I am just pondering how to fit this in a very height restricted space - I am therefore wondering if the chrome metal top handles are in any way removable?

It looks very much like they are not - they seem to pass directly through the machined aluminium part and down to the base and I cannot see how they would be loosened - the only thing making me hold out hope is that it would be a complex manufacturing process to have to bend these metal bars after passing them through the aluminium part…. but this is apple, so…