Tips For Designing A Family Friendly Kitchen

Designing A Family Friendly Kitchen

In a family home, the kitchen is one of the most important rooms in the house. It is the central hub where all meals are made and it is often where the family gathers to talk, laugh, cook together and socialise.

When you are designing your kitchen, you will want to create a space that is welcoming and usable for all members of the family including the little ones.

A family friendly kitchen means that young children will be able to easily and safely enjoy the room.

Of course, your little ones won’t be small forever, so you need to design a kitchen that is accessible and child friendly but is also still functional for adults as well. This means thinking about the kitchen as a whole and how your family will use it over the years.

What can you do to make your kitchen more family-friendly? It comes down to the little design details that make things safer and more accessible. Here are a few tips to remember when designing a child friendly kitchen:

• Tall stools around the counter area leave little kids out of the socialising atmosphere because they are too short to climb up. Make sure your kitchen has seating that is accessible for children.

• Keep in mind that for young children, sharp countertop corners are right at head or eye level so make sure that they are rounded off. You can even install soft corners until your children are tall enough not to hit their head.

• Cabinets with dangerous chemicals such as cleaning supplies need to be kept closed with a safety latch. There are many new designs of safety latch on the market these days, including ones with a magnet which allows you to open the latch with a special key.

• A family friendly kitchen should have a place for young ones to work on homework or their craft projects while Mum or Dad is cooking.

• Many families will need a communication hub where they can keep all the school papers, notices and mail that comes through the house. This can be a corkboard or an organiser with cubbies.

• If your kids like to help you cook, you can design an area that is the right size for them to help out. This could be a part of the counter that is lower than everything else so that they can reach it easily.

• When it comes to appliances, choose ones that will be child safe and have safety features such as barriers and induction cooking.

• Floors such as vinyl and cork will be much easier for toddlers to walk on than stone and smooth tile and will also be softer if the child slips and falls.

• Stainless steel appliances are not recommended for families with small children as they get smudged easily when touched by little hands. Black or faux stainless steel will look better and require less maintenance.

These are just a few tips to keep in mind when designing a kitchen that everyone in the family will be able to enjoy for many years. For more kitchen ideas, feel free to call us here at My Beautiful Kitchen on 0141 771 3640.