Kids grow up pretty quickly, so any kids space also has to function as future grown up space. I've done several "baking areas" with lowered counters where kids could work. One lady found a cartoon looking microwave that only had a dial and put in a fridge drawer, and that was their special area to grab a snack and heat it up. And mom could still roll out cookies when the kids got older and put the Kitchenaid in place of the MW.

Multiple levels in seating is also important. If you have enough room, put in a lower butcher block "chopping" area on your island that can tuck a few normal height dining chairs underneath on two corners. Small ones find tall seating more difficult, but they will be fine with it after they grow a bit. And you can always use a dedicated chopping area in the future.

Have at least one drawer for their project stuff, down low on the bottom where they can reach it. A shallow cubby with doors for art supplies can hold paper products or large cans later.

Above all, don't buy them "baby stuff" for their kitchen supplies. If their hands can't handle the real thing, then they aren't ready for it yet. But, even a 3 year old can operate their own sifter and think it's fun! Have them their own smaller special "cookie bowl" mixing bowl. Their own aprons, of course. Individual ramekins can serve as kid sized dishes for a lot of projects but also serve you as well for grownups. Get them their own cookbooks, starting with something simple at first, but buy them each a true "grownup" cookbook like Betty Crocker and help them to prepare the simplest recipes from it as a start. Teach them safe practices from the beginning, starting with "Hot and Sharp" and to respect the ability of a kitchen to hurt you. You can have budding chefs on your hands!

Sadly, my own motivation to learn to cook was about creating more edible food than my mother prepared, and she was probably so open about me being in the kitchen because she wasn't very good at at it and wanted the help! I was able to prepare my first complete Thanksgiving dinner all by myself at 11, from scratch, with home made Parker House rolls and everything. I just read the Betty Crocker recipes and followed them, which is why I suggested a grown up cookbook for the kids, no matter how little they might be now. They might surprise you!

Good luck!

When my kids were little, I just made sure they had a drawer or cabinet full of things that were OK for them to play with... Pots and pans, Tupperware types of containers, and measuring cups.

As LWO said, kids grow fast and the important thing is that the kitchen design helps make it possible for them to work beside you (maybe from a stool for awhile), and then separate from you... with enough room and with traffic patterns designed so people aren't walking on each other. Now that my kids are older, I really appreciate having the baking area separate from cooking, and the cleanup and dish area separate from the cooking area, too, so they can do important (and fun) kitchen tasks while I do mine.

For the really little ones (1 to 3), I liked having a big sink in which I could sit someone to play in the water while I cooked. They got clean and had fun, and at a good height for talking and watching while I worked.

My aim in designing our new kitchen was to make them (and eventually, hopefully, their children, too) comfortable and welcome in the kitchen (and safe, of course) from early ages into adulthood. We have a couple areas where the counter is just a few inches lower, which is nice for the kids, and for me at just under 5'4.

Also consider what they can do for themselves--18 mo. is too young, but around 4-5, mine started being able to make themselves cereal in the AM because we put the bowls & cereal in a bottom cab. And they could get themselves water, because the cups were down there, too. I'll tell you, when we got to where the oldest could do breakfast for the two of them & turn on the TV, I got an extra hour of sleep on weekends, very valuable!

Mine tended to perch on stools at the counters, not have really safe looking things like that Learning Tower--which looks cool, but would take up SO much space, and you really wouldn't need it for that long.

Oh, kid questions are so much fun! First of all, baking is the best time I had, when in the kitchen...and my grandmother gave me the little bread pans and mini muffin pans, to put in my own little area. It's also fun to have a place for all the sprinkles, frosting tubes, cookie cutters, etc. I put a lot of things in baskets and containers, so they're easy to find and spread out to see what we want to use.

Maybe the most important thing I can think of...don't give the kids a baking area, where they can't spill stuff or make a mess. Make sure their area is strawberry juice, red dye, sprinkle-melting, safe! That means a countertop that can take some abuse and doesn't have to be babied. There's nothing more disappointing for a little one (IMHO) than to be having a good time, only to be told...how could you spill that...or how could you make such a mess? Kids make messes...and I still do, when I bake. It's fun! If baking is fun, kids will want to do it their entire lives. As they get older, they can be a little more organized and careful...and move up to more delicate surfaces :)

I am delurking in defense of the learning tower. I consider it to be the top choice of all toys/equipment for toddlers and small children. My children loved to be in the kitchen - chopping with plastic knives; rolling dough; washing dishes and shelling peas and beans. Each learning tower easily fits 2 children; and it can be used ouside the kitchen as a fort; puppet theatre; lemonade stand - limited only by imagination. Since the height is adjustable and my children are 3 years apart we used every day for 7 years and have just given up now that the youngest is 6.

