I'd suggest getting a wall oven and an induction cooktop.

1. The wall oven's doors won't be sticking out nearly as far making for less chances for accidents.

2. The height makes it much easier, and therefore safer, to load and unload.

3. The induction cooktop has no open flame and only the area under the pot gets hot because it's the pot that heats the food and cooktop. (cleanup is easier too).

4. Because the non-cooking surface on the induction cooktop is cool, you can put some of the prepped ingredients there making it easier to put them in the pot.

5. No poisonous gas fumes, no open flame, more efficient. (Whether the burners are opened or sealed doesn't make any difference because both have open flames and fumes.)

Pictures of our kitchen.

Kitchen · More Info

Kitchen · More Info

Kitchen · More Info

Consumer Reports April & November 2018 (click on pic)

Pro items seldom do well on CR because CR focuses on lowest common denominator. Most pro items need some tuning upon installation to really get the most out of them. CR treats everything as if they were a low end consumer and just unboxes and tests.

We don’t do fancy cooking, just 30 min meal type family dinners, occasional cooking for crowds, and frequent baking

We have a Bluestar, but for your circumstances it might be overkill. Take the money you save and buy a wall oven in addition to a range, if you have the space for it.

"Most pro items need some tuning upon installation to really get the most out of them."

"Honey, this meatloaf seems, well, a little off."

"Oh, darn. Forgot to tune the oven."

"Is Mr. Willoughby coming tomorrow to tune the Steinway?"

"Why yes! I have him tune the Bluestar as well. You'll be singing my praises after tomorrow's casserole!"

There is nothing wrong with any of the recommendations here. Sounds as if you'd be happy with a Bluestar, with an induction stove, or pretty much with most other types of decent-quality stoves.

But just for the record, don't worry too much about the stove being kid-friendly. I have a Kindergartener and a 2nd Grader. They are perfectly comfortable helping me when I cook on the Bluestar RNB (open burners). It's not that difficult to teach kids how to use tools correctly.

But then, they use power drills, palm sanders, pull saws and other wood-working tools. The older one also knows how to use a chop saw, a bandsaw, and a jig saw. All of these activities require adult supervision though. And that's probably what you need to initially do for the stove as well, until you trust your kids to understand how the tool works.

Also, "open burners" doesn't really say much about safety -- or lack thereof. The safety record is pretty much the same for all gas stoves. The burner design mostly makes a difference when cleaning up spills (and when talking about even heat distribution). And yes, I absolutely prefer the Bluestar's ease of cleaning over closed gas burners.

If ease of cleaning is the primary driving force, then an induction stove would probably be an even better fit for you, though.

I have an open burner range. Not a problem for my kids (10 and 13). I've had induction and it's a heck of a lot easier to clean and control. You don't get hot handles. But kids do pay attention to actual FIRE.

Get the range you want. Your kids will be awesome with it, whatever it is.

If you want to explore induction check appliance stores for a unit set up for demoing. Miele Experience Centers are good if close to you. Bosch Benchmark or 800 ranges are options.

I'd really recommend induction stove for the safety issues -- not just lack of fire, but the elements will turn themselves off if there's no pot or pan there for a minute or so. Of course, it won't stop the accidental boiling a pot dry :(

" BTW, I think the burners are far less of a danger to your kids than hot pots, spoons or hot liquids so I don't think an induction would be of much benefit from a kid safety standpoint. "

You really think a hot pot is more of a danger than an open flame? Seriously? A misplaced kitchen towel won't catch fire from a hot saucepan or steaming liquid. And I say induction safety is valuable for everyone, but especially those who might be paying less attention or be less precise in their manipulations (the old and the young).

I have a couple of induction plates to use with the younger ones. An open flame is one component of the cooking process that can pose a hazard to anyone, that you can eliminate. Kids are just more prone to "forget". My MIL got forgetful around an open flame and I had an elderly neighbor that caught her kitchen on fire. I can see wanting to eliminate that hazard.

"You really think a hot pot is more of a danger than an open flame? Seriously?"

