Baby Gate: Summer Infant Sure and Secure Custom Fit Gate

One year ago we were on a hut for a solution of keeping our newly walking toddler from getting into the cat food in the kitchen. Also we wanted to be able to maintain him in a secure baby safe space.
We didn't think there was anything out there that would work for us. Our space we wanted to block off is an awkward shaped great room. The photo below is a picture from before we moved in.

After initial looking we decided on buying a few sets of the linking gates that can form a circle. We thought we could set up 2 sets, one to block the kitchen and one to block the front door opening. So off to Babies R Us to see what they had. That's when I found the Summer Infant Sure and Secure Custom Fit Gate. 
It expands to fit your space and if your space is still larger than it expands, you can combine 2 of them or they have expandable pieces sold separably too. It mount to the wall. We only about one full set and it spreads our space and has a few inches to spare still.

It has been great. Over the past year, we've loved that we have, we get comments all the time that people didn't know such things exist when they see it. Also it is removable at anytime. We recently had a party at our home and didn't want to impede the flow of traffic so we took it down. The mounts can stay or be removed as needed. For the party we left the mounts but completely removed the blockade. It folds up to a tidy little square and went under our couch for the party. After the party we pulled it right back out and put it back in place. So easy one adult and easily do it on their own. It has taken so much abuse from our toddler but its holding strong. It makes my philosophy on parenthood- controlled chaos, actually possible.

We are so grateful that we found a gate that fit our needs.