Children love watching their parents. They love watching whatever you are doing, whether it’s sorting laundry, cleaning the car or preparing food and meals in the kitchen. For youngsters, it’s a huge part of how they learn about the world.
Obviously, it’s not ideal to have a young child playing in the kitchen. It’s fortunate then that nowadays there is a wide selection of play kitchens to choose from. These can give your smaller children a flavor for what it’s like to be hard at work in a kitchen, without any of the risks involved.
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10 Best Play Kitchens for Children
Although it’s not really the same, with a healthy dose of imagination, these can really give a touch of realism to playtime. It does mean you may have to eat a fake burger or two along the way, but isn’t that part of being a parent?
As well as engaging their imaginations, toy kitchens can also help children on a developmental level too, by helping them improve their color identification, counting, and fine motor skills.
We already noted that there are quite a few different toy kitchens on the market these days. We realize that there may be too many to search through. That’s why we’ve put together this guide, to help you cut through the hundreds of listings and present you the 10 best of the best toy kitchens for kids.
1. Step2 Best Chefs Kitchen Playset
From Step2, the Best Chef’s Kitchen Playset kicks off our guide. This is a highly detailed, open plan-style kitchen with 25 accessories that will give kids a lot of room to use their imagination.
All the appliances in this play kitchen have been impeccably designed to resemble the real thing. From the oven and stovetop to the fridge, any little one will be able to imagine themselves acting just like you parents.
Thanks to the way it has been designed with a very open feel there is room for several children to play with it at the same time. The electric-powered stovetop includes lots of fun sounds and lights and when your child using the special pots, they can activate authentic bubbling or sizzling sounds which can add another layer of realism to their play.
2. KidKraft Farm to Table Play Kitchen Set, Large
From KidKraft, our next highly original and genuine-looking play kitchen is the Farm to Table set. The inspiration for this fun design is obviously a traditional country kitchen.
Young wannabe chefs can pretend to do a whole lot of normal kitchen activities including looking after their delicious vegetables in the window box, like purple onions and carrots. Once they’re ready to be harvested, they can be placed on the chopping board and cut using the wooden vegetable knife.
To add a realistic touch to the whole thing, kids will undoubtedly find it a thrill to hear the crunching sound of the veggies as they are chopped up. Then it’s onto the stovetop where they can sauté their fresh crop, brought to life by motion sensors triggering sounds and lights.
It’s not all about the cooking with this play kitchen though, as good hygiene is really put front and center with the inclusion of a generously sized sink. This is also enhanced with the sounds of running water and some fancy lights.
The fridge is nice and usable and even includes an ice maker and pretend toy ice cubes.
3. KidKraft Ultimate Corner Play Kitchen with Lights and Sounds
Another great play kitchen from KidKraft is what we have next in the form of this large and beautiful corner-style design. It has a very grown-up look and feel, with its speckled granite countertops and sink featuring taps and faucets that turn.
There’s a dishwasher, oven, microwave, freezer, and fridge. All have working doors. While the ice maker and stovetop burners are brought to life by exciting sounds and lights. To keep things modern there is a cordless phone and all the knobs on all the accessories turn and make a clicking noise.
Laundry is even turned into a fun game with the washer and its functional door.
4. KidKraft Vintage Kitchen
We’re sticking with KidKraft (spoiler alert, there’s a lot of KidKraft toy kitchens in this post!) again for another awesome-looking and feature-rich toy kitchen. This time it’s the Vintage Kitchen, which looks like something off the pages of a history book.
At just three feet, there’s a staggering amount of painstaking detail gone into the design of this toy. As with many of the KidKraft kitchens we’ve featured it has an oven, cabinet, microwave, freezer, and fridge that are all equipped with doors that can be opened and shut.
There are two burners that have been slightly raised to provide the perfect spot for placing those pans, plates or bowls your little one may wish to cook and prepare food with.
Thanks, to the see-through windows on the doors of the oven and microwave, your kids can keep an eye on their pretend culinary masterpieces. As if it wasn’t realistic enough, the oven drawer slides into and out of the oven, making it perfect for those pretend baked goods and other tasty delights.
Even the cooking turntable found inside the microwave can be rotated a full 360-degrees.
5. KidKraft Uptown Kitchen
Yet another super-realistic offering from KidKraft is the Uptown Kitchen in a rather fetching espresso brown coloring with metallic-toned appliance doors. Rather than just two raised burners, this offers four that are perfectly designed to work together with the various pans, pots, and plates you get with this unit and can buy separately.
As with most KidKraft toy kitchens, all the doors on the appliances can be opened and closed, including the oven, dishwasher, microwave, freezer, and fridge. All the knobs around this kitchen make a nice audible click when they are turned just like the real thing and there is a nicely sized sink too.
