Tell me about your wood or plastic play kitchens please!

[Sarahbunny]

So I want to get dd a play kitchen for Christmas but there are so many to choose from.

I don't particularily care if it is a plastic one - it doesn't necessarily need to be wood, but I want to hear the pros and cons of the ones you all have. Did you think it was worth the money, has it held up well, etc.

DD is 1 but we have friends with a play kitchen and she likes it already. I want to get one that will be with us for a while and that baby #2 can play with eventually.

I've been reading the reviews online of some but they are so up and down.

Any advice???

[hubris]

We have pieces made by Small World Toys - a green fridge, red stove/sink, and yellow microwave. They're wood and pressboard and have held up very, very well through 2 years of rough play, including kids removing the sink and climbing into and out of the stove area through the sink. I definitely think this set was worth what we paid, and I've never found myself wishing it had some other feature. It's perfect for play and for storage.

[mamalisa]

We have a large Kidcraft one that we got dd for Christmas last year. She loves playing with it. Don't tell anyone, but my 6 year old plays with it a lot too

[laohaire]

We have the wooden one from Target. I really like it a lot.

It is not the absolute FINEST quality kitchen on the ENTIRE PLANET (I've seen some links to some gorgeous handmade wood sets) but I'm very pleased with the quality.

My neighbor's kid has a plastic one and it sucks. The kid never plays with it either, but she plays with ours.

The cost is fair (I've heard of people paying as little as $50 though we paid $99) and it's just nice. The knobs click when you turn them, the buttons push in and out, etc. Lots of space to put things in. Comes with nice accessories (metal frying pan, metal whisk, wooden spoon, stuff like that). There's a set of hooks to hang utensils on, and a towel rack on the other side as well. The details make it nice.

Wood is just nicer, without even talking about the environmental and health benefits. It's sturdier, nicer-looking, lasts longer, gets more play value. If it looks junky to you, it looks junky to your kid too.

http://www.target.com/Play-Wonder-Bi...kitchen&page=1

[diaperqueen]

I have one for my home daycare--it's a commercial wooden set. I bought it at a flea market--it's probably 25-30 years old. It's still in fantastic condition. If you plan on several children using it, you might consider one of these sets. It would last through grandchildren, too!

Before the current set, I had a Little Tikes kitchen that was probably at least 10 years old, and it was holding up great, too. Their newer toys aren't the same, though--they don't seem as durable as their older stuff.

[sweetcheeks]

We have a Play Wonder one very similar to the one a PP linked to above. Ours doesn't have the shelving/storage above the sink/cooktop, just a rod w/some hooks to hang up utensils. We paid $60US at Target for it last winter. My kids (4.5 and 2.5) LOVE it, it gets played with daily and it still looks brand new. I would've loved to have gotten one of the gorgeous handmade kitchens I've seen on other sites but we just didn't have the $250 to shell out for one. This was a nice compromise -- it has alot of fun stuff but it's still small enough that you don't feel like it's taking up a good portion of your play area.

[ZanZansMommy]

We have a little tike kitchen that we scored at a garage sale for $10. It has everything---refer, stove, oven, dishwasher, microwave, storage, sink. I wasn't happy that it was plastic but for $10 it has so been worth it.

[naturegirl7]

We got DS a kitchen set from Small World Toys last Xmas. It is the fridge and the stove/sink combo. There are other pieces like dishwashers and washing machines, etc.
I love them. They are wooden, very easy to assemble, bright primary colors. Afforable too. And very very open ended. DS is rather rough with his toys and this set lasts thru it all - even him using the doors handles as climbing rungs. LOL I looked at a bunch of brands and Small World toys were the nicest and most affordable. I like how they are gender neutral too - I personally hate gender pushing toys like princess kitchens. Ugh. I also like that there isn''t a bunch of extra stuff like microwave (we don't have one either), phone, premade shopping lists, painted on magnets, talking accessories, etc.

I also really like the Melissa and Doug wooden food - the cutting set is awesome!

including kids removing the sink and climbing into and out of the stove area through the sink.

DS does this too!!! He likes to climb in there and stand in the sink , lean on the stovetop and watch TV that way!

[Kewpie]

Originally Posted by hubris

We have pieces made by Small World Toys - a green fridge, red stove/sink, and yellow microwave. They're wood and pressboard and have held up very, very well through 2 years of rough play, including kids removing the sink and climbing into and out of the stove area through the sink. I definitely think this set was worth what we paid, and I've never found myself wishing it had some other feature. It's perfect for play and for storage.

We have this one as well! I love it! If you want it to last I encourage you to look at buying a larger scale set, the Small World Toys is one of the bigger ones. DD used a small stool for the first year or so (she got it when she was 18 months) but now she's the right height (almost 4). But it's large enough that her older cousins still play with it too!

Also I'd look for separate pieces. We almost bought a single unit with the fidge, stove, sink all in one long piece. That would have been hard to find a spot for in our new house.

[Sarahbunny]

Where did you find the Small World Toys kitchen? I looked at their website and didn't see anything like that...or did you buy it in a store?

[trinity6232000]

Originally Posted by laohaire

We have the wooden one from Target. I really like it a lot.

It is not the absolute FINEST quality kitchen on the ENTIRE PLANET (I've seen some links to some gorgeous handmade wood sets) but I'm very pleased with the quality.

My neighbor's kid has a plastic one and it sucks. The kid never plays with it either, but she plays with ours.

