The average kitchen can be busy, loud, and a flurry of activity. People gather, they sneak a taste before dinner, they yell to be heard over each other and the small appliances. But isn’t this what makes this room the heart of the home?

The important thing when working and gathering in your kitchen is to make sure that all the chaos is somewhat controlled. We all know that kitchen safety should always be a concern but how do we keep that in mind while we are concentrating on entertaining and creating a pleasurable meal for a busy and expectant crowd. Well at Barrier Free, we feel that the best way to stay safe is to plan for safety from the start.

Below, we offer five very important kitchen safety tips that everyone should take to heart. If you would like to find more, the National Kitchen and Bath Association offers additional advice and information.

Top Five Kitchen Safety Tips:

• Make sure you have good lighting in the kitchen. Good lighting is much safer no matter what room we’re talking about, but the kitchen is that much more important because of the nature of the activities we do there.
• Reduce danger of falling by using flooring that’s slip resistant. Again, the kitchen can be more dangerous than other rooms because the floor could be wet or greasy. Additionally, you are potentially dealing with boiling pans, knives or electrical appliances. Floors that are slippery are bad news.
• Keep a fire extinguisher on hand in case of fire. Don’t keep it close to the stove or cook top because if a fire starts in that area, the fire’s location might be such that you can’t reach your extinguisher.
• Make sure your water temperatures are appropriately regulated. Faucets that have anti-scald devices are a good idea, and specialized faucets are available you can program to your preferred setting.
• Keep switches, plugs and lighting fixtures away from water and drippy hands.

Wheelchair Accessible Kitchens

The above tips apply to any kitchen. Barrier-Free Architecturals can help make your wheelchair accessible kitchen just as easy and safe to work in as a general kitchen. We offer products such as the Diago Wall Cabinet Lift, which brings your cabinets and their contents down to you, adjustable shelf lifts that do the same thing with shelves. We also offer work surface lifts that allow a customizable height for kitchen work surfaces. Making your kitchen accessible, as well as comfortable and safe, is what we’re passionate about! We do lots of work helping folks feel in control and productive in their kitchens because we think it’s great to help people to maintain or regain comfort in “the heart of the home.”