Contributed by Matt Lee, edited by Peggy Golden

Are you looking for a new home for your family? Perhaps your current kitchen is not family friendly and you can’t spend as much time in the kitchen as you would like with your children.  Are you expecting and looking at babyproofing or remodeling your kitchen before the baby arrives?  Whatever your reason for needing family friendly kitchen design ideas, the following ideas will spark ideas for creating the kitchen of your family’s dreams.

Sharp and pointy edges are beacons for children’s heads and faces. No parent can avoid every bump and bruise risk around the home; avoiding sharp edged surfaces in your kitchen is insightfully helpful with children and older generations. Choose a table or kitchen island with rounded soft edges rather than square. Counter tops can have rounded or smoothed over edges with simple grade 1 eased or quarter round or upgraded edge shapes like bullnose and ogee which have very soft curved designs.

Also avoid counters that jut out and keep the entrance to the kitchen clear of eye or head level hazards for little ones

2. Lower Counter Top Heights

If you love to cook or bake chances are your children will want to assist and learn from you. Consider lowering a section of your counter top allowing easy access to sanitary work spaces without having to climb on a chair or stretching and reaching over you.

3. Easy Turn and Touchless Faucets

There are many faucet selections that make it hard for children to use.  Round and star faucet controls are harder to turn than lever shaped controls.  The newer touchless faucets are a great option for young and older adults as they can be set to a warm and safe start temperature avoiding scalding situations and keeping hands off of faucet controls maintains cleanliness limiting transfer of raw food germs transferring to the controls.  Several manufacturers have touchless faucets today such as this link to Delta’s latest version  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9HxPBP4RXI

4. Smart Home Designs-IOT

Smart home designs are great for busy parents that want a hands-off approach to things in their home.  Smart home options allow you to control the thermostat, lights, fans, window treatments, alarm system, and more from your cell phone or computer.  Other smart home options allow you to stream music throughout your home, access television and movie streaming apps through WIFI directly through your television and much more.  A popular IOT control great for families with older children and teenagers is a keyless entry lock.  You don’t ever have to worry about your child remembering a code or losing a key if they can come and go through finger print or retina scanning.  These IOT lock designs will also alert you through an app to anyone coming and going from your home and let’s not forget the newer security camera systems alerting you to visitors in your yard or at your front door.

5. Interesting Interior Design Accents

The kitchen is the family gathering place revolving around mealtimes, busy morning out the door time, eating snacks with friends and serving coffee to friends and neighbors.

 An interesting design accent in your kitchen such as a stone wall will enhance the kitchen ambiance providing a clean, modern, and relaxed look.   Stone accent walls are easy to install, are available in many designs, stone sizes, shapes and colors, as well as brick facing making a trendy comeback in the farmhouse and craftsman popular design styles.  Applied wall stone facing options include natural stone from a stone quarry stacked in place by a stone mason or stone veneer panels with easier installation and less cost that look just like natural stone.  In creating a family friendly kitchen design safety issues are extremely important.  Consider appliance locks, gates to block off the kitchen area, and organizing your cabinets in a way that nothing that can harm your children, especially toddlers, if within reach.  If you cannot rid your kitchen of sharp edged surfaces, consider purchasing bumper guards in the infant section of department stores or safety section of home stores to soften harsh edges around your home.

Error: Contact form not found.