How to child proof your kitchen appliances

Four ways to make your kitchen a safe area for little helpers.

With bright colours, delicious aromas and lots of electronic devices, the kitchen is a haven for young children. There are buttons to press, drawers to open and lots of shiny things to touch.

Your kitchen is full of hazards, and requires constant adult supervision. But let’s face it, it’s hard to give your child undivided attention when trying to prepare dinner. And if you do, the mac and cheese in the oven will burn and all the time and effort needed to prepare the dish will go up in flames (literally).

Getting your children involved in food preparation from an early age is important, so here are some appliance features to look out for when purchasing white goods for your family home.

Lock buttons

At NEFF, we believe in inspiring your child’s love of cooking from a young age. So, we’ve equipped all of our ovens with childproof safety locks that make your kitchen safe for small hands. As soon as you activate these safety features, your control panel will be locked so kids can’t switch things on accidently or change your settings. You can learn more about how to activate and deactivate our locks by reading the manual on our website.

Induction cooktops

Both children and adults are susptible to stove top burns. With induction cooking, heat is generated directly into the cookware, meaning the rest of the cooktop is cool to touch. All NEFF induction cooktops have a child lock feature, so you don’t have to worry about children burning themselves when they reach for the bench. But it is still good practice to leave simmering pots on the backburner so kids can’t spill hot food on themselves during the cooking process.

When you’ve finished using the cooktop, keep an eye on the dial for an update on the residual heat. When marked with a ‘H’ it is still too hot to touch and little hands should be kept away.

Glazed doors

Oven handles can look like monkey bars for young children. Most standard ovens are double glazed, but when it comes to cooking with kids, NEFF knows you don’t like to take any risks. We offer quadruple glazed CoolTouch doors on our ovens. This has two benefits; it will help keep the heat locked inside your oven (for more efficient cooking) while also keeping the outside of the oven door cool to the touch while the oven is in use, protecting kids from accidental burns.

Slide&Hide® doors

It can be difficult to remove food from the oven without grazing your arm on the way out, especially if you are carrying a heavy dish or a fussy baby that can’t be put down. And kids running around the kitchen are constantly at risk when there’s an oven door open.

Keep your children safe and minimise your risk of getting burnt with a NEFF Slide&Hide® oven which makes it much easier to remove food once it has finished cooking. The telescopic rails allow you to have easy access to your cooking for all your basting and adjusting needs.