Why raise your kitchen worktop to ergonomic height?
In the kitchen it is important to have the countertop at the right height to be able to cook in a responsible manner.
It is in particular the movements that are often repeated where there is a risk of developing pain if the posture is tense. This becomes more intense if the working position is not ergonomic.
If the countertop is too low, you will be forced to bend over. This puts more strain on the neck and back. It aggravates the pain, which becomes chronic when the posture is regularly adopted. Being the case if cooking is your passion!
What is an ergonomic working height in the kitchen?
The ideal working height is reached when the worktop is 12 centimeters below the level of your elbow when one stands relaxed and upright.
Why is it necessary to level up the worktop?
Working safely and responsibly is important. Despite this, physical overload has unfortunately been one of the top risks of working in the kitchen for years. For kitchen staff above average, taller than 1.78 metres, this often means chronic back and neck complaints. This is partly because the standard height of worktops is 85 and with luck 90 centimetres, while considerably higher is needed to be able to work ergonomically. This issue affects 70% of men and 10% of women.
What matters is that in the kitchen, unlike many other workplaces, there are often several employees working at the same worktop. Those employees are, of course, selected based on their skills and not for their height. Employees range from short to tall and therefore have different needs in terms of height of the worktop. If the worktop is too high, you work with tense shoulders. If the worktop is too low, you work bent over, resulting in pain in the back and neck. Given the low average height of the worktop, the former is relatively rare and the latter more common.
Ergonomic workplace required by law
The obligation to work ergonomically and to provide the necessary aids for this is often laid down by law, for example in the Netherlands by the Working Conditions Decree.
- Art. 5.2: Hazards to the health and safety of employees must be prevented by the organization of work and workplace.
- Art. 5.3: If this is not possible, aids should be used to limit the hazards.
- Art. 5.4: Workplaces should be ergonomically designed.
The Dutch labor inspectorate of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment (ISZW) monitors compliance with these obligations. ISZW aims to restore the balance between preventive and reactive work, according to the multi-year plan for 2019-2022. In order to realize a safer way of working, more must be invested in preventive measures, the Ministry recognizes and acknowledges. Measures taken to this end include:
- Addressing unsafe and unhealthy work situations, uncovering the underlying causes and developing a suitable effective approach.
- Conducting research into accidents at work and complaints about (dangerous and unhealthy) work situations and machines with the aim of learning from them.
- Contributing to more awareness among employers and employees of the dangers of unhealthy and unsafe working conditions.
What does it cost if an employee drops out due to neck or back pain?
A day of sick leave of an employee costs the employer on average €250. Unfortunately, however, it rarely ends with a day's absence and the period of sick leave is often considerably longer. In the case of a long-term sickness, we look at around €3,000 per month. If it turns out to be necessary, replacing a chef can cost up to €30,000.
This includes payment of wages, but also the costs of replacement, the associated production loss and any health and safety service costs. All in all, an undesirable situation for both the employee and the employer.
How do you solve that back and neck pain?
There are several ways to manage the back and neck pain.
Physiotherapy
In the case of pain complaints, it is possible to use physiotherapy to relax the tense posture as much as possible. This relieves the complaints.
Unfortunately, the effect of this is limited. When you go back to work in the kitchen under the same conditions, the complaints start all over again.
Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for a physiotherapist to stop treatments due to staff shortages, because it is a kind of "mopping with the tap open".
In addition, treatment by a physiotherapist is a costly affair in terms of time and money. With regular work in the kitchen, the treatment should take place weekly to have an effect. And that in your own time. Because physiotherapy is not covered by standard health insurance, you pay a significantly higher premium to reimburse the treatments.
All in all a temporary solution that does not solve the problem.
Pain medication
Another remedy for the pain caused by a non-ergonomic working position in the kitchen is to take pain medication. As with physiotherapy, this is a curative method of treatment, in which the effect is temporary.
Also involved in this "solution" is the fact that you have to take chemicals for a longer period of time to relieve the pain, which is not good for your health.
It is often heard among professionals in the kitchen: your own health should not suffer as a result of your work. It is a shame that the number of working hours is reduced as a result of it or, in even more severe cases, working in the kitchen is forced to end completely. This is unfortunate for both the employee, passionate about cooking, and the employer, in particular seen the significant shortage of staff.
Ergonomic workplace
The third way to relieve pain is both preventive and curative: the ergonomic workplace. We discussed the obligation to do so earlier in this blog. Unfortunately, it is often not considered important enough.
It may be that the culture does not encourage bringing the issue of back and neck pain due to an unhealthy work posture up in contact with colleagues or the employer. Nevertheless, it is important to discuss it. One can benefit a lot if the workplace is ergonomic. It makes work more enjoyable and ensures that it stays that way in the long run.
It should be clear that this solution is the most healthy and sustainable.
After all, prevention is always better than cure.
How can you increase the height of the worktop in the kitchen quickly and easily?
There is often a lack of ergonomics in the professional kitchen. Also, staff turnover and sick leave are above average, which increases costs that possibly could be prevented.
Not everyone has the same height, so raising the kitchen worktop (besides being very expensive) does not offer a solution for all. A personal tailor-made solution is needed to create and sustain a healthy workplace.
© Ergocutting 2025
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