How To Create A Child-Proof Kitchen For Your Home

With a child-proof kitchen, you'll be able to make dinner with your little ones, get them involved with the housework, and keep them busy, entertained and - more importantly - safe, on a daily basis.

Children love spending time with their parents, learning new things, and having fun pretending to be grown-ups. Today, we’re going to show you how to create a child-proof kitchen, so that your children can play at being a chef, and develop their skills and independence in a safe environment.

The first step is to eliminate any imminent dangers your children might encounter in the kitchen. Once you’ve done that, you can start to adapt your kitchen to make it more accessible for your children. With a child-proof kitchen, you’ll be able to enjoy fun-filled afternoons together, baking cakes, making snacks, or even making your own homemade pizza for dinner.

Creating a child-proof kitchen

There are many advantages to an open-plan kitchen if you have young children in the house. Not only will it give you the perfect place to cook together, but it’ll also allow you to keep an eye on them while you cook or wash the dishes.

When it comes to keeping your little ones safe, the fewer obstacles, the better. Having an open-plan kitchen with no doors or walls is kid-friendly.

As a general rule, open-plan kitchens usually have a large central island. This will allow you to have a far larger worktop than traditional kitchen counters would, giving you more workspace for group activities with the kids.

Creating a child-proof kitchen – safety first

Needless to say, the most important thing is to make sure your children are safe and sound at all times. To do this, you must always stay one step ahead of them. Never underestimate their ability to explore, and get into mischief.

If possible, we recommend installing your oven high off the ground to avoid any accidents. That way, it will be safely out of your children’s reach, and it’ll be much easier for you to put in and take out food. Some models also feature “cool doors”. This means that even when they’re on full-blast, they’ll remain cool on the outside.

Be careful with how you store and organize your food, cleaning products, and garbage. It’s important to make sure they’re out of reach of children at all times. Here you’ll find another article with some additional tips on how to make your home kid-friendly.

Make things easy for them

Children like to feel involved, while also having the freedom to learn independently. To do this, it’s important to make sure that they can access (child-friendly) utensils easily.

Set aside one cupboard or cabinet for any child-friendly pans, molds, and ladles that they can use safely. You can also use it to store ingredients that your kids can be in charge of when it comes to preparing recipes.

Be sure to keep knives, scissors, and anything else you don’t want your children to get hold of out of their reach, placing them in the upper drawers and cabinets. Alternatively, you could put security latches on the drawers and cupboards instead.

We also recommend buying a stool so that your children can reach the worktops safely and easily – under adult supervision, of course.

If you want your kitchen to be a safe environment for your children, it’s important to keep a close eye on them at all times. While you’re cooking, place all the pots and pans as far back on the stove as you can. If possible, use a stove guard to avoid any accidents.

Child-proofing your kitchen floors

When kids get involved in the kitchen, it’s not uncommon for the floor to get wet or sticky. Slippery floors can be a real hazard, for both children and adults. To avoid this, we recommend laying vinyl floor mats. As well as being non-slip, you can find some cool designs that your kids will love.

Children’s kitchen play sets

For children, playing make-believe is very important. They learn by imitating real-life situations and taking on different roles. With the power of their imagination, they can be a mom or a dad, a teacher, or a famous chef.

If you have very young children, you could place a toy kitchen nearby, so they can play while you cook. This wooden IKEA play kitchen set is simply beautiful and can be customized according to your tastes and preferences.

These are just a few of the different ways you can create a child-proof kitchen for your home. Give them a try, and you’ll have the perfect place to enjoy fun family activities, and teach your little ones to help out with the chores.

Little by little, you can start to give them more responsibility, according to their age and abilities. This will help them feel useful, boost their self-esteem, and keep them entertained.