This is a review of a much loved and used toy in our home, the Kidcraft Retro Kitchen.

I decided to get Drake a toy kitchen for his 2nd Christmas when he was around 18 months old.  His babysitter at the time had a large Step2 Kitchen, and she said that Drake really enjoyed himself playing inside it.  He would open the cabinets and place food and other small toys in them, or pretend he was cooking with the play pots and pans.  After she mentioned how much he liked the toy, I decided to look into getting him one for that Christmas.

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The one at the babysitter’s was much too large to fit into the limited space we had in our condo at the time, and after looking over some on Amazon, I decided that I preferred a wooden one to a plastic one like she had. I debated plastic vs wood for a bit because the babysitter mentioned how Drake loved pressing the buttons on the microwave which made sounds and lit up, but I felt like the wooden kitchens had a bit more visual appeal and size-wise they were usually smaller, so I reasoned that he would still have a good time sans the sounds and blinking lights.

After asking around and checking out different models, I settled on the Kidcraft Retro Kitchen as it would fit perfectly against one of the walls in our family room, it came in three different colors (red, white, and pink), and it had plenty of cabinets and appliance doors for Drake to open and shut. Pricewise it was also fairly decent, being in the mid range of ones I saw.

Once it arrived Mr Chocolate had no trouble assembling it, doing it on Christmas Eve after we put Drake to bed, and finishing in a little over an hour’s time.  Since I had mentioned how much Drake liked the sounds and blinking lights of the other play kitchen at his babysitter’s, Mr Chocolate decided to do some minor modifications to the kitchen. He installed two lights — one in the microwave and one under the cabinetry — with two small switches so the kitchen had a little bit more interest for Drake.  We completed the set by buying him this Melissa and Doug cutting fruit set as well as these pots and pans.

On Christmas Day Drake was one happy little chef as he bustled around his new kitchen cooking up all kinds of fun.  Now almost two years later, the kitchen has survived countless door slams, a growing active toddler’s climbing interests, and a move from our condo to our new home and looks no worse for wear.  It is still a favorite and beloved toy and Drake still busies himself in it cooking away at least once a week or so.  I am sure once Juliet starts to move around more we will find her pulling up on the kitchen, as it’s a good height for that purpose.  The kitchen is quite sturdily constructed, but we do have it anchored to the wall nevertheless as a precaution.  I think once Juliet gets older the kitchen will be a great source of fun for the tow of them to imagine and play together, and I am very happy with this purchase to date.