I've always thought that the Learning Tower looked really neat. I can't imagine having to store it either, though. A nice folding step stool would probably work almost as well, with the bonus that it could *go away*. It would be more versatile and less expensive, too.

Our younger children have a small folding step stool that they use all the time. It goes under the sink when not in use. Except for when they forget to put it away, and then I find it by tripping over it. Eek! So, one that has a handle up high would help put it in sight and make it less of a tripping hazard.

We also keep our dishes in lower cupboards so that our young children can help set the table.

I like the Ecover dishwasher tablets for our Bosch dishwasher. (They're about the only kind that works in this machine, for some reason.) But my point is that the tablets are nice for our children to help load and run the dishwasher, since they're already portioned out. No sloppy liquid or powder spilling all over the place.

I think the most helpful thing for kids in the kitchen is the parents' outlook. : ) If you want them in there with you, and you make it a positive experience for them, taking the time to instruct them, it will go a long way toward them enjoying the time spent in there with you, and ultimately being able to take care of their own families someday.

When my son was 1.5 (now almost 8) Santa brought him the Kitchen Helper. At the time I think it was a little cheaper than the Learning Tower one. He loved to help in the kitchen and wanted to be at the counter with me even if I was only dumping some Cheerios into a bowl for him. After a few near misses on a chair, I figured $150 or so was worth my nerves and possible hours spent in an ER from a bad fall.

We still use it occasionally even though he's well over 4' tall now. The one I have folds and I just folded it for the first time now that we've started demo on the kitchen. It folds pretty flat for the size and is nice and stable on the feet even while folded, though you have to use a hex wrench on one bolt that holds down the base so it can flip up to fold. Not sure if that has changed in design over the years to make it simpler.

We have #2 coming at the end of the summer and I'm thrilled this is one of the few items of "baby" gear I never got rid of and will be able to use it often again in a couple of years. I think I will even hang onto it for grandchildren--I love it that much.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen Helper

No time to read through previous responses so hope this is not too redundant. DD is 3 if it helps you assess these thoughts, and we've been in our new kitchen about 15 months.

1) Cooktop controls back on the counter, not at front of the stove. Ours run sideways from back to front of counter.

2) We haven't felt the need of a learning tower, though I seriously considered buying one of the collapsible ones-- one small stable single stepstool is plenty (DD is tall, but they have to be kind of tall before you want them doing much cooking). She steps up and can reach to stir, pour, etc.

3) Everything stored below the counter is safe for kids to bang around or wear if they must-- pots, colanders, trays, canned goods, silverware, measuring cups, pyrex, pans. Everything dangerous (glassware, cleaning supplies, knives, dish and DW soap, vitamins) is in uppers or pantry (which DD can't access without adult getting her through gate). It was so worth it to design this way. No need for latches and annoying locks on everything. Much lower anxiety level as my only main safety focus is the oven and stovetop.

4) Keep the microwave above the counter-- too dangerous for fire if it's low and you don't notice that it was turned on empty.

5) Lots of ways to store knives besides drawers below counters-- ours are in block in far back corner of counter (furthest from floor) and some will be on magnetic strip one of these days (currently sticking out of random Tupperware near knife block).

6) DD's own plates and cups are below counter for her easy access (and "help" unloading DW, though I usually do it while she's eating at the counter).

7) I was surprised by how young DD was when she was perfectly capable of climbing up and down into her own swivel counter-height stool to sit at the kitchen counter.

8) Great small, wooden Ikea toy kitchen nearby for DD to cook along with me that way, too.

9) We use the kitchen timer on the oven to time things for DD (3 minutes to bedtime! 5 minutes to dinner time!) Occasionally we now have a problem because a) she turns it off at our request but uses the general "off" button instead of the kitchen timer and turns off something that was cooking in the oven or b) she just randomly turns off the kitchen timer that someone was cooking with, and the cook is later surprised to discover that the timer and perhaps oven are off.

10. If you have to have an outlet cover in the side of an island or whatever, they make ones with a slide-aside safety part that is easier to maintain and use than little plastic plugs.
    Good luck. I have gotten so much joy from cooking with DD-- it is not yet her favorite thing to do, but it's growing on her.

I am putting my dishes in drawers and a microwave drawer. I also think window seat benches are nice for kids hanging out.