Toy Kitchen Experts...

We've decided to get the girls a toy kitchen for Christmas this year. And now I'm trying to decide between two (or three, sigh...) of them. Opinions from anyone who's had these or others is appreciated!


Lifestyle Deluxe Kitchen

or

Lifestyle Dream Kitchen

or

Lifestyle Partytime Kitchen

I'm really leaning towards the Deluxe Kitchen just because it seems to be the longest of the three and there'll be more room for the girls to spread out (and yes I know they'll still end up fighting over the same part of the kitchen, but at least I tried! )

So any thoughts?

TIA!

 

Do you have a toy room for this to go in? I am only asking because if you want the biggest one, I hope you dont have to stare at it in your family room :laughing: We had a much smaller version and it was not a hit in this house at all and I hated looking at it in our family room everyday. Not trying to be bah-humbug just giving a different perspective ardon:

 

I would get the biggest one if you had room! I have a little tykes one and I wish I got a bigger/nicer one. I did not know my boys would love it as much as they do and play with it for as long as they have. I have had to buy separate containers to put their extra food. The deluxe one you posted looks like it has good storage.

 

I gave my girls' step 2 kitchen away because the snap on covers that were supposed to cover the screw heads would pop open & the girls kept twisting & pulling on them. The scale was really small too - it was almost like the microwave, stove, faucet, etc were almost too tiny - even for toddlers. I have the PBK classic kitchen & they love it. There are many wood kitchens - I would go that route. If you like the Step 2, Sam's Club has that Grand Walk In Kitchen that looks pretty cool. Good luck!

 

We are also getting our girls a kitchen for Christmas. We don't have a playroom so we will be looking at it all the time. I think we are getting this one:
http://www.toysrus.ca/product/index.jsp?productId=3159395

because when I looked in person, the wooden ones are much nicer looking than the plastic ones IMO. I may go a different way if we had a playroom.

 

My girls got the dream kitchen last year for Christmas. They love it! Our playroom isn't huge so we thought that one would fit nicely and it does. They play with it quite a bit everyday. It's worked out nicely for us. I'm not sure they've fought over this one too much (I know, unbelievable huh?! :lol: ) so I guess there's just enough space for them to play together but apart. HTH!

 

Thanks guys! The wood ones you've mentioned are really cute! I may have to revisit that, hmmm! More decisions!

And the *plan* (big emphasis on plan!) is to empty out the third bedroom upstairs and have that be the girls play room. Right now it's the pit of despair!

Because otherwise, yes I will be staring at it in my living room! :laughing: And it would go so nicely with the Early Childhood Education Decor in place already!

But hopefully that'll give me me the push I need to empty that room out!

 

I originally wanted a Step 2 kitchen -- the grand walk-in kitchen came later, but it looks awesome! -- but my DH absolutely vetoed anything that required batteries and made noise, LOL.

So, we got the wood kitchen from the Constructive Playthings catalog, and we've been really pleased with it. I bought a toy microwave from Target, and put it in the freezer...and I changed out the faucets to something that looked more realistic. I also put a small stool between the two pieces for "counter" space.

Nadia has played with it every single day, seriously, since she was 2.

I now drool over the newer Pottery Barn kitchens -- LOVE the pink retro one! -- but they're so expensive, and not sure I can justify it.

Here are some pics of ours:

Kitchen

Kitchen w/ microwave

 

I'm in the market for a kitchen too, and was leaning towards the Step2 Deluxe until I found a bunch of wooden kitchens online. I really like the one that Becca posted. Becca, do you think your play kitchen will be big enough for twins? Do your kids show any interest in it yet? Thanks!

 

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I got really lucky & found our set at a consignment shop.....all 3 pieces & came filled with play food & a few pots & pans. (Sorry it's a mess in the pic; the kids spent an hour last night playing in their room , but completely trashed it & I haven't cleaned it up yet) But I'm really happy we got the wooden kind & the kids just love it. I think their main Christmas gifts this year will be things to go with it like a toy coffeemaker & some new pots & pans.

I really like how Becca's has that top shelf, though, for more storage. Plus, totally cute!!

 

I had to do all this research last year - and finally found a 2nd hand Little Tikes Cook 'n Grill for $75....and it works great for boys and girls. They actually don't play with it as much as I would have hoped....maybe that will change as they develop more imagination skills and playing pretend.

 

We have the Lifestyle Deluxe Kitchen ( the first picture). It was good for us & it was in a toy room. Now Cody has it all to himself at G-mas.

 

We have the Dream Kitchen but would have loved the Deluxe if we had the room. The boys love, love, love playing in their kitchen!

 

We gave our girls the Step 2 Partytime Kitchen for their 2nd birthday yesterday! It's only been a day, but they love it. They've ignored all their other toys to play only with it, and have had several shoving matches over it so far. I'm sure any of the kitchens would be good though.

 

Thanks so much for all of your replies guys!

I did eventually decide on the Step2 Deluxe. I was seriously leaning towards one of the wooden ones but DH brought up an extremely valid point that made me decide on the Step2. He mentioned that with my environmental allergies (dust, mold, etc) if we ever had to store one of the wooden ones for later use, he'd be afraid we wouldn't be able to use it later. We just had to ditch some free kitchen cabinets b/c within 10 minutes of them being in the house, I couldn't breath .

So, if it gets stored, I'll at least be able to wash it down (or he will )

Oh, and there is free shipping at the Step2.com website and they are fast! I ordered it late Sunday night (technically Monday) and it got here today!

 

We have the lifestyle dream kitchen and my girls love it. However, I originally also wanted the deluxe one but couldn't afford it. Whichever one you go with - the girls are going to love it and will be very entertained. My girls have only had it for 2 months but everytime our family and friends come over, they "feed" them by handing them a plate and spoon. It's cute because they are even stirring the spoon in the plate.