09 Feb Design Tips for a Kid Friendly Kitchen
When people hear the phrase “kid-friendly”, they often associate it with taking safety precautions. In terms of a kitchen, the first tips that come to mind are child-proof cupboard locks, keeping knife sets out of reach, installing an oven where the knobs are at the back or up above, etc. There are countless ways to make your kitchen safer and prevent accidents depending on what extent you wish to go.
However, when WE think “kid-friendly”, we actually start brainstorming ways to invite the children into the room to participate and engage with us. The kitchen should be a community room. Parents often spend a fair portion of their day in the kitchen, so why not make it easy for the kids to be in there as well so that you can interact with them as well as simply keep an eye on them? A great place to start is to store your main dishes in the lower drawers as opposed to the upper cabinetry. This way kids can be involved with setting and picking up the table or even just grabbing a water glass each time they’d like one without having to climb on the counters.
You can also draw the kids in by allocating a drawer to hold “their stuff” whether that be homework, puzzles, coloring books, or a few small toys. Having this right in the room allows them to play and pick up with ease while you finish preparing dinner. If the kids have to run their toys back upstairs each time, they’ll be more apt to just leave them lying out and making a mess. We don’t design too many kitchens with desks anymore, but islands serve as a great alternative where the kids can sit and do their activities.
Putting a blackboard in the kitchen is both functional and super fun. You can hang these just about anywhere, but ideally you’d want it in reach for the kids. From the kid’s perspective, blackboards can be fun to draw on. For the parents, the blackboards are a convenient place to keep lists such as what events or appointments the kids have coming up. Your children can also participate in the list making and learn some responsibility by writing what they need to remember for school the next day.
The last big idea from a design point of view is to install a small section of lower countertops. This is another way to get the kids actively participating in meal preparation. You can give them easy tasks like mixing so that they learn to be comfortable in a kitchen and they’ll feel a sense of accomplishment by contributing to the meals.