About Us
About Us
Fashion Par Kitchens is a local, family-owned business that takes pride in our clients and pride in our work. Established in 1978, we provide full-service remodeling and new construction work in order to give our clients the peace of mind that they deserve. “The Fashion Par Experience” begins with a consultation with one of our experienced designers and ends with a beautiful, functional new space that you can enjoy for years to come.
The experts at Fashion Par Kitchens take the time to truly understand the wants and needs of our clients before designing a project. New construction, renovations, or design changes in your home will involve making many decisions, and, understandably, people don’t always realize how stressful this situation can be. But we are here to help with both budgeting and practical recommendations for what you need. After the design process, we will then provide professional installation services that are second to none. Our experienced installers will have your project completed with excellent quality, on time, on budget, and to your satisfaction.
Kitchen Remodel Near Me in Cedar Rapids
How a Kitchen Remodel Near Me Can Help Seniors Aging in Place
A growing number of seniors are upgrading their homes to make aging in a specific place easier to handle. You want to help your loved one here but aren’t sure how. Thankfully, the best kitchen remodel near me in Cedar Rapids, Iowa can help. These simple steps will make a kitchen easier for most seniors to enjoy. Just as importantly, it can enhance their quality of life by making it more comfortable to stay at home.
Even Out Difficult Edges
Seniors trying to live at home may need a kitchen that is a bit rounded off and protected from sharp edges. That’s because it can be very easy for them to fall and hurt themselves if they aren’t careful. Even worse, they may bump against an edgy countertop and cause damage to their hips or other parts of the body. Thankfully, this process can be avoided with a simple kitchen remodel near me.
Start by rounding off these areas by replacing them with less sharp regions. Then, you may want to make these areas less crowded for the seniors to walk through properly. This may include narrowing the edges of individual spots and carefully removing appliances that they don’t need. Doing so should help to protect them as much as possible from these sharp edges.
Simplify Their Storage
Next, you need to do what you can to make storage more comfortable for a senior to handle. Typically, this process requires moving everything that’s stored high down as far as possible. Doing so helps to make it easier for most seniors to reach cooking items. However, you probably have a limited area in which you can place these items. Thankfully, a pullout pantry can be a useful addition to their home.
These pantries can be installed near drawers and put everything more readily at hand for a senior. You may also want to add a portable on-wheels pantry somewhere in the kitchen. These pantries create a broad array of storage opportunities and can be moved as needed to various areas. Talk to your senior to decide which option makes the most sense for their kitchen storage needs.
Compress Your Kitchen’s Size
When getting a kitchen renovation near me for a senior, you need to do what you can to compress the size of their kitchen. That doesn’t mean to shrink it, per se, but to reposition items to make cooking easier. Doing so decreases how long they have to be in the kitchen makes preparation a lot easier, and enhances the overall living quality for seniors aging at home alone.
For example, you can place your sink closer to your stove as a way of making preparation easier for your senior. They’ll be able to not only carry large pots of water to the furnace easier but can avoid accidents that may occur as they carry these items. Just as importantly, it can also help decrease the amount of times that they need to spend on their feet, which can be hard for many older people.
Place Appliances at Counter Height
When getting a kitchen remodel near me, you should pay particular attention to your counter height to ensure that you help your seniors out. Many have a hard time reaching above or below this level and should have appliances more readily at hand. While you can’t fit all of them at this level, the ones that you can help them out more than you may think.
The microwave is a particularly critical appliance to place at this level. Many seniors end up getting Meals on Wheels delivered to them and need a microwave to warm them. Others may prepare large meals and then eat leftovers for days afterward. So put your microwave where they can easily reach it to help make their lives a lot easier. A good toaster oven is also an excellent appliance to have at counter height.
Don’t Forget the Lazy Susan
The Lazy Susan is one of those home additions that truly help out many people. Even the kitchen of a fully healthy person is safer with one because it gives easuer access to many hard-to-reach items. And if you aren’t as strong as you were or have a hard time bending over for an extended period, a Lazy Susan is a critical renovation step for those trying to age in place.
These are a particularly useful addition if you also install a three-drawer base for the kitchen. This approach gives you slightly smaller, but more efficient, drawers for your loved ones. As a result, they can quickly get access to utensils and other items that they need for cooking. Even better, they can use these two upgrades at the same time to further increase their home efficiency.
Add Slip-Resistant Floors
Lastly, you need to get a kitchen remodel near me that prevents falls as much as possible. While the bathroom is often the most dangerous room in the house for this risk, the kitchen isn’t far behind. Most have relatively hard floors with slippery surfaces that may cause your senior to fall. Thankfully, you can avoid this problem with high-quality upgrades to your floor tiles.
Typically, you need enough grout and texture on the surface of the tile to keep your senior from slipping. Porcelain is often a good choice, though vinyl may be softer on the feet. You may also want to buy them some slip-resistant socks as well, as many will wear socks throughout their day. These will grip the floor more efficiently and prevent dangerous slip problems.
How to Achieve This Result
If you want to help your senior age in place but need help with a kitchen remodel near me in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, please contact us at Fashion Par Kitchens. Our experts will inspect your loved one’s home and come up with a solution that helps to make their lives easier and allows them to age in peace.