i suppose i was expecting perfection, after reading all the reviews i thought this would be near enough to it, but i have been dissappointed (though my children have not been!).
the set up was straight forward and did not take more than 1 1/2 hours.you will need an drill to pierce in the screws as a screwdriver is not enough.
my dissappointments are:-
the factory fitted white 'wall' cupboard has doors which are not aligned
none of the cupboards are deep enough to store even the pans/plates/bowls that come with the item
the Mellissa and Doug accessories are too big proportionally for this item.their cookie sheet kit does not fit into the small oven.
the cupboards do not have shelves, making a lot of space that is desperately neeeded to store the 'food' useless.
there is an open space under and to the left of the stove whcih is useless.a shelf here to split the area in 2 would have been useful or 2 baskets like there is on the 'sink' side of the unit.
i have been using plastic containers in the cupboards to make better use of the space available, but these should have been provided.
on the plus side :-
comes with a fair amount of accessories.i would not buy any before you buy this item until you see what you/want as extras
the kids have not noticed all the above (except for the fact that the cookie sheet from Mellissa and Doug does not fit in the oven)and have been glued to the kitchen since it was set up.
to sum up i think the item is let down by the fact that the accessories it comes with cannot be stored in the cupboards which are too narrow and which do not allow one to use the space available to its full capacity, because of lack of shelves.
If I could give this toy ten stars I would.There is absolutely no toy out there that compares to this!My daughter got this when she was about 21 months old and has been glued to it every single day for the past two years.Now my 13 month old son is addicted to it and has been since he could crawl.Not only does he play with this every single day but he probably spends about 70% of his time in that kitchen.He loves all the places you can put things and close the doors behind, pushing the microwave buttons, talking on the little "house phone", etc.The child will actually make me a pretend meal and take it to me so I can "taste it"!I used to allow my daughter to play with rice in her kitchen to help her develop her measuring and math skills; that has certainly paid off, too.Hands down this is THE #1 TOY anyone should get.No matter what size!Just to testify to its appeal, my son gravitates towards play kitchens at his Sunday School Daycare, and the childcare area of my gym, as well as any friend's house who might have one of these.The kitchen is ALWAYS a hit!
And the best part of it is that you can just keep adding accessories onto it (like playdough & cookie cutters & Melissa & Doug food accessories, etc etc etc).Different gaming/learning systems are always going out of style being replaced with some new/revised version that is not compatible with the old one's cartridges but not a play kitchen!Its an incredible form of play that does not entail sitting in front of a computer or a gaming system.It allows for SOOOO much creativity!And what's a better learning tool than that?!
One recommendation I have is to also get the accompanying table & two chairs (or at least get ANY table & chairs).Ours came with it as a "Special Offer" and I couldn't imagine not having it.
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Our daughter, age 2, and all her cousins, boys and girls ages 1-8, love this kitchen and play with it for hours.
One slight change I would ask is that there be more baskets that fit into the cabinets, etc. so that we can store away the food and cookware items when we want to clean up. The kids like to organize the items, so right now they're using disposable plastic containers from our real kitchen.But they don't fit very well.
I highly recommend this item. It is well-made and thought out.
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Not perfect, but best toy kitchen out there!
We got this kitchen for my son on Christmas 2009.He was one month shy of 3 years old and in a full year's time he has gotten a TON of use and play out of this!I look at other kitchens (both step2 and other brands) and they just don't seem to hold a candle to the Grand Walk-In.The walk-in feature is fantastic, as my son can "serve" others food in almost a restaurant-style.His kitchen is the center of his bedroom, and most of his other toys are kitchen accessories (from various brands).Hands-down, this is THE kitchen to have.
Now the not-perfect parts... there is very little actual STORAGE in this kitchen.We keep the pans in the oven, as they do not fit in the overhead cupboard.The dishes fit in the above cupboard though.And there's room for other dishes, should we wish to expand.
The oven is quite small.All that fits in there are the pans that came with the kitchen.We have tons of Melissa & Doug items that require "baking", but they don't fit in there.That's ok though, my son pretends to bake the bigger items in his "invisible big oven".It's never really bothered him, and so, it doesn't bother us.He's still using his imagination, and that's the goal. ;-)
We got some Melissa & Doug crates that had food in them, and thankfully, the crates fit in the refrigerator!This has been great as we can put the crates in the fridge and have many fridge-foods inside the crates.That makes it a bit easier for everything to be organized so that all the food doesn't fall all over the floor when you open the fridge.This probably should have been included with the kitchen, but again, does not bother us.I like that some of the Melissa & Doug stuff DOES fit in the kitchen.
We've had to buy more storage as we've continued to buy more and more accessories for the kitchen.We bought one of those ClosetMaid 9-hole cubbies that he uses mostly for kitchen toys of various brands.My husband is also going to turn one of our old nightstands into a "dishwasher", which will hold more dishes, and pots and pans.
One cosmetic problem with the kitchen is that over the past year, some of the stickers have started to fall off.This isn't a huge deal for us as our primary goal is imaginative play... but it's worth mentioning for those who are concerned with these sorts of things.
So overall, the major issue with this kitchen is storage (minor issue, sticker quality).We've remedied that in our own ways, but it would have been nice to have more storage options included.Hence the not-5-star-review.That said, the four stars are jam-packed with fun, imagination, use, and just general enjoyment.Despite some of it's issues, if I went back into time, knowing what I know now, we would absolutely buy this kitchen again!
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I ordered this product for my 20 month old. I cannot wait until Christmas.Ialso ordered 2 extra stools for siblings and friends. I plan on buying a cash register and shopping cart as birthday gifts next year to have so this can also be used as a grocery store/restaraunt. I wish I'd had one when I was little!
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I bought 2 sets of these as a Christmas gift for my mother--she has a monthly get-together with friends where they play Hand-and-Foot or maybe Canasta or whatever old folks are into.Anyhow, they RAVE about how much they enjoy playing with these cards.The jumbo index is perfect for them--much easier to see than regular index cards.
