The kitchen is one of the most magical places in your home. It’s where you and your family gather to eat delicious meals and talk about your day. It’s where the best chocolate chip cookies are created. The kitchen is also one of the most dangerous places in your house. Why? Because it contains several hazards and the high potential for unintentional fires.
Oven and Stove
While the stove is the most used appliance in the kitchen, the oven often goes unnoticed, especially when it comes to cleaning. Fat and grease can build up on the stove or on the underside of pans. When the grease heats up and drips onto the burner, the fat and grease can easily catch fire. Keeping the stove, oven, as well as your pots and pans can prevent grease and food fires in general.
Pot and Pan Handles
Another tip to keep you and your hands safe and free of burns is as you cook, keep pot and pan handles away from the forward edge of the stove. You’re less likely to bump the handle or worse, if you have small children in the kitchen with you, there is less of a temptation for them to pull the pan off the stove. Also, when you’re done with the oven, double-check that you’ve turned it off.
Appliances
The most important safety guide when it comes to appliances is to only use appliances that have been tested and approved. Don’t overload an electrical outlet and regularly check for worn, cracked, or broken wires. If you do find a problem, be sure to repair immediately or better yet, replace the defective appliance with a new one. It’s also smart to keep appliance cords toward the back of the counter to prevent them from, accidentally, being pulled down.
Microwave Ovens
While microwave ovens make our lives increasingly more convenience by cooking food super fast, it’s easy to forget that the food is super hot and will stay that way for a prolonged period of time after it’s removed from the microwave. And, for anyone that has removed a cup of liquid from the microwave can attest, not only are the contents hot, the container itself can be even hotter. Also, use only plastic containers clearly marked for microwave use only. Avoid contains you get from the grocery store that contained yogurt, butter, and other items as well as plastic takeout containers. Not only can they warp and melt, when heated they can leach chemicals into your food and even burn you. Lastly, never ever place aluminum foil or other metals in a microwave oven.
