Childproofing the Kitchen and Dining Room: A 10-Step Checklist for Toddler Parents

The kitchen is the heart of the house, and toddlers know it. It's where the food is, where you are, and where all the interesting stuff happens. It's also the room with the most heat, sharp edges, chemicals and climbable furniture packed into one space.

When our twins started walking, I realized I'd childproofed the outlets and the stairs but barely thought about the kitchen and dining room. Then our son Reuben pushed off the table in his booster seat, his chair went over backwards, and we spent the evening in urgent care. That's when I started looking at the kitchen the way a toddler does.

Here's the checklist I wish I'd had, split into the kitchen and the dining area.

Why the kitchen deserves extra attention

Burns are one of the biggest kitchen risks for little kids. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that about 69,100 children a year were treated in emergency rooms for burns between 2019 and 2023, and about 20,100 of them were under age 2 (CPSC). Add knives, cleaning products and chairs that double as ladders, and it's worth taking an hour to go through the room properly.

Kitchen childproofing checklist

1. Make the stove a no-go zone

• Cook on the back burners when you can, and turn pot handles toward the wall.
• Add stove knob covers if your child can reach the knobs.
• If you have a freestanding range, make sure it's installed with an anti-tip bracket. The CPSC recommends this to prevent scalding and crushing injuries.
• Don't hang dish towels on the oven door. A toddler can pull on them and bring the door down.

2. Keep hot food and drinks away from edges

Push hot dishes and mugs to the middle of the counter or table, and use lidded cups for coffee and tea. Dayton Children's Hospital also suggests skipping tablecloths and runners, because toddlers pull themselves up on whatever they can reach, including a tablecloth with hot food on it.

3. Lock up chemicals, pods and sharp things

• Put safety latches on the cabinets under the sink and on any drawer with knives, scissors or foil boxes with sharp edges.
• Move dishwasher pods, cleaners and medicines up high and behind a latch.
• Load knives and forks into the dishwasher point-down, and keep little ones away while you unload it.

4. Tame appliances and cords

Push the toaster, coffee maker and kettle to the back of the counter, and tuck the cords away. A dangling cord is an invitation to pull a hot appliance down.

5. Plan for dinner prep

The hour before dinner is the most chaotic and often the riskiest. Use a gate, a play yard or a buckled high chair with a snack while you cook. Just keep the high chair far enough from the counter that they can't reach off-limits items, as Orlando Health recommends.

Dining room childproofing checklist

6. Make the chairs harder to tip

This is the one most checklists skip. Kitchen and dining chairs are built for adults sitting still, not toddlers climbing, standing and pushing off the table. Most chairs tip backwards over the two back legs.

We designed the Jackaroo Leg to widen the base of those back legs so a lean or push is much less likely to send the chair over. It straps onto the chairs you already own, so there's no need for new furniture. For more on why chairs go over so easily, read our post on how to stop kids from tipping over chairs.

7. Treat every chair as a climbing chair

Toddlers don't pick the safest chair. They pick the closest one. Push chairs all the way in after meals, keep them away from counters and windows, and protect every chair at the table, not just your child's seat. A 4-pack of Jackaroo Legs saves 15%, which covers a standard kitchen table.

8. Get the booster seat right

If your child sits in a booster on a regular chair, strap the booster to the chair, buckle your child in, and push the chair close to the table so there's less room to push off. We walk through it step by step in how to keep a booster seat from tipping over.

9. Watch out for furniture they'll climb next

Kids who climb chairs move on to sideboards, bar carts and bookshelves. Anchor tall or top-heavy furniture to the wall, and don't keep tempting things like snacks, remotes or phones on top of it.

10. Pad sharp corners at toddler height

Glass tables and sharp-cornered tables sit right at forehead height for a new walker. Corner guards are cheap and easy to remove once your kids are older.

Quick tips that make it stick

• Get down to their level. Crawl through the kitchen and dining room and look for what's reachable, pullable and climbable.
• Use one simple rule. "Chairs are for sitting" or "Four legs on the floor," said the same way every time.
• Recheck every few months. What your toddler can reach changes fast.
• Childproof Grandma's house too. Kitchens you visit often deserve the same quick check.

The short version

• Cook on back burners, turn handles in, and fit an anti-tip bracket on freestanding ranges.
• Keep hot food and drinks away from edges, and skip tablecloths.
• Latch cabinets with chemicals, pods and sharp tools.
• Push appliances back and hide cords.
• Make every dining chair harder to tip, and get the booster seat setup right.
• Anchor climbable furniture and pad sharp corners.

Ready to make your table safer? See how the Jackaroo Leg works.

Greg Dunn is the inventor of the Jackaroo Leg and a dad of three, including twins.