Our 6-month-old kitten has figured out how to reliably open kitchen cabinets at floor-level, by standing on his hind legs and grabbing the knob.
What are some good ways to make it harder for him to get these doors open wide enough for him to walk in and sit in our cake pans, play with our onions, etc.?
I haven't looked into the options for child-proofing much yet, but I am under the impression that many options are a pain to install. I'm particularly looking for:
- Something that works (of course)
- Preferably not a huge pain to install
- Minimal risk of damaging the cabinets during installation
- If possible, minimal (adult) human annoyance when opening the cabinets.
While writing this post, I watched our kitten figure out how to open a cabinet with a kitchen chair blocking it, by prying repeatedly until the chair gets bumped far enough away to open the door a few inches. Then he sat on the chair, opened the cabinet above it, and pulled out a box of envelopes.
Best Answer
There are inexpensive child safety latches that can be placed out of sight in the interior of your cabinet. They are also easy to install and only leave a few small screw holes when removed. Some may use adhesive instead of screws, but they might be less dependable.
Such a latch consists of a bendable plastic rod with a blunt hook on one side, and is situated on the inside of the drawer or cabinet. The hook catches on part of the drawer or door and prevents opening unless the rod is bent downward simultaneously to disengage the hook.
These latches successfully prevent cats as well as children from opening cabinets more than one or two inches.
Links
For pictures and advice: Picture / Video / Pictures of installation
Some alternatives are discussed here.