Equipment if you need help with a little decrepitude

You see here a perching stool in our kitchen - this is a new acquisition; it makes life easier around the kitchen, indeed anywhere you need to stand when you have a bad back. Searching the the catalogue from OT Stores in Malvern (we were given it by an occupational therapist friend), we see an amazing number of things you can get for easing any number of practical difficulties as you get less able to do stuff. It's encouraging that there are so many possibilities, and perhaps discouraging that we know so little about it.

This is very solidly built, adjustable, cleanable but (question) does it have to be so institutional in style? Or is the definition of institutional something useful?