We love the finer details like the see-through windows on the oven and microwave and the chalkboard on the door of the freezer. The fridge also offers an ice machine, while there are pegs for hanging some accessories up and even a paper towel holder.
6. KidKraft Vintage Kitchen in Pink
Would your kid like a bit of extra pink in their lives? Would they appreciate this pastel and very retro pink-colored kitchen with lots of nice touches like the knobs that can be turned make a realistic click, or the usable doors on the appliances?
The cordless phone will ensure your kid can really play the role of daddy or mommy realistically as they chat with friends while their latest tasty recipe cooks away. Like all the KidKraft kitchens we’ve featured, this has a very durable and robust construction and items like the sink can be removed to be cleaned when things get a little dirty.
There is just so much in this fantastic design by the renowned team at KidKraft that will delight and inspire kids of various ages.
7. Step2 Downtown Delights Play Kitchen
Back with Step2 for another fun little toy kitchen for the little homemakers and chefs out there. This features a very white and fun design with nice touches like the farmhouse sink and gooseneck faucet, along with the see-through windows on many of the appliances like the microwave, fridge, and oven.
To give it a bit of a classy edge, KidKraft have finished the countertops with a granite-look. While the stovetop really comes to life with realistic sounds and lights.
In addition to the sturdy and expertly designed kitchen, you get a comprehensive selection of 24 accessories that can help your children to add extra dimensions to their playtimes.
8. KidKraft Ultimate Corner Play Kitchen Set
Another stunning design from KidKraft is this corner play kitchen with fully working sounds and lights. The Ultimate is a very apt name for this rather special toy kitchen. It oozes elegance, so would suit those little bundles of joy who just want to emulate their mommy and daddy.
It has an extremely sturdy and robust build quality and benefits from practical details like hanging pegs and shelves, which are not only functional within the theme but help keep your little one’s bedroom or play area neat and tidy.
As we’ve noted time and time again with KidKraft products, all the doors, to the washer, freezer, fridge, microwave and oven open and close, with the microwave, washer and oven benefiting from see-through window sections so the little chefs and homemakers can keep an eye on things.
There is even an imitation ice maker in the fridge door to give it just another little touch of authenticity. And what kitchen would be complete without a cordless phone for all those handsfree chats while their meals are simmering and bubbling away?
9. Bahom Kids Play Kitchen Set
Our penultimate item is this quaint and cute little kitchen with all the essential mod-cons such as a fridge freezer, washer, oven, stovetop, microwave and kitchen. One thing we especially like about this toy is the addition of a brick-style back wall behind the sink and stovetop but beneath the microwave.
Like others in our list, the toy kitchen benefits from realistic sounds like the burners with their fire-crackling noises, and the knobs that make that authentic clicking noise like the real thing.
The washer, oven, fridge, freezer and microwave also have working doors and see-through panels too.
10. KidKraft Uptown Kitchen
Last, but certainly not least in our list is another beautifully designed toy kitchen from the masters at KidKraft. Again, this features all the elements we’ve come to expect from the high-end designs of KidKraft.
With microwave, cabinet, oven, freezer and fridge doors that all open and close realistically. Furthermore, the knobs on the oven and the faucet on the sink make a clicking noise as they turn.
While the freezer is finished with a nice pretend ice maker image, the fridge has a useable chalkboard-style memo board. There is even hooks to hang up pots, pans and various cooking utensils on and a kitchen roll dispenser too.
Need to keep an eye on the food in the microwave or oven? Not a problem, thanks to the viewing windows on the doors of both appliances. This is yet another example of why KidKraft are so loved and stand out from the crowd in the toy marketplace.
Buyer’s Guide – Things to Consider When Purchasing a Toy Kitchen
Now that we’ve looked at the shortlist of the 10 best toy kitchens, before you settle on the one you want, we wanted to discuss some noteworthy points about what you should consider when purchasing one.
What it’s Made of
The material used in the toy kitchen you choose for your kid is worth considering as it will not only denote the durability, but also the robustness and overall weight.
While wooden kitchens are tougher and tend to last longer than the plastic alternatives, they also tend to weigh more. Which could be an issue if you want a toy you can move easily.
Size
Following on from the above, another important consideration is the size. As well as finding one that fits into your home, it’s vital you pick out a toy kitchen that is suitable for your child’s height and age.
Accessories, Accessories and more Accessories
As well as authentic features, doors that open, knobs that turn and sound effects, there is one thing…or lots of individual things that can really elevate your kid’s playtime to an extra level. That is accessories.
While it’s likely most toy kitchens will come with a selection of accessories, it’s not a bad idea to carefully choose the model that fits your kid’s height, isn’t too heavy, but also includes a generous number of accessories. \
Of course, if you do find a great toy kitchen from the selection above, but need more accessories, many of the manufacturers have these available separately.
So, you can always replace parts that go missing or give the little chef more tools of their trade.
