How To Avoid Dangerous Kitchen Appliances In The Home

The kitchen is the most dangerous room in any household, combining water, heat and electricals all in one place. At any given time, you could have three or more potentially dangerous kitchen appliances running all at once; from the washing machine, to the fridge freezer, microwave, hob, toaster, tumble dryer or dishwasher. All kitchen appliances can pose a serious safety risk if not used correctly or properly maintained. In fact, statistics show that half of all accidental household fires begin in the kitchen.

Fires are not the only potential safety hazard you need to be aware of when it comes to your kitchen appliances. Combining water with electrical appliances and power sockets can result in electrocution if people do not exercise the right care and attention in the kitchen. Those with a smaller kitchen are often at an increased risk as this will mean their smaller appliances, such as toasters and blenders, are positioned nearer to the sink area than they should be. Even in a larger space, a loose wire can pose a serious risk if it comes into contact with wet hands.

Although fire and electrocution are more extreme examples of hazards posed by dangerous kitchen appliances, these are risks to which any one of us could fall victim through no fault of our own. Therefore, we should all be aware of hazards, warning signs, and how to respond to accidents and damages in the kitchen.

Preventing dangerous kitchen appliances - dealing with accidents, damages and repairs

Your kitchen will be filled with electrical appliances with complex inner workings. As such, they are all open to failing, becoming damaged, or causing an accident. We often find ourselves becoming lax and forgetting, or even ignoring, even the most basic safety guidelines. Here are a few classic examples of things we need to try and remember:

• Get exposed or damaged wires repaired as soon as possible by a professional
• Do not put anything on top of the microwave
• Turn off switches when an appliance is not in use
• Don't attempt to repair your own electrical appliances if you're not properly qualified. You may think you are saving yourself time and money, but you could both damage the appliance further and injure yourself in the process.

Even when we follow all of the rules, however, things can still go wrong. It's at times like these that having the right kind of plan in place to cover your kitchen appliances can be particularly useful. Although you may have contents insurance in place to cover you if anything should go wrong within your home, a kitchen appliance plan ensures that if your appliances do break down, you have easy access to an engineer who can repair it. This saves you the hassle of having to find your own engineer - or attempting to repair the issue yourself. With a YourRepair HomePlan kitchen appliance plan, all your repairs, parts, labour and call out charges are covered.

How to avoid dangerous kitchen appliances - safety tips for the home

There are a million and one safety tips out there which can help you keep your potentially dangerous kitchen appliances in safe working order. To keep it simple, we have focused on some of the main safety points:

• Keep water and electric as far away from each other as possible. All electrical sockets should be at least 30cm away from the kitchen sink area, and you should never touch an electrical appliance or socket with wet hands. Keep smaller kitchen appliances away from the sink area.
• Never leave the washing machine, dishwasher, microwave or tumble dryer running unattended. This is to make sure that you are able to respond to an accident or emergency in the quickest time possible before any more serious damage is done. Although it is tempting to put them on overnight or when you go to work, washing machines and tumble dryers are the second most common source of electrical fires in the UK.
• Power socket safety - there are a number of points to remember here:
  • Do not connect large kitchen appliances such as fridge freezers and washing machines to an extension lead as this can overload and cause an electrical fire
  • Do not touch sockets with wet hands, switch off and unplug items which are not in use
  • Do not try to repair kitchen wiring yourself.All of these points are relevant to power socket safety throughout the home. More information on power socket safety can be found at electricalsafetyfirst.org.uk
• Fire safety - always be prepared for the risk of fire by installing reliable smoke detectors. You can help slow the spread of a kitchen fire by closing the door to the kitchen at night or when it is not in use. It could also be worthwhile investing in fire safety items such as an extinguisher and fire blanket, which should be kept within easy reach of the kitchen.
• Look out for warning signs and make regular checks. These include scorch marks around plugs, or hot plug casings, flickering lights within the appliance or socket, or if your fuse box has tripped repeatedly. Signs like these should be acted upon immediately. In addition, you should regularly check the wiring around the plugs to make sure there are no loose or exposed wires.Ultimately, the best prevention measure you can take is to get your appliances checked and maintained on a regular basis by a professional, to head-off any problems before they become more serious. You can keep the costs down on unexpected call outs by investing in a reliable kitchen appliance insurance plan.

Protecting Your Kitchen Appliances

Your kitchen appliances are at the heart of your home. Without them, every simple process suddenly becomes significantly more difficult and time consuming. Losing the use of your oven or washing machine for any length of time can be hugely frustrating and inconvenient.

With a kitchen appliance plan, you can protect yourself against all eventualities. Our flexible plan means you can decide which appliances you would like to include, allowing you easy access to repairs, with all parts, labour and call out charges included in your monthly payment.

Our plan also means that if your appliances are less than seven years old and cannot be repaired, we will replace them for you. You have access to unlimited claims, and we will not charge you per claim.

For more information on our kitchen appliance plans, which can start from as little as £2.35 per month, visit our website or call us on 0330 223 4422 today for a no obligation discussion with one of our advisors.