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Navigating the kitchen when you have a disability can be very difficult. Particularly if you do not have upper-arm strength to lift or carry hot plates or bowls. For myself, I like to be able to make hot tea in the microwave, but I always had difficulty lifting and carrying cups filled with hot water from the microwave.
The solution was a hot plate on wheels. Hot food or drink can be sat on the coaster and easily rolled on the kitchen counter to where the item could be used. Now, I could easily slide my cup of hot tea from the microwave onto this rolling hot plate, and roll it to where I wished. Moving big bowls of food are much easier on a hot plate that rolls.
This instructable has directions for two versions of this hot plate. One I've made, and the other is plans for an improved version.
Materials
A tile or square hot plate
Dollar-store toy cars
Hot glue
-Or
tile or square hot plate
craft toy wheels
A dowel stick
caps
wood scraps
saw
sand paper
Optional string
Hot Glue
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Signing UpStep 1Step 1: The right toy car
For this first version of the hot plate on wheels, we had to find the right kind of toy car. It has to be a cheap toy car that can easily be disassembled. The dollar-store variety that come several in a pack seem to be idea. Remove the top of the toy car and use a generous amount of glue to glue the base of the car directly to the base of the tile or hot plate. Let the glue dry. Your done! A rolling hot plate!
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Balance is also an issue for your prototype - put the cup down off-centre, and it will tip and slop.
Your second idea, though, is much more appropriate - I would use soft-rubber wheels to increase rolling resistance, and add a less flexible handle for pulling (say a loop of wire or rigid plastic) to that it can be pulled or pushed without the need for a high level of finger-tip dexterity (test your product by using it with mittens on).
If you have a kitchen counter that is at all off-balance or has any sort of a slope to it, this project is probably not a good idea as you could have hot drinks and bowls shooting off the kitchen counter LOL. I have used the version using toy car wheels for several years, and not had any problem with it rolling too easily, What I have found is the weight of the item tends to provide sufficient friction that the tray doesn't roll dangerously for me. With my particular disability, I lack muscle strength, so what is ideal for me is not ideal for someone with more physical strength. For me, the plate has to roll very very easily for me to be able to move it at all, though I do try to be extremely careful. Balance is very much an issue with the version I made... you have to be careful to put the hot bowl or drink in the center, or else it could tip over causing the item to spill and potentially burn. In my particular circumstances, I use this tipability to help me slide items carefully on and off the tray. I will hold the mug or dinner plate, then tip the hot plate to slide the item on or off of it. One does need a high level of finger dexterity to do this and I don't recommend that for most people. The second version should account for most of those issues. I like the idea of the wire pull handle. For most people, I do think the second version would be the recommended way to build this hot plate.