Child locks for kitchen/household cupboards... 22 December 2004 at 12:14PM in Marriage, relationships & families 16 replies 3.5K views

John_M_Business

Hi there

Have a very active 14 monther who is trying desperately hard to investigate just about everything... which is fine by me, but I am fed up with the child locks we got from Homebase - they are far too flimsy and I've already had to replace about four of them in the last six months.

I was just wondering whether anyone else here has had experience of good child locks for ground level cupboards... they need to be:
- strong / lasting
- easy to use (i.e. aren't 'adult' locks too!)
- discreet (i.e. not on the front of the door)

Anyone got any recommendations?

Thanks

John

Nile

As the kitchen can be a very unsafe area for a child to be in, wouldn't a gate across the kitchen door be a better idea?

Murphy_The_Cat

Would a gate across the kitchen door be a good idea ??

It would be a good idea if you don't mind your Tot screaming and crying because he cant see what his Mum or Dad is doing in the other room ;D

A really cheap idea is to get strong elastic bands and wrap themn around the handles of double cupboards - but of no use at all with single cupboards.

Or move everything of danger/damageable from ground level and let your Tot explore at his/her leisure.

MTC ;D

Spendless

A gate would be awkward for us too as we have to walk thru dining room to access kitchen so a gate would keep them out of 2 rooms and we wouldn't be able to see them.

I also did rubber bands and moved things about to adult height level. With a cupboard that opens into dining room i filled it with their toys, so they were more interested in what was in there.

jellyhead

i used the same child locks from mothercare for years, they didn't break. as soon as i removed them my nephew ate a washing powder tablet - ick!

John_M_Business

- Rubber bands - no good, most of the locks would be for single doors AND he's too strong.
- Child gate - no good, open plan living area, there are two entrances to the kitchen area, one of which is 2 metres wide

Essentially, I don't mind him being in the kitchen. He is well behaved and generally does what he's asked to do, and all dangerous items are out of reach... BUT I would prefer to ensure that he does not go fishing in cupboards.

Will look at the Mothercare ones...

Savvy_Sue

Magnetic ones may fit the bill. And you can get them from Niche Locks.

Described in detail here - check your doors are thick enough to take them. They sell both single packs and multipacks.

They are a bit fiddly to fit but very discreet. I believe you can 'switch them off' if you don't need them any longer.

The downside is that you then have to keep the magnet which opens the cupboards in a safe place, but I believe it is designed not be a choking hazard - you might want to check this! Put one of the magnets in a safe place because I can vouch for the fact that it takes a very strong magnet to unlock them! (Someone put both magnets down inside the cupboard and shut the door ... fortunately ours weren't very well aligned and I managed to jiggle one door open, but it took several weeks or intermittent jiggling to do it!)

Glad

we used this type from mothercare
lasted through 2 children and then removed them and passed them on to friends

robnye

we used this type from mothercare
lasted through 2 children and then removed them and passed them on to friends

oh my goodness.... I thought you meant the kids when i first read this
;D :P

beanytot

I am pretty sure we got ours from Mothercare (although not the ones mentioned above). You can turn them sideways so that they don't 'catch' if you want to.

John_M_Business

Thanks for all your help.

The Mothercare ones you've shown are similar to the ones that I already have, I am quite interested in the magnetic ones - they seem an innovative solution - if more expensive...