I have many fond recollections of standing on a chair and assisting my dad and mom inside the kitchen as a child. Even before I had my daughter, Ellie, I’d pictured baking excursion cookies and making homemade pasta sauce with my children assisting me inside the kitchen. But the photos in my head always worried a lot of older children – children who can help in the kitchen. I never pictured a younger toddler standing at the kitchen counter with me, even though Ellie has a special image in her head.
She likes to examine and is constantly interested in what I’m doing, so if I leave her to play on the floor while I’m cooking or baking, she’s no longer a pleased camper. She’s only one year old, so it’s clearly not secure to have her stand on a chair by using the counter.
Enter the Guidecraft Kitchen Helper. It’s an enclosed adjustable kitchen stool that adequately places Ellie at the counter with me. Even though it’s $169, it has been a complete game-changer and is absolutely well worth the price.
Before I had the Kitchen Helper, I’d try to cook food with one hand even as I held Ellie inside the different. This wasn’t clean or secure, particularly when I became close to the range or needed a knife. Now, she gets to look at everything I’m doing, even as I have each finger free, and she’s happy and entertained the entire time.
The whole product is manufactured from excellent and robust timber. The stool folds up in no time and without difficulty while you need to store it, and it takes much less than a minute to unfold and set up while you’re geared up to use it. I may even set it up with one hand if I’m keeping Ellie in the different.
The stool comes with a nonslip mat for children to face simultaneously inside the stool and a Kitchen Helper Keeper, a mesh masking for the open side of the stool where youngsters would step in or out. Once Ellie receives large sufficient, we’ll take this off to climb in and out on her own, but it keeps her safe and comfy within the stool for now.
The Kitchen Helper is available in 5 unique colors to pick out the one that first-rate suits your kitchen. We selected white. I like the layout because it seems more like a bit of furniture than a children’s item or toy. However, it has a few lovable features that would keep youngsters entertained, like shape cutouts on the perimeters (more on that later), a chalkboard on one facet, and a little whiteboard on the opposite side. Since Ellie is still so young, she hasn’t used these yet. However, I may want to see them laugh so she can play with them or write the dinner menu as she ages.
For now, Ellie loves looking at me from the stool while playing with bowls and measuring cups. I also use the stool to feed her a touch appetizer if she gets hungry, even as I’m still cooking dinner. I like that I can nonetheless supervise her while she’s eating instead of getting her to run away while I’m inside the kitchen.
This stool has already made preparing meals so much less demanding, and I can tell that Ellie loves it, too. If I begin cooking without her in the Kitchen Helper, she’ll stroll over to it and look at it.
When she gets older, she’ll be able to use the stool to help me put together ingredients and cook food. It’s essential for youngsters to research the technique of how meals arrive at the desk, so this is a remarkable product to start teaching from a young age.
Safety first
I did a great deal of research as I did earlier than shopping for this stool, and as robust as it has been so far, there may usually be the possibility that Ellie could attempt to climb out or fall, so I constantly maintain a very close eye on her so I’d urge you to do the equal with this or another product.
It would help if you were also very cautious with what you put on the counter in the stool’s front; you would be surprised at how far those little fingers can reach. Ensure you preserve any dangerous, warm, or sharp objects out of fingers’ reach.
Potential cons to taking into account
The nonslip mat tends to fall off frequently once I fold the Kitchen Helper to store it. This is an extra minor inconvenience, but it’s something to remember.
I’m also not a massive fan of the decorative square, superstar, and circle cutouts on the edges because they may be the precise foothold for my little climber. If you’re using this for a little one, you may want to be especially cautious after they enter the mountain climbing stage that Ellie is currently in. Once she’s a bit older, I do not assume this can be a trouble.
