Cold Plates
Leikühl (pronounced lie-cool) is our new cassette cooling system. The name comes from the German Leiche, meaning body, and kühl, meaning cool.
Before I tell you how it works, I’d like to tell you where it came from.
Where it started
In 2023 we imported sixteen Dutch cooling plates (in Australia we usually call them cold plates), fourteen of them pre-sold to end-of-life doulas and funeral support people around the country. It was an epic effort, and we got them here for less than it would have cost anyone to do it on their own.
That left one spare unit for us, which we ended up selling it to a start-up group in Armidale, the Highlands End-of-Life Project. Our region tends to be a bit more traditional, so we were glad to see every one of those plates out there being used rather than sitting in our shed.
Lola and Rob
None of it would have happened without Lola Rushartland and Rob. Both were Dutch, though Lola spent a lot of time in Australia, where her children all live. She was instrumental in bringing cooling plates to doulas and other like-minded people right around the country.
In 2023 I met them both in Holland, in a beautiful little town in the middle of the Dutch countryside. Our European summer, in 2023, was always Kaffee und Kuchen and for me a cheeky beer. So that’s what we did in the garden of a cafe, while talking death and business. Rob had plans for the cooling plate (big plans). The pressurised copper lines and hoses were always a nightmare, and he wanted to make something far easier to move around.
In June 2025, cancer got the better of Lola, and she died through voluntary assisted dying. Rob was shattered, and understandably the cooling plates took a back seat. Not long after, before I’d had the chance to speak with him again, Rob died in a kayaking accident during a storm in Thailand.
It was heartbreaking to hear. We’d got to know each other over a few years and a shared passion, and I still can’t believe it was only three years ago I was sitting in that garden with them both.
Leikühl isn’t what Rob had in mind, however it carries on his spirit of finding a better way. Something simpler, for families who want to keep their person close. The first Leikühl units will carry a small engraved plate: For Lola & Rob.
Why cooling matters
When someone dies at home, you don’t have to rush. You have time. A cooling plate sits under your person’s body and keeps them cool, so they can stay in their own bed, or rest in a coffin for a home vigil, for as long as you need.
How Leikühl works
We borrowed ideas from the way seafood is kept cold in transport and developed our own cooling system that needs no power. No compressor, no hoses, no plug.
The plate is folded sheet aluminium, which transfers cold well. The cooling core (that is frozen in an ordinary chest freezer) slides in the side and is swapped for a fresh one about every 10 to 12 hours. Each changeover takes seconds, and Leikühl can keep going for as long as it’s needed. The parts of the unit that don’t touch your person are lined with dense foam, so the cold goes where it’s needed instead of out into the room.
What that means for families:
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Simpler. Nothing to set, nothing to plug in, nothing to go wrong.
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No power needed. A bedroom, a shed, a farmhouse at the end of a long dirt road, a blackout… it doesn’t matter.
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Silent. No hum, no fan, no compressor kicking in at 2am.
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Lasts longer than ice packs such as Techni-Ice.
If you’d like to know more about caring for your person at home, or how Leikühl works, give us a call. We’re always happy to have a chat.