Designer beautifully prepares home for old age
The kitchen includes Gaggenau appliances. This built-in pasta cooker avoids lifting and draining heavy pots. A magnetic induction cooktop that won't burn you if touched and a column refrigerator with shallow shelves -- older people have diminished olfactory senses so food needs to be closer -- also were used. Although Leibrock used high-end materials, she stresses that universal design can be inexpensive. Her Gaggenau induction cooktop would sell for $5,600, but one by Hob is $680, she says. Kevin Moloney/The New York Times