We bought the Kidcraft Uptown on major sale right before Christmas last year. Love it!

We also have the Hape kitchen and the fridge. At first I was disappointed that it was so small, but it fit well in our townhouse and DD was almost 2. Now at almost 5, she and her 2 year old sister still play with it a ton.

Anonymous wrote:DD really loved her Hape play kitchen; we chose it because she was petite and the lower height suited her. She also really liked her friend’s IKEA kitchen.

+1 to the Hape kitchen and Ikea. We have hape and I'm one of the posters that says it's my son's favorite toy. Would have been happy with Ikea too but we have a small space and where it is located it was better not to have the taller overhead piece the ikea one has.

Anyone you can buy used. Or just make one from amazon boxes. Doesn’t take much time, free, far better for environment, and the kids can get creative and add to it. Please don’t buy another brand new piece of furniture made in and shipped from China that you’ll only use for a few years.

New “wooden” play kitchens contain MDF, which off-gases formaldehyde, so if you like the look of Kidcraft, definitely go with used. Step2 is made out of food grade plastic and would be fine new or used.

We got a Step 2, it's plastic but had everything (stove, fridge, sink, microwave, lights, etc). We got a big package of plastic play food on Amazon and called it good.

Anonymous wrote:Elves and Angels. It is real wood, made in Maine, beautiful.

+1
I have recommended this company here several times over the years.

Small family run business and high quality product.

Anonymous wrote:We have a kid Kraft kitchen and love the fridge for storing all the toys.

This is what we have. Bonus is that the "washing machine" cabinet is big enough to double as a good hide-and-seek spot.

We got it from Costco years ago and it was a great deal.

I also highly recommend the Melissa and Doug food accessories, like the metal utensils, grocery basket, metal pots/pans, etc.

we have the hape one plus the hape fridge (great for storage). We go the fridge later on than the kitchen once we saw how much the kitchen was used.

Whatever you can find used on craigslist or facebook groups.

It's nice to have compartments that you can store the food in, but other than that, it doesn't matter. You're over thinking this.

Elves and Angels. It is real wood, made in Maine, beautiful.

IKEA - DD will still use it at age 9, when her little cousins are visiting.

Got a used Land of Nod one and the kids love it. It has a separate fridge/freezer with chalkboard.

Other things that can give more options for play — something that can be a picnic blanket, something that can be a shopping cart/grocery bags (cash register also fun), little table for restaurant play.

We have the KidKraft Farm to Table kitchen and love it. It looks better than our real kitchen, ha.

Kid craft, check Craigslist. Ours was half as much as a new one, already assembled. The family had it for 10 years and it still looked brand new. I tightened it up in a few places and we’ve had it for three years. Will pass on once child is over it.