When you have a busy household and share your home with young children or grandchildren, the kitchen is one of the most popular rooms in your house. Unfortunately, it can also be one of the most dangerous places in a home for little hands and curious young minds.
From a hot range to breakable dishes and sharp cooking utensils, a kitchen is full of countless dangers for smaller family members. Instead of banishing your little ones from the kitchen or rounding them up in a playpen, a little mindful home design is all it takes to create a safer, family-friendly kitchen.
In this post from Boca Cabinets, we’re sharing some of the best ways to create a kid-friendly kitchen your whole family will love to spend time in. Call our design team to order your custom kitchen cabinets today!
Benefits of a Family-Friendly Kitchen
The problem of kids in the kitchen is a tale as old as time. Back in medieval times, parents used a baby walker that kept children from getting into everything in sight. Over the centuries, parents have used everything from playpens to baby gates to keep little ones from underfoot.
But these days, parents understand that the more time families spend together, the healthier it is for everyone, especially the little ones. And eating family meals together provides a host of positive benefits like these:
- Increased family support system
- Reduced emotional stress
- Healthier family relationships
- Open family communication
- Better food choices
- Reduced at-risk behavior
- Improved academic performance
- Improved language acquisition
In short, creating a safe, warm, and welcoming kitchen for your entire family is one of the best things you can do for your family. As a bonus, it reduces parents' stress while preparing meals, cleaning, or performing other kitchen tasks.
Creating a Child-Friendly Kitchen
When creating any child-friendly space, we should consider ways to mitigate safety risks while integrating spaces for children and other family members to work and congregate.
These are some of the most popular design solutions for combining safety and function in a family-friendly kitchen:
Child-Friendly Surfaces
A child-friendly countertop should serve as a functional work surface for kids of all ages, from toddlers to teens. And because kids are prone to spills and messes, a counter needs to be both durable and easy to clean.
One of the best countertop solutions for families is granite. Granite is easy to wipe clean, durable enough for everything from science fairs to art projects, and available in a wide range of colors and styles.
Family Seating
A kitchen island transforms your kitchen from a functional space to a warm gathering place for everything from morning coffee sessions to late-night ice cream chats. Having a kitchen island for children to hang out at is also one of the best ways to manage younger family members while you’re preparing dinner or cleaning up around the house.
A kitchen island is also perfect for a healthy after-school snack or homework. And when you need to keep younger children occupied, set them up with a few coloring pages and crayons, and you’re good to go.
Consider Your Line of Sight
With careful planning, you can set up your kitchen to keep your eyes on the kids at all times. Design your layout so you can easily look out the window while you’re cooking and keep an eye on the kids. Make sure you can see into the adjoining room or set your kitchen up with a designated play area for kids.
Stow Everything Safely
Think about everything your kids can reach while in the kitchen with you. Knife blocks and magnetic wall racks can look fantastic in a gourmet kitchen, but when you have young children, you want to keep these items safely out of reach within locking cabinets.
With custom cabinet organizers from Boca Cabinets, you’ll have a designated place for everything in your kitchen. Our kitchen cabinet design team can help you customize a cabinet that keeps dangerous items out of sight and away from young eyes and hands.
Create a Children’s Cabinet
The key to healthy eating habits begins when children are young. Children taught to enjoy and prepare healthy meals will likely create lifelong habits contributing to overall health.
Give your kids a place to experience cooking from a young age with a children’s cabinet designed just for them. Include kid-friendly kitchen items like cooking utensils, children’s recipe books, special aprons, and chef’s hats.
Add in Tech
Hands down, tech is making people's lives easier and safer in all different ways, and when it comes to appliances and kitchenware, there are so many smart features available that they are the perfect addition to a kid-friendly design.
From smart faucets that regulate the water rate and temperature and turn on/off with ease to refrigerators that show what's inside without needing to open the door, give your child more accessibility and keep their safety a priority.
Keep Them Engaged
For kids, it's all about fun, and if you can find ways to incorporate learning while keeping them engaged, it feeds two important aspects of their growth. Add a chalkboard or dry-erase board that they can draw or write, feeding their creativity or letting them help if you need to make a list or notes to get them involved in daily tasks. As a bonus, they can easily be added to the lower portion of a cabinet or cupboard to give them easy access.
Open Up the Space
If you're just starting to design the kitchen space, consider it an open-style design. Open floor plans allow for more room to get together as a family and mean less crowding, which can reduce the chance of your child having a run-in with the edge of a cupboard or potentially damaging items in the space while they're engaged in play or activities.
Order Your Custom Kitchen Cabinets
Are you looking for ways to create a more child-friendly kitchen? With cabinet organizers and custom designs from Boca Cabinets, creating your ideal family kitchen is as easy as pie. To get your in-depth kitchen design consultation, call and schedule an appointment at 773-886-4686 or contact us online today.