While the kitchen is considered the heart of the home it could be incredibly unsafe for children, especially really small children. Remodeling your kitchen with them in mind can help you avoid injuries in the future. These next tips will help you to create a safe environment for everyone in your home.
Anti-Slip Flooring
It’s known that kids like to run. No matter how well-behaved they are when they get excited, they run. To make things worse when tiles or hardwood floors get wet, as they do in the kitchen, they become very slippery. Most people don’t know this but there are anti-slip options. Tile and floor companies make floors with a slight texture so they feel smooth on bare feel, but provide the grip to prevent falls.
Open Layout
Parents with children like to keep an eye on them, even while cooking. Therefore it is important to think about the kitchen layout and how it will work with your children’s needs. It’s important to make sure there is a space in your kitchen so your kids have enough room to play while you cook. If rearranging your entire kitchen is out of the question, at least get some rugs so they can play on the floor, booster seats so dining at the table is easy, and stools so they can help you cook!
Stay Away from Easily Stained Materials
Not every material is easily wiped. In a kitchen you should stay away from a porous kind of surface material since they are hard to clean. If this isn’t an option make sure at the very least to get floors, benches, or other surfaces that are stain proof because kids will drop things very often.
Raise your Oven or Choose one with a Lock
The oven can be very dangerous for children. Make sure that you pick an oven where the outside door stays cool even if the oven is on. If you can consider raising the oven into the wall, that is the safest place for it. If you wanted to get a lock for the oven that will also do, as it can prevent kids from opening it or crawling inside.
Ensure Appliances Can’t be Tipped
Appliance tipping can be dangerous. There have been hundreds of cases where appliances have fallen on children, and if you can prevent that in your new kitchen, you should. Ovens and refrigerators and the biggest hazards for this, and whenever possible you should try and attach your appliances to the wall. Also looking for tip-resistant products could help with this issue. Adding to this, appliances like toasters or coffee makes should be as far away from the edge as possible to prevent any accidents.
These tips were made to help people improve their kitchen to accommodate children. While kitchens can still remain a hazard, these tips can help prevent accidents and help parents stop worrying when it comes to their kids being in the kitchen.