Toy kitchens for tall 5yr old?

[AshenQueen]

Hi,
I didn’t know where else to post this, it’s actually for DDs birthday but she’s a December baby and thought people here might have some ideas.

The only thing she wants for her 5th birthday is a toy kitchen. She had one when she was little but outgrew it and it’s long gone. Initially I said no, but she keeps mentioning it and now I feel guilty not getting her one 🤦🏻‍♀️

The problem is, they are all so small and seem to be geared at younger kids. The ones I’ve been looking at are around 20inches from floor to counter and she would be bending over to play with it at that height. Hoping to get a wooden one with a fridge but realise now I may have to lower my expectations of what’s achievable!

Just wondered if anyone’s older kids still play with theirs or are after the same and if so does anyone have any ideas or recommendations?

Thanks!

We had this problem. We placed our toy kitchen on DH's gym stepper that had been gathering dust in the conservatory. Problem solved!

@dicakemaker thank you, the reviews on that one are a bit of a hit or miss, but it does look slightly taller than ones I’ve been looking at.

@theconstantinoplegardener I can’t believe I didn’t think of doing that 🤦🏻‍♀️ We don’t have a stripper but I’ll try to think of something similar! Thank you so much!

We don’t have a stripper or a stepper.

I got this one for my kids when they were younger. It's still tall enough now and they're 6 & 9

www.kidkraft.com/eu_en/large-play-kitchen-with-lights-sounds-white-53369.html

@FrostyGirl66 that is absolutely beautiful (nicer than my kitchen), but unfortunately out my price range :/
Thank you though, otherwise it would be perfect!

I would get something like the Ikea one - you can often find them second hand on marketplace, and just buy a cheap drawer expansion or something and nail it to the bottom for extra height.

Or DIY one? Friends of mine did this. They bought actual kitchen wall cabinets from Ikea and then decorated them to look like a kitchen. Screwed extra knobs on the front to look like oven controls, cut out some black sandpaper into circles for the hobs, bought a real tap and cut out part of the top and installed this and then inserted a plastic Ikea trofast drawer thing for a "sink".

The Ikea play kitchen comes with some plastic legs which can slot on to the wooden ones to make it taller.

The ikea kitchen is height adjustable and also not as "babyish" looking as some of the other play kitchens.

The Ikea kitchen is perfect, as you can raise it with the plastic leg extenders.

Also, you can make it more sophisticated. I loved doing an overhaul on ours. I painted the wood colour pieces in Annie Sloan chalk paint (doesn’t need prepping and there aren’t any paint fumes so it can be done inside).

Then I changed to handles to metal ones (Amazon), changed the taps to metal ones (Amazon), added a splashback (covered strong corrugated plastic sheet with fabric that looks like tiles, Hobbycraft and used a small hammer and pins to attach to the back of kitchen), added a fake marble sticker countertop (Amazon), added 2 spotlights (Amazon), added wooden knobs above the cooked bit (Amazon), added stickers with numbers etc to look like oven/microwave buttons (Hobbycraft), finally used an old CD upside down as the microwave turn table.

I love the finished look. It took about 13 hours in total.