chopper, Easy to Clean Manual Hand Chopper Dicer, Slap Press Chopper Mincer for Vegetables Onions Garlic Nuts Salads and More - Save Your Prep Time
Ninja BN601 Professional Plus Food Processor, 1000 Peak Watts, 4 Functions for Chopping, Slicing, Purees & Dough with 9-Cup Processor Bowl, 3 Blades, Food Chute & Pusher, Silver
26 used from $63.75
Breakfast Sandwich Maker
This breakfast sandwich maker has different spots for your bun, egg and toppings, allowing you to make a yummy sandwich in five minutes with only one appliance, instead of all of the normal pots, pans and other appliances it would usually take to make a sandwich like this. Simply put your items in their respective spots, set the timer, and in five minutes you will have a delicious sandwich hot and ready for you. It's easy to place each ingredient in the right spot even if you have limited use of your hands, and it can be used for any type of hot sandwich as long as any meat used is pre-cooked. The timer is a major win for those of us who tend to forget things or have issues with brain fog, and all the parts of this sandwich maker are dishwasher safe, making clean up a breeze. While not a necessity in the kitchen, we think this is one of the cooler products we have found and highly recommend it. Plus, it's just fun!
Hamilton Beach Dual Breakfast Sandwich Maker with Timer, Silver (25490A)
15 used from $19.00
Cooking is exhausting, let's be honest. It can take a lot of time, energy, and strength, and for those of us with disabilities and chronic illnesses, cooking can oftentimes seem impossible. Whether you have been diagnosed with arthritis, cerebral palsy, decreased fine motor skills, chronic fatigue, or other disabilities/chronic illnesses that make cooking difficult, these products will hopefully make your time in the kitchen a little bit easier and help you whip up a great meal, no matter what's on the menu.
Photo by Kam Idris on Unsplash
Coffee junkie. Spoonie. Writer about all things chronic illness and mental health. Friend of animals everywhere.
