Locks on cabinets/drawers

Well, it is that time...now that the boys are much more mobile and we are in the kitchen a lot more during the day, it is time to lock up the cabinets and drawers. We have a ton of cabinets/drawers though and I was just wondering if I should put locks on all of them that are at their level right now. I am thinking that would be a good idea since I don't want to have to worry about fingers getting smashed, etc.

Also, what type of locks do you use? We tried the typical screw in latches but they don't work when we try to put our drawers back in, the latch breaks off. We were thinking of ordering adhesive ones online but they are so expensive. Anyone have any other suggestions?

Thanks,
Megan

 

We only latched the cabinets and drawers that seemed most important (cleaning supplies, glassware, dogtreats). Some of our cabinets and drawers have rubber bands on them (stretched between the knobs of two drawers, which just makes them harder to open). Our twins are pretty good about not going into the cabinets they know they're not supposed to, and we just let them have fun with things like the tupperware drawer.

We used the screw-in latches - some drawers and cabinets we find you have to press the latch in to close again (the same way you press it in to open it). They were just so time consuming to install that I decided to try to train the kids instead.

Good luck!

-Rachel

 

We LOVE the zip ties by safety first that secure cabinet doors when there are 2 that shut toward each other, but we haven't found a lock for the other cabinets that we like yet. I had to close off our liquor cabinet yesterday with a jerry-rigged version b/c DD got the tequila bottle out and was banging it on the floor. The latch on the device just didn't hook snugly until I taped on some material to make the hook part more prominant. The other latches we tried were unfortunately also parent-proof in addition to being child-proof.

 

QUOTE(RachelJoy @ Jun 21 2007, 11:01 AM) [snapback]301820[/snapback]
We used the screw-in latches - some drawers and cabinets we find you have to press the latch in to close again (the same way you press it in to open it).


We also used the screw-in latches and found depressing them when closing fixes that problem. I didn't find them time consuming to install at all. I did all our lower-level kitchen cabinets, and all bathroom cabinets. I just figured out how far from the top of the cabinets they needed to be installed, then ran around to each cabinet and marked holes with a sharpie. Came back around with the drill and had the whole house done in about 30 minutes.

 

We like the magnetic locks. They are kind of a pain to install, although the adhesive ones are better than the ones that you had to drill.

We also have some really cheap locks -- I guess they are the zip-tie kind? It's like a square of plastic with flexible plastic strips coming out each side, and you wrap those around the handles and pull tight. Then you have to push a button to unlock it while pulling them back open again. Those are good for cabinets we only open every once in a while (where we keep the lasagna pans, etc.), but would drive me absolutely nuts if I had to do it more than once a day.

I hated the hook latches too. They're a pain to open and close, and the kids can open them just by pulling with all their weight.

Fortunately our house is old and all the drawers stick, so the kids can't really open them (yet).

Whatever you do, I suggest leaving 1 or 2 cabinets for them to play with. Ours can entertain themselves for quite some time by spreading all the tupperware all over the floor, and banging on the pots. Yes, fingers getting smashed is a danger, but you can't entirely protect them from that -- if they don't do it in a cabinet, they will do it on the bathroom door or something. As my BIL said about my niece, "Yes, she pinched her fingers -- but she only did it once."

 

QUOTE(SweetpeaG @ Jun 21 2007, 08:11 PM) [snapback]302026[/snapback]
We also used the screw-in latches and found depressing them when closing fixes that problem. I didn't find them time consuming to install at all. I did all our lower-level kitchen cabinets, and all bathroom cabinets. I just figured out how far from the top of the cabinets they needed to be installed, then ran around to each cabinet and marked holes with a sharpie. Came back around with the drill and had the whole house done in about 30 minutes.

I found that it only took me that long, too. And I was quite impressed with myself for using the drill successfully, as I'm not usually the one who uses it! I only "locked" the cabinets with things I really didn't want the babies getting into. I left available the pots & pans, Tupperware and dish cloth cabinet/drawers.