The cost is fair (I've heard of people paying as little as $50 though we paid $99) and it's just nice. The knobs click when you turn them, the buttons push in and out, etc. Lots of space to put things in. Comes with nice accessories (metal frying pan, metal whisk, wooden spoon, stuff like that). There's a set of hooks to hang utensils on, and a towel rack on the other side as well. The details make it nice.

Wood is just nicer, without even talking about the environmental and health benefits. It's sturdier, nicer-looking, lasts longer, gets more play value. If it looks junky to you, it looks junky to your kid too.

http://www.target.com/Play-Wonder-Bi...kitchen&page=1

I have the older Play Wonder Kitchen from target. Dd got it for her 6th birthday. Two days before
her birthday she told me what she really wanted was a kitchen, and on a very small budget, it fit.
She loves it, and a year and a half later she still plays with it all the time.

When I bought it I also bought a lot of the Target wooden food, and that gets a plenty play here in
our home as well.

I was slightly jealous when I saw the newer kitchen being sold at Target (the one I bought my dd
was discontinued for the newer model). It's really nice.

[TranscendentalMom]

I just bought this one. It comes with food too! I don't have it yet so I can't really tell you about it! I do like Kidkraft for the most part http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWA:IT&ih=013

[LuxPerpetua]

I have my eyes on this (http://cgi.ebay.com/Anatex-Kids-Play...ayphotohosting) for dd next Christmas.

[artgoddess]

Originally Posted by laohaire

We have the wooden one from Target. I really like it a lot.

It is not the absolute FINEST quality kitchen on the ENTIRE PLANET (I've seen some links to some gorgeous handmade wood sets) but I'm very pleased with the quality.

My neighbor's kid has a plastic one and it sucks. The kid never plays with it either, but she plays with ours.

The cost is fair (I've heard of people paying as little as $50 though we paid $99) and it's just nice. The knobs click when you turn them, the buttons push in and out, etc. Lots of space to put things in. Comes with nice accessories (metal frying pan, metal whisk, wooden spoon, stuff like that). There's a set of hooks to hang utensils on, and a towel rack on the other side as well. The details make it nice.

Wood is just nicer, without even talking about the environmental and health benefits. It's sturdier, nicer-looking, lasts longer, gets more play value. If it looks junky to you, it looks junky to your kid too.

http://www.target.com/Play-Wonder-Bi...kitchen&page=1

We have last years version of the Target wooden kitchen. DS plays with it almost daily, and it still looks as good as it did last Christmas morning. I like that it is wooden also because it's in our living room, and it looks so much better than plastic would.

[Jess A]

We have a plastic one. The Lifestyle Deluxe from Step 2. All three kids play with it and it has a ton of storage. It is really big, however. It's very durable. DS2 (almost 1) likes to pull down the over door and climb on it--it's held up well. We are slowly replacing the accessories with wooden ones, but we like the kitchen. I bought it last year with free shipping, which was a big savings.

[Tigerchild]

We got the wood one from the magic cabin catalogue. (The plain one, not the painted ones), when DD was 1. All three kids have played steadily with it since then. (It was one of the first toys the boys were interested in enough to stand to play with)

I had thought about selling it this year, but we rearranged the play space into a cafe, and they're playing with it almost every day again. So that's a good 5 years out of it now.

I just looked at the web catalogue, and noticed they don't have the exact one we have. Ours has wood doors, it looks like the current ones they sell have gingham curtain instead of latching doors. but the rest of it looks exactly the same. The gingham curtain doesn't look as durable to me.

Anyway, the little kitchen has survived me dropping it down our flight of stairs, 5 years of children climing in and out of the storage area (right now they like to pretend it's an oven and they're taking turns roasting in it...I was a little weirded out until I realized that DD had checked out a fairy tale book from the library with Hansel and Gretel in it...at least I HOPE that's where that's come from). Not a dent, scratch, or broken anything in it. And the one we have was made in the USA.

[greenfish]

We've discovered this is the time of year when the richer neighborhoods are throwing perfectly good toys away...just got a great little tykes kitchen with a slight issue off the sidewalk...had our pick of two that day!

I did disable the talking part while cleaning it. But all the talking things in our house "run out of batteries" very quickly...

[StrawberryFields]

We just went through the same decision and went with this one by Guidecraft:

http://store.platinumgalleria.com/gu...e-natural.html

We received it a few days ago and so far are really happy! It is really sturdy, but it is also compact and easy enough to carry around that I can move it from room to room myself. I like that it includes a stove, an oven, a fridge with water dispenser, a microwave and a sink. All the knobs turn and the faucet swivels. The doors are hinged on the left not the bottom so no one will be tempted to stand or climb on the open oven door and break it.

Here are the other ones we were considering:

Little Colorado: solid wood, made in USA, very affordable:
http://store.platinumgalleria.com/li...n-natural.html

Small World Toys Sink and Stove Set: saw this IRL as a display model and it didn't look like it would wear as well as the others--the white surface was dingy and dinged.
http://www.fantasytoyland.com/swt-8620102.html

Elves & Angels Papa's Kitchen:
http://www.novanatural.com/s.nl;jses...v0?it=A&id=938

[Jwebbal]

I was slightly jealous when I saw the newer kitchen being sold at Target (the one I bought my dd
was discontinued for the newer model). It's really nice.

We have the new one by Target, and love it. It took me two years to finally decide what to buy, and for the price this one just can't be beat. It took a long time to put together, but it was worth it. It also has a chalkboard. I love how cute it is, it doesn't take up a huge amount of space, and has lots of play features.

[bornbythesea]

The wooden ones from Willow toys are beautiful and will last through several children. Although more expensive than plastic, my son plays with it everyday and it has been worth every penny.