apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Target's! Play Wonder.

I second dcmom's comment. My son's kitchen came from Target. Durable, attractive, and fun to play with.

Garage Sale Fisher Price - 5$!!

aww... but it's Fisher Price... probably full of lead. :(

I just got my daughter the WH Swiss Kitchen as her second birthday present, and I'm so happy with it (and more importantly, she loves it!). It is so cute, comes with little wooden plates, pots, utensils, and some food. It's also got a very small footprint, which is important in our house. It was a little intimidating to put together because there were a lot of pieces, but it went together beautifully.

We bought this stove/sink combo from Small World Toys. For just a little bit more than the price of the unit listed above, we got TWICE the fun. We are all very happy with it. Great quality and good looks.

(http://www.etoys.com/genProduct.html/PID/2634619/ctid/17?cpncode=07-31475324-2&srccode=cii_10043468)

I saw this one at Target, and it's on our list for Xmas. It's cute, cheap, and comes with lots of accessories, but best of all, it's only 12.5" deep, so it will fit anywhere that a bookcase will fit.

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=br_1_4/602-4157063-2192642?ie=UTF8&frombrowse=1&asin=B000R05W92

We have the Alex stovetop, and it's great, especially if you're low on space. True, Sam's not getting to work on his baking skillz, but at least he'll be ready for hotplate cooking when he goes to university.

On a slightly related note: I've been a bit neurotic about plastic toys since well before all the toy recalls, which is why we have a wooden stove, aluminum toy pots and pans, and Melissa & Doug's wooden toy food set (not to mention the Melissa & Doug wooden toaster, which is pretty darned cute). But dear god, the NOISE all that wood and metal makes when you've got a couple of overly enthusiastic small chefs in the kitchen -- my head!

I've been interested in this one http://www.viatoybox.com/products/prodDetail.php?id_prd=1001 from Via Toy Box. It is $299, but after the kitchen is outgrown it turns into a toy storage bench. Also you can pick the colors of the components.

All of these are nice, but few have refrigerators, which was a must for my daughter. We have a Kidkraft "large kitchen" that my daughter fell in love with at a friend's house and she adores. It's not as big as the name implies, although bigger than the others mentioned. It's also pastel, which we were hoping to avoid, but Kidkraft also makes a really cool primary color island that still features all of the major appliances and is much more compact for small spaces (kids go around it 360 degrees).

We also love all of the wooden Melissa and Doug toy food, dishes, etc. Target has a lot of great wood food, too!

One last thing, Kidkraft also makes the most adorable wooden appliances that my in-laws got for her. Again, they're pastel, but the stand mixer, toaster, coffee maker, and blender (all come with some wooden food accessories) are some of my daughter's favorite parts of her kitchen.

The wooden kitchen at my local Target is pink, which isn't an option for my boy/girl twins. Got an email from Costco today with this KidKraft Kitchen (complete w/ fridge!) in RED, which matches my own! Only $139.99, includes shipping!

Santa will be leaving this under our tree this year.