As far as heat safety is concerned, you should be able to put a kitchen cart next to an oven. But keeping traffic flow in mind, you might not want to. According to the National Kitchen & Bath Association design guidelines, you don’t want to separate work centers (where you prep, cook, or store food) with tall obstacles (like a set of cabinets or a kitchen cart). Doing so can make it hard to move around your kitchen fluidly and conveniently. So depending on how your kitchen is laid out, placing a kitchen cart next to an oven may not be the best choice.