Kitchen Design Safety

Drawers should have stoppers to keep them from sliding out completely.

The kitchen is often the busiest room in a home, sometimes working also as a dining, entertaining or study area. However, a typical kitchen can also include a host of cooking devices and implements that can cause serious injury. A properly designed kitchen should consider safety by employing smart layout choices, fixtures and appliances with the latest safety features, non-slip floor materials, and childproofing measures as needed.

Layouts

According to the National Kitchen & Bath Association, a kitchen designer must consider how the room's layout affects foot traffic and efficiency in the kitchen. The placement of microwaves, bins and sliding cabinets should allow the users ready access to needed items without too much reaching or bending. The overhead lighting design should spread spread light evenly across the entire kitchen, with extra task lights shining on work surfaces. Ranges or other potentially combustible components should not sit near exit points.

Fixtures

Homeowners should take steps to ensure that drawers, cabinets and other fixed components in a kitchen do not threaten injury. Drawers, for instance, should include stoppers that keep them from pulling out all the way out and possibly falling. Counter tops and cabinet edges should have rubberized guards or rounded tips to prevent injuries in case someone bumps or falls into them. Counter top placement should take the potential for bumped heads into consideration, recessing the cabinets so that they remain accessible without presenting a safety hazard.

Materials

The incorporation of safe finishing materials in a kitchen can help ensure its safety as a work area. Floors that become slippery when wet pose a serious danger, especially if someone slips while holding a knife or hot dish. Wood, vinyl or ceramic flooring materials that feature a matte, textured or soft-glazed finish can add extra resistance to prevent slips. A rug with a non-skid bottom can provide more secure footing around water-prone areas.

Appliances

The right choice of appliances can improve safety conditions in a kitchen. Glass-topped stoves, for instance, pose no threat of open flames, while ovens with heat-resistant quadruple glazing on their doors can keep people from accidentally burning themselves on the oven door during cooking. Every kitchen should include a space to hang a fire extinguisher near an exit, away from cooking spaces that might ignite and bar access to the extinguisher during a fire. Water faucets should include some provision to prevent accidental scalding.

Considerations

The addition of small children or pets to a home could require the homeowners to make modifications to the kitchen to provide greater safety. Safety gates installed at kitchen entrances can keep children from wandering into the kitchen area where hot appliances or dishes could harm them, while also keeping pets from getting underfoot. Homeowners may also need to replace electric outlet covers with sliding, self-closing cover plates that a child cannot remove.

References

• National Kitchen & Bath Association: Steps to a Safe Kitchen
• Renovation Headquarters: Kitchen Design and Layout
• Bob Vila: Childproofing the Kitchen