Yes, about 38:1. Ask your local emergency room how many burns they see from hot liquids and hot pots vs flames and kitchen towels that caught on fire. But wait, there's more (RIP Billy Mays)... Burns from hot liquids are not only much more prevalent but also much more serious. Burns from a flame (burner or towel) or hot pot tend to be not so deep and in a small area while burns from liquids cover a much greater area, burn longer and burn deeper.

So, an induction top will pose less risk than an open burner but we're likely talking about something like a 1 in 800,000 years risk. It simply does not happen very often. It is likely less risky than being a cheerleader.

U.S. kids face a much greater risk from people driving cars where they are 3 to 4 times as likely to be killed and 7 times as likely to be seriously injured as kids in The Netherlands or Sweden or Germany or other countries. If you want to mitigate risk to our children then work towards safer street designs. Second to this is obesity and lack of activity so encourage them to walk or ride bicycles to school and the perhaps the family can ride bicycles to dinner and maybe even eat something healthier.

Fatalities and serious (perm/debilitating) injuries based on ICD codes for children 0-17 years old over the past 6 years for one data set in the U.S.:

1 Fire Burn

29 liquid burns

5,489 motor vehicle.

I ran it very quickly but I believe it's correct. I had to go back 6 years to get a fire burn. I've no idea if this fire burn is from a kitchen or house or campfire.

The range will last forever. Tweens will be gone in a few short years. Training and temperament have more impact on safety in my opinion. I have one kid who is super careful and another that no matter how old they are, will probably be the one to leave the stove on, and the sink running, and the fridge door open....

I Love made up stats with no sources. Valuable. . . . .Another safety difference in the hot pan category. Gas heats up the sides of the pan and especially the handle. They can get hot enough to burn you or a child. Induction doesn't . . . . so you can reduce some of those hot pan trips to the ER.

Opaone, can you post a source for your statistics?

I can't. It's out of a health insurance industry database. However, you can contact emergency rooms in your area and they can give you similar information. Google should also give you a number of similar reports.

Thanks for sharing opaone, sounds Iike you have an interesting line of work. Always nice to see someone share their opinion with data to support their claim.

This is from the Burn Foundation and their sources are at the bottom of the article.

This is a larger sample. How many injuries are not reported? They don't differentiate for instapots or gas burners but it is the most specific stats I could find.

"WHAT ARE THE MOST FREQUENT SOURCES OF THESE INJURIES?

Scalds from spilled food and beverages: 100,000

(Child pulls pot off of stove)

(Toddler bumps into adult carrying or holding hot food or beverage)

(Toddler pulls tablecloth, spilling hot food or beverage off of table)

Scalds from tap water:5,000

(Child unattended in bath turns hot water faucet)

(Inexperienced caretaker fails to test hot water temperature)

Contact with hot objects: 60,000

Clothing irons (toddler touches or falls against iron): 10,000

Hair curlers (toddler grasps hot hair curler): 8,700

Ranges (toddler touches heating element): 5,800

WHAT ARE OTHER FREQUENT SOURCES OF BURNS TO CHILDREN?

Fireworks: 3,200

Gasoline (child playing with matches and gasoline): 1,500

Cigarettes and other tobacco products (often child abuse): 1,500

http://www.burnfoundation.org/programs/resource.cfm?c=1&a=12

In in looking at safety, I would seek to eliminate whatever hazards I could. Just because scalding happens more often does not mean you would not want to prevent other types of burns. Would you let them play with gasoline? This does not infantilize but it does mean you need to evaluate what your child is capable of and there level of attentiveness.

My questions would be what can you do to prevent injury from a burner and from the instapot-both. Which type of hazard is more easily mitigated? A flame is always there. You can supervise. You can move the hot pot out of the way or avoid cord placement that is accessible to be pulled. I think this is the reason you are required to have outlets on islands-no draping cords across where people walk.

I worked for many years in critical care and surgery in a couple of large community hospitals. Our serious burns were transferred to specialized units but I don't know of any parents, except in a case of abuse that would not have done anything they could to prevent injury to their child. Sometimes they didn't understand the danger until something bad happened but many burns would have been preventable.

