Play Kitchens Your Kids Loved &/Or Ignored

We got a big wooden LakeShore Learning one from a preschool that was closing. It's two sided and huge! It has a sink and a microwave and oven and a little grill top, lots of cabinet like doors, which my son loves to open and close. The thing I love about it is that in addition to being a kitchen, it has all these cubbyholes, so it makes great toy storage using little colored bins and book storage.

It was practically free, so I can't say that I would go out and buy it new, I imagine it's quite pricey. But since I am home-preschooling and host a lot of playdates, it's been great! I am uber organized too, so it helps keep things neat in the playroom. It's a kitchen and facilitates the imaginary aspect, without being as cutesy as some of the small ones. I love it!

We got out daughter a Kidcraft Retro Kitchen.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/KidKraft-Vintage-Kitchen-in-Pin...
It comes in a lot of different colors.
We liked it because of the amount of shelves, spaces, cupboards that it has. She loves sticking stuff in each space...lol one day I even found her tennis shoes in the microwave part. She uses it everyday...it's the main thing she plays with.
We also wanted wood instead of plastic. It's very sturdy, easy to put together, came packaged perfectly, no dings, scratches, nothing, and the instructions even said if something is missing they would happily send you a replacement, and later on down the road if something breaks you can reorder parts for it.
Overall we are extremely happy with it, and our daughter loves it (she's 2).
Ok and I have to admit....I think it's super cool looking too. =)

Our DD LOVES her play kitchen. DS is almost 1 and loves it too.
We have the same one Julie F. linked to. It too arrived damaged but we were able to take it to a cabinet maker and get it fixed for a few dollars.
Other than normal wear and tear-and DD ripping a piece of the backboard paper off when I decided to put hooks on it for her utensils-it has held up fine.
So...while I am not necessarily saying buy this one...I would say they provide a lot of fun play!

My youngest bro got one when he was about 4 and we played w/ it all the time.

I think they are a good investment. :)

Step 2 Grand Walk In Kitchen! I purchased it as a Christmas gift for my 2 yo daughter. She loves it, I love it, and anyone who comes over to play with her doesn't want to leave.

I personally feel if your child is into playing house you can't go wrong with any kitchen purchase. For my oldest daughter, my mom got her the fisher price grow with me kitchen when she was just over a year old. She is now 5 and her sister 3 and they still use it. And its a basic kitchen.

Now for a 3 year old, I might not get the grow with me kitchen but I truly believe you don't have to spend a fortune on a kitchen. I think no matter what the kitchen is like your child will play with it, if they like playing house.

i've been looking into kitchens for my son too. Good question. The one I'm looking at is at IKEA. It's made of wood, you can get a simple one, or you can add on to it, plus lots of the food and accessories are pretty cheap and adorably cute!
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70129801
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90129800
or the entire kitchen
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S49874533

We got this Step 2 one (ours looks a little different-guess they changed it):

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2316865

She plays with it fairly regularly (she's also 3), but for Christmas she got the Fisher Price Loving Family Dollhouse, and she LOVES that- and has played with it every single day since she got it. Seems when ever I'm in Toys R Us looking at the furniture for it, I run into someone else who's daughter or granddaughter has it- and they rave about it too. You can get it fully furnished also- we didn't.

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4319472

Hope it helps :)

Ours is from Melissa and Doug, so it is expensive which is the only negative I can say. It's blue so it works for boys and girls, VERY sturdy, and lots of storage for stuff, food, pots, pans, etc. My kids (6 and 3) play with it about every day. We bought ours used so it was assembled already which was nice too, I hear assembly can take a while but that's pretty universal. Definitely worth the higher cost, at least for us.

Step 2 kitchen for our daughter when she turned 2 and now, a year later, it is still being played with on a daily basis. We picked it because it had a light to turn on and off, a stove top that makes cooking sounds, and lots of storage - cupboards, oven, microwave. It also has a little play phone that she uses all the time. We picked our model because it had a drawer too and at 2 years old she loved opening our kitchen drawers.
I think little ones love playing cooking so I would recommend getting one that can grow with her. I have seen a lot of them on the market that are so small you know she will outgrow it in a year and it will be too little for your 6 year old to even consider.

We have a step 2 it's wonderful. All the kids play with it when they come over. It gets tons of use.

We have a KidCraft kitchen. It's very cute and the kids (5 & 3) use it all the time. Ours doesn't have a fridge with it and I wish it did. It's got an oven, a cabinet and a sink, a couple little shelves on the side and a drawer. I would recommend it but you may want to go one size up to get the fridge model. About $150 I think.