Whether you just found out you’re pregnant, have a baby ready to crawl or are recent retirees expecting to have their grandkids over—childproofing the kitchen is essential. Afterall kitchen is where a lot of hardware, sharp edges, and stove are placed which are susceptible to hurting your adventurous (don’t they love exploring!) kid. And these days with many urban kitchen layouts kept open, it gets even more difficult to keep your little explorer away from jaunting into the kitchen!

What are the essentials of babyproofing a kitchen?

 The question is always how much is too much or too little. With the baby proofing industry proclaiming that anything and everything is a danger for your child, it is quite easy to get overwhelmed. It comes down to a few essentials according to the experts at Veneta Cucine. Though most of the items listed below are general, many other factors do come into play– for example – your kitchen layout, the height of the countertop and so on.

The Babyproofing essentials in any kitchen

• Safety Locks & Latches
• Door Hinges Protectors and Pinch Guards
• Child safety strip & Corner / Edge Guards
• Anti-tip Furniture straps 
• Child Safety Gates (optional and dependent on your layout)
• Storing your trash can out of sight 

Guards, locks, and latches

Tons of varieties can be found on online sites. The latest rage is to have a magnetic lock and key system that looks more aesthetic yet securely shuts your kitchen cabinets, refrigerators, and dishwashers. 

 The other potential problem in a kitchen is the freestanding shelves that are meant for display or pantry. You must use anti-tip furniture straps to secure them to the wall. It would also be a great idea to keep the lowers shelves free from breakable and keep instead baskets with towels or the babies toys so they get suitably distracted. 

If your kitchen is an open concept you probably won’t need a child safety gate or door hinge protectors. The problem though of an open layout it there is no preventing a young child in joining us when we are in the kitchen. 

A mom blogger suggests having a baby bouncer, playpen or other age-appropriate distractions for the baby in the kitchen so that they are away from the high traffic area of the kitchen but they can still see and hear you. She also urged constantly communicating with in a calm manner so that the child will eventually understand what is good for them. 

Trashcans are designed to be easy access and the children learn that part quickly! It would be better if you mount your trash can under the sink or keep it entirely out of sight. You don’t want them poking around garbage now, do you? 

 And lastly…

We wouldn’t endorse baby proof everything – it might be possible but it is really not needed. Curiosity in a kid is there for a reason so instead of placing a whole lot of rules and barricades, we should look at babyproofing essentially as a way to give them a safe place to explore. We would love to hear from you. What childproofing have you seen in kitchens?