The professionals and crew at The Tub Pros want to say thank you for the service of all veterans and their families this Memorial Day Weekend 2022 and welcome the warm weather of late spring as it ushers in the first breaths of summer here in the Mid-South. The Tub Pros, who provide full kitchen and bathroom reglazing, tiling, and countertop services in the greater Memphis metro area, northern Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana hope this new season also brings in lots of holidays, and time for gathering with family and friends as the lockdown and mask orders have receded. Good food, good company, and good weather can go a long way to making your home a great gathering spot for the warmer months. Seven out of ten Americans own a grill or smoker—a testament to how many people love these summer rituals.
But summer can also bring in some risks. Grilling some barbeque for a get-together, deep frying some chicken for a picnic, or even spending more time in the kitchen with kids who are home from school can be a recipe for danger—in fact, grill fires peak in the summer, and accidents with hot oil can turn a fun gathering into a messy, painful accident.
But there are steps you can take to stay safe, and keep your summer months full of fun. Here, we’ll break down how to protect yourself in the kitchen this summer, and how The Tub Pros can help you make your kitchen a great spot to celebrate the season.
What risks are there in my kitchen in the summer?
Many classic summer foods—like BBQ, fried chicken, and grilled hamburgers and hot dogs—require cooking tools and techniques you might not use too often through the rest of the year. Getting a new grill, indoor grill pan, smoker, deep fryer, or other tool can be a lot of fun, but can also bring risk as you learn to use it—while an aging appliance might malfunction.
Those favorite summer foods can involve some high temperatures, too. A grill’s high heat and flames can burn you, or damage your home or property if not placed far enough from the house. There are about 8,900 grill or smoker fires around the country every year, and between 2014 and 2018, over 19,000 people went to the emergency room after accidents involving grills.
And while deep fryers often get a lot of media coverage around Thanksgiving, the dangers are just as real in the summer—a deep fryer’s hot oil can cause a fire, or painful burns, without proper precautions.
But it’s not just those tools and preparations. With many kids out of school and spending more time at home during the summer, patterns in the house might change. A child playing with the stove or other appliances or making a mistake heating something in the microwave can prove dangerous, and even spending time sharing favorite summer traditions with little ones might mean they’re more often underfoot while you’re preparing meals, which might result in accidents.
How to keep family, friends, and pets safe?
The good news is that many of the dangers you can find in your kitchen in the summer are preventable. When using a new appliance, or one you haven’t used in a while, always read the owner’s manual or instructions, and follow them carefully. We know, reading has been left to YouTube these days…but written instructions can work wonders for learning how to operate an appliance safely.
One of the biggest things to pay attention to is making sure you place outdoor appliances appropriately far from your home or other structures. While appliance manufacturers will often advise you to place a grill three feet from your home, many builders and governmental organizations recommend placing it ten feet away, just to be on the safe side. Never try to use a grill designed for outdoor use, inside the home!
Deep frying, however, can be done inside, though if you plan to fry anything the size of a turkey, make sure to head outside. If you are Inside, make sure to keep all pets away from that area and clear a flat, open space—move any other food out of the way, and maybe move any of the plants that are such a part of summer kitchen trends out of the way, too. Keep a fire extinguisher handy, and don’t let any water near the hot oil. That’s especially important if a fire starts—don’t use water on a grease or oil fire, as this will make the flames bigger. Use a blanket or towel to smother it.
One of the biggest steps you can take towards keeping your kids safe is educating them. While it makes sense to keep small kids away from hot oil or potentially dangerous tools, teaching kids what kitchen appliances do, and how to use them safely so that they can go on to help you cook and can prevent them from experimenting alone, and show them how to be cautious.
In fact, this education can be a great way to get kids involved in kitchen tasks—and what better time to do it than summer? Teaching kids safe skills for knives, food storage, and cleaning can be great skills for them, and can be fun for you, too.
How can The Tub Pros help me?
At The Tub Pros, we’re here to help make your home beautiful and functional when age, wear, and trends take their toll on your kitchen and bathroom—things that become especially important in the warmer months. Whether you’re grilling up some family favorites or just having a casual meal at home, you need a space that works for you, and we’re here to get it there.
How can we help? Our factory-trained pros can help you with kitchen sink reglazing, porcelain sink crack repair, countertop refinishing, tile resurfacing, and other burn, crack, chip, or crack damage on your counters, sinks, or tile. We can also update the color of your counters—whether you want the stone look that’s popular with kitchen trends for 2022 or something else, you can choose your own color and style.
What’s even better is that our resurfacing and repair processes can be done quickly, which gets your home back up and running for a fraction of the time, cost, and hassle of a larger renovation—for a fraction of the cost of a renovation, too.
So, when you’re wondering “where can I find a counter and sink reglazing near me?”, turn to The Tub Pros, the leading refinisher in the Mid-South. To get started on your project, give us a call at (901) 871-8827 or use our online contact tool for a free estimate and take the first step to getting your space ready for summer fun! Additional free value added information can be found in our website article library.
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