There are some adults that like the no open flame aspect of induction too. It is interesting in some of the discussions about induction as a safety measure for older adults, no one questions it but they do with kids.

https://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Things-Should-Your-Children/dp/0451234197

And here are the 50 things.

It's always interesting to see the cultural divides that come up around house topics. My two cents is that you need to supervise your children around flames until they are old enough and practiced enough to be trustworthy on their own.

My children were able to build and tend to fires in our outdoor fireplace from a pretty young age. I had neighbors who practically called CPS on me over the issue. I'll take a self-confident and capable child over a child who is treated as though he is feeble-minded any day.

PS And children should also know what to do if something goes wrong around fire.

Whatever you choose, its great that you involve your kids in cooking.

Please teach them how to put out a fire on the stove.

Please teach them where your fire extinguisher is, and how to use it. Do a real demo outside, they'll have a blast and they will know that the trigger on the extinguisher requires a bit of strength and not be intimidated by it.

haven’t managed to read all replies, but cooking seems inherently dangerous, what with knife usage, peelers, graters, boiling pots of water, scorching hot oven racks (have burned my forearms more than once), what seems to make a kitchen safer is practice, confidence, focus, cleanliness and order, proper tools and proper use, very similar to gardening, I don’t think gas stoves are much more dangerous than any other stove (except the obvious, no dangly bits near the flames), one thing is for sure, it’s easy to tell when the heat is on, unlike conventional stove tops, my grandparents burnt down a kitchen by leaving something combustible (like a phone book or tea towel) on a hot element

" my grandparents burnt down a kitchen by leaving something combustible (like a phone book or tea towel) on a hot element "

That's where the safety of induction would help -- the "burners" don't heat up, and without a cooking vessel on the burner, it turns itself off.

" Please teach them where your fire extinguisher is, and how to use it. Do a real demo outside, they'll have a blast and they will know that the trigger on the extinguisher requires a bit of strength and not be intimidated by it. "

Great idea! I've never actually used a fire extinguisher, but you're right that it's probably a good thing to practice at least once.

There is a lot of danger in the world. Some is worth mitigating, such as road fatalities, but other cases may not be worth the trouble. There is also a gob of needless fear of things that are not that dangerous (http://www.freerangekids.com) and this needless fear can result in more harm than good.

An induction range top is likely safer than gas. But how much safer? And how much of a realistic risk is a gas range? From what I can tell they are not a big risk. As @wekick's post above indicates, a clothing iron is about twice as dangerous.

I think induction range tops are great for many people but I'm not sure that safety is a reason to get one if you prefer to cook on gas.

apparently the magnetic forces that operate induction stoves can make some people feel dizzy? was just reading this online. I’ve only ever used electric or gas. some of the electric stoves were terrible, scorching hot on the outside (side walls, oven glass), elements that stayed hot forever and ever (after taking eons to heat up), electric shocks (multiple from different stoves) when using for ex., a metal spoon and a metal pan....I’ve had less issues with gas, but one problem I’m currently having is when the flame is low, I forget it’s on (periodically), with electric at least there was usually a light to indicate the heat was on.

Okay, I will admit that I stopped reading the posts about the time that wekick last posted (nothing personal wekick). I just wanted to say that I love my induction cooktop. I love that it is easy to clean, and I love that I don't have to worry about turning it off, or that my towels don't catch fire, but I HAVE noticed that my pot handles get hot. Any ideas how to prevent that?

" apparently the magnetic forces that operate induction stoves can make some people feel dizzy? "

It wouldn't surprise me if a (relatively) very few people were that sensitive to magnetic fields of that frequency, in the same way that some people get headaches or nausea from fluorescent bulbs or even some computer monitors.

well that would be me, sensitive to a lot of things other people aren’t, or haven’t noticed they are anyway, I get migraines from everything, steam, weather changes, flickering lights, dust, intense noise, odour blah blah blah, it’s hard for others to believe it but for me it’s real