Abstract
With the coming demographic avalanche as the number of elderly aged 65 and older is expected to double in 20 years in South Korea, the concept of retirement living will be changed in a whole new way. The newest design principles as environmental affordance system for them need to be considered. This study started with the premise that 'Aging in Place' might be the most desirable alternative for the elderly and if so, they may be at greater challenge of living in the home, especially in kitchen. The purpose of this study is to analyze various universal design kitchen products according to five Universal Design criteria with physical or mental characteristics of aging. The five Universal Design principles are 'Supportiveness', 'Adaptability', 'Communicability', 'Pleasantness' and 'Accessibility', which were developed from the previous research. The profile and the trends of the universal design kitchen products were identified with the concrete design examples. The results will be expected to make contributions to developing universal design guidelines for kitchen products, to understanding the nature of universal design paradigm, and to establishing directions for sustainable living of the elderly.
