With the right design, a kitchen can become the heart of a home. It is the place where the whole family can gather to prepare meals, talk about the day, or simply hang out and enjoy a quick snack. Some careful planning is involved however in creating the perfect family-friendly kitchen, especially when small kids are around. The space must be safe, efficient and useful – all while presenting a welcoming atmosphere so the family has somewhere to gather.

Here are just a few of our favorite ideas to make your kitchen kid-friendly.

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Designate a “Helper Spot”

If small kids are going to be in the kitchen with you, they want to feel involved. Getting a “helper stool” that’s tall enough to reach the sink for hand washing and designating a special spot in the kitchen for them to work can make kids feel proud of the fact that they’re helping. There are even specialized safe kitchen tools and child-size aprons that can be placed at the designated spot so that your kids have everything they need to help you make a delicious meal.

Map Out Your Meals

A fun way to get the whole family involved in the entire process of meal planning and prep is to have a bulletin board with a “meal map.” This involves pockets where all your recipes are kept, laminated shopping checklists, and a weekly calendar. You and your kids can start the week off by going through recipes to pick out meals for the week, selecting the required ingredients off the shopping checklist, and then writing the meals in their proper place. Not only does this give the kids some responsibility in planning out meals, but it teaches them the importance of meal prep and planning early on so that they are ready for healthy eating when it’s up to them to start cooking for themselves.

Island Living

Photo: Becky Sweeten – Blizzard 2141

The kitchen should be an inviting place providing areas for your kids to do their homework, read or simply sit and talk. While there are plenty of options, from installing bar seating to adding small side tables, utilizing an island design gives you the flexibility to have an all-in-one space for cooking, eating and a variety of family activities.

Caesarstone quartz surfaces for the island give the kitchen a modern, trendy look while providing an easily cleaned and durable surface.

Make a Kid-Friendly Dishwasher Magnet

Even adults must ask each other if the dishes are clean or dirty. A fun way to bring a personalized family touch to your kitchen is to make a dishwasher magnet. Take two photos, either of the whole family or just the kids, and place one on each half of a magnet, facing opposite directions. This way, you can designate one picture for clean and one for dirty, rotating the magnet whenever you load or start the dishwasher.

Grab-and-Go Activities

While it’s great to have little helpers in the kitchen, sometimes the meal prep involves sharp tools or specific processes that it’s best the kids don’t help with. For these moments, it’s great to have a basket of fun puzzles or games on an easily reachable shelf that the kids can grab and take to the table or kitchen seating, so they have something to do while still spending time with you in the kitchen.

Caesarstone: Designed to Be Family-Friendly

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Caesarstone®, we know the kitchen should be a warm and welcoming place for the whole family. Friendly design concepts can go a long way to accomplishing this. Our quartz countertops, for instance, not only bring beauty and a timeless aesthetic to the kitchen, but they are durable and long-lasting so that they are ready to handle the messes of a kitchen full of kids.

To learn more about our line of products, visit www.caesarstoneus.com today!

Image: Andi Huber – Calacattta Nuvo 5131