h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

bleh.... I'd recovered from this sore throat and cough.... about a week ago... and now its back with vengeance

In otter news, hair wrap/turbins are fabulous, wish I knew they existed decades ago....

and, induction hobs are brilliant, even if its impossible to find one with actual physical (rather than touch) controls... - we did find one, a single ring/zone, worktop one (put it on worktop and plug into regular socket on wall) if I can't find a built I style one, with physical/tactile controls, by the time we re-do the kitchen, I think we'll just have a single long worktop/countertop, and buy two separate plug in wall versions, to sit on the worktop when we need...

I like induction hobs, and they aren't even so expensive any more, but I'd have to buy new pots and pans -- and those are dire.

Hope you're on the mend.

Guess we're lucky; only found one pan that won't work so far; a very very old 'milk pan', which I only ever used for scrambled egg, which we replaced with a pan that matches the other newer pots, we bought over the last few years; as most are recently bought pans, they are all fine for the new hob; plus a few older pans are cast iron and so fine too - just wish we could find a fitted to the worktop/inbuilt induction hob, that had actual physical controls, all of them seem to be the touch-screen style controls now, which I can't use

I googled a bit, and it seems you can get physical controls with an induction hob if you buy a hob/oven combination.
I found this one:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=EQ521IA00&ref=nb_sb_noss

Check them out -- or do you just want the hob?

ooooo! that would work! = it will be for when we have the entire kitchen ripped out, and re-fitted, so we'll want an oven, grill etc, so something like that would work I thinks!

Well, problem solved, I hope.

Cookers always used to be 'cookers', like that; I.E., not the separate hob and then oven.... - I'd been looking for 'hobs', thinking that as that is how most things are now, separate units..... =- now, looking for induction cookers; there is a whole host of various cookers with inductions hobs, and all seem to have tactile controls - some rather nice decent cookers too, double oven affairs etc - well, by the time we come to do the kitchen, whatever we have done will cost a fortune, so I'm not going to try reduce the spend overly much, and a really decent cooker, would be so nice - I've useually managed with old stuff that was already fitted; and this will be the first kitchen refit, since.... probably about ten years before I moved in here,- I think the kitchen is mid-80s by its look MMM... granite worktops.... cupboards that still have the doors on - a whole world of kitchen newness will await... eventually.... once we've done the bathroom first

Is there anyway to get maybe a subsidy or rebate on the purchase price because of medical necessity? Over here in the States I could imagine there being at least a tax deduction, possibly under the Americans with Disabilities Act (the one that requires Braille on drive through ATMS).

There is a thing called a 'Disabled Facilities Grant' that is offered by local councils, so it might be worth you investigating, 2legs.

I didn't have any luck with it for various reasons (finances were one (I didn't have enough savings to make the washroom wheelchair accessible straight away after having bought the property, but I had too high an income to qualify for the grant, so I had to save up for 3 months before I moved in) but also the adapted shower and adapted kitchen were not adapted enough to qualify, or something...). However, it is very much a postcode lottery, so you may be surprised...

That's great about the induction cookers being accessible for you - "a whole world of kitchen newness" indeed

VAT exempt is an option, but only when its considered an item specifically for the disabled; E.G., software to run on a PC enabling disability access can be VAT exempt, but the computer wouldn't be; I assume a cooker wouldn't carry VAT exempt, etc, as its a mainstream unadapted thing.... - I doubt I'd qualify for any grants, as our duel income is probably too high, and we've certainly got way too much savings; of such things I've seen on local council website; they're loans anyhow, rather than free money/grants, so not really much function... - the cost isn't so much of a problem as is finding someone who will do a decent job that isn't just useless in a week due to shoddy workmanship; which is sadly my experience of any other major works I've had done, except for the firm I found to fit the windows plus the disruption; we've only the one bathroom, so BoB knows what we'll do when its out of action for a week or more...

Oh, yes the VAT exemption is quite good, but only for specific things. My parents got a small amount because they installed a low-level counter in an otherwise-standard kitchen, but when I moved out and had my kitchen made accessible, I didn't get anything because they were 'standard' units albeit low-level.

Yeah, it's great when work is finished, but it is a daunting prospect about whether you get a good company - I had some issues with my kitchen, but we got there eventually. The bathroom installation went very well, though - I had to have pipes moved around and things, but the toilet itself was only out of action for a few hours!

Our entire bathroom needs to be ripped out really... which will inevitably involve some re-plastering on walls, and ceiling, etc, once the suite and tiling is all removed... - plus we don't have a second toilet/bathroom in the house We nearly agreed to go with a company a few years back, but they revealed themselves to be lieing to us, and additionally proved they were incompetent (the plan included on listed 'stuff' for the refit, a pump, and a few other things, which, are not compatible with our boiler), so we gave up on them Plus, their idea of 'doing the entire job in entirity', involved not doing any of the paint work, and instead we would need to do that ourselves; this included some painting on the walls, which would be insaine to do after* the tiles had been put on - not exactly wanting to do a managed job then... Plus, I had such a bad job done on the bathroom, the one and only time I had it put in, years ago now but... it needs doing