Kitchen Furniture for Families with Children

Children in the kitchen are not always a great idea. The kitchen is filled with dangerous appliances that can harm unsuspecting children in many ways. However, instilling the right kind of furniture and appliances in your kitchen when you do have children can make it easier and a safer place.

There are specific pieces of kitchen furniture that are safe to have for when your children are running through the kitchen, making cookies, or grabbing something to drink from the refrigerator. Below are a few "kid-friendly" pieces of furniture that you might want to consider for your kitchen.

High Chair:

For your youngest children, a high chair is almost a necessity. A high chair is a piece of furniture that keeps your children comfortably restrained and safe from appliances such as the hot kitchen stove. An added perk about the high chair is that it keeps your children at eye-level with the rest of the family.

A Multi-Purpose Organizing Cabinet with Doors:

While open hutches and cabinets are nice looking pieces, when you have kids, clutter can build up very quickly. To solve this problem, consider investing in multi-purpose organizing cabinets with doors that can conveniently hide what is hiding behind the doors. Use this incognito storage center to keep your child's crayons, coloring books and other items that they can be entertained with while you prepare dinner.

Kitchen Stools with Backs:

Setting your kids up to eat breakfast at your kitchen island in the morning while you put together their lunches and get them ready for their day is extremely convenient. Investing in high kitchen stools with backs on them can be a safe alternative to the regular bar stools that you normally see. These chairs can prevent young children from falling off and hurting themselves. Smaller children can definitely benefit greatly from this suggestion, and for added safety choose chairs that do not swivel.

A Table with a Durable Top:

While the glass tabletop looks nice, they can often be a nightmare for families with children. Every messy fingerprint and smear can be seen on your glass table top making them inconvenient to constantly clean. Worse yet, a child who decides to bang on the tabletop with pots, pans, knives, and forks could possibly break the glass table and severely hurt themselves. Consider investing in durable wooden tables tops which are safer and stronger against your young ones.

Portable Islands:

When your growing children want to help you prepare meals in the kitchen, an island is a wonderful piece of furniture to consider. Two to three people can work together making a delicious meal at the same time on a portable island. The portable islands also double as a great place for your children to sit as they eat snacks or do homework. Owning a portable island also allows for flexibility in your kitchen, enabling you to change its location whenever you wish. However, if the island is on wheels, you will want to make sure that they have the ability to be locked for safety.

Basket Carts:

Basket carts are a great item for children who constantly want to help mom and dad in the kitchen. Basket carts can easily store items, such as onions or potatoes, at a level that your children can easily see and reach when assisting you during the cooking process. Items such as rags can also be kept in basket carts so that kids have easy access to them when they accidentally make spill.

Kid Size Table and Chairs:

If you have extra room in your kitchen, putting in a "kid size" table complete with a set of chairs, just their size, is a wonderfully helpful suggestion. This way, your children can still eat dinner at the big table with the entire family, but they will also have a more durable place to color, play games, eat snacks, and organize tea parties when their friends come over.

Chair Step Stools:

Sometimes children will need a little elevation to allow them to better assist you in the kitchen. For these instances, step stools are a great idea. Chair step stools often give two separate heights to stand on, as well as a chair at the top of the stool for comfortable sitting. This unique piece of kitchen furniture can perform double duty as it works as a step stool for the children and an extra seat for when company comes over.

Under the Counter TV/DVD/CD Player:

When you have children in the kitchen it is a great idea to have a TV/DVD/CD player to help entertain them while you multi-task to prepare dinner and lunches for school. By investing in an under the counter entertainment unit, you can save precious counter space and give yourself more room for cooking and preparing. Simply pop in one of their favorite DVD's, or put on one of their favorite TV shows, and your children will be occupied for plenty of time as you safely dice the vegetables for dinner.



Arianna Jordan is a freelance writer who writes about home decorating, often focusing on one type of decor such as kitchen furniture.