With Shrove Tuesday falling today, lots of you will no doubt already be busy with the lemon juice, sugar and chocolate, making pancakes to your hearts’ content. Quite right too – we’re huge fans of the celebration here at Kitchen Design Centre, especially as it so often yields such delicious results! It’s a great opportunity for parents to do some fun, simple cooking with their children, and that got us thinking a bit about the implications… so today on the blog, we’re looking at kitchen design inspiration for spaces geared towards family cooking all year round!
Obviously, certain types of cooking lend themselves particularly well to being family activities, so it’s a good idea to consider those early. You may have seen our recent blog about baking, which is a great example of what we’re talking about. Baking is an ideal family activity as it encourages creativity, and like pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, the results are always sweet – making it a big children’s favourite! It’s worth remembering they’re usually foods for sharing, too – again, making them great for a family activity!
When cooking with particularly young children, a kitchen island is always an excellent choice. From a practical perspective, it keeps the messier activities confined to a single place, which might well make it easier for you to clean up afterwards. It also makes things safer – you can keep the more adult tasks (like chopping and blending) on your kitchen worktops, and keep the fun, safe activities (like mixing and whisking) on the kitchen island.
If you’re instead focused on keeping the island as simply a dining space, you’re also very likely to notice the benefit when the meal is almost done, too. Children and teenagers are notoriously impatient, so when the meal is finished, being able to transition directly from cooking to serving (without having to ferry plates from room to room) means that you can all be sitting down and eating in next to no time at all. It also means you get to keep an eye on the table, and make sure no one grabs a sneaky bite before everyone else has started!
When it comes to safety and convenience – two of the most vital considerations with family cooking – appliances like the induction hob are fantastic combinations of the two. It uses an electromagnetic circuit to heat pans, so it’s only on for as long as the pan itself is in contact. This makes it far harder for children to accidentally burn themselves, while having the neat bonus of being easier and more efficient to use for you, too.
Meanwhile, if you’re looking at cabinetry we’d always recommend gloss cabinets, which are easier to clean and wipe down if you’re anticipating a bit of mess when cooking with family. Handleless cabinetry is also ideal, as it can be quite effective in reducing the temptation for exceptionally young children to tug at them and pull them open – a common response when they see mysterious handles! It’s worth remembering that doesn’t mean they won’t be opened, though, so make sure you’re smart about where everything’s kept. (In short, nothing sharp in drawers close to the ground!)
Don’t forget, our talented kitchen designers here at Kitchen Design Centre are always here to help. If you’re a bit stuck for inspiration, pop into your nearest designer kitchen showroom in Blackburn, Manchester or our brand new location in Barrowford, and one of our team will be only too happy to help you realise your dream vision for your kitchen!
