We have a one year-old son who we can't keep out of the kitchen. When someone is in the kitchen, he likes to come and stand next to them, grab onto their legs and try to reach things on the counter. Obviously this is not safe as there are knives, hot liquids, etc. that could easily injure him in an accident. We try to move him out of the kitchen as quickly as possible while saying "no", but he usually just comes crawling right back. This can make it almost impossible to work in the kitchen when only one person is at home and sometimes we have to let him stay under-foot just to get things done.

Unfortunately, we live in a small studio so there is no natural separation between the living/dining room and the kitchen and it is not possible to install a baby-gate or any kind of barrier.

Any suggestions for how to approach this problem?