Anyone bought a play kitchen and regretted it?

[ColdShouldersWarmTummy]

Thinking of getting one for DD's Christmas present (she'll be 18 months) as everyone seems to say they're great value and get played with for ages etc, but has anyone bought one and later realised it was a waste of money/space? We don't have a separate playroom so it would dominate one end of our (reasonably large) living room. I want to hear the good and the bad before committing. Thanks!

Mine did not play that much with it, but I never regretted it. We had it for years.
She would potter around with it every now and then.
It was just her personality. She was not much into dolls, or toys, meaning playing with them. Yet she could not bear parting from them. I think she is going to be a collector!
And after years of "use" they are still good to go to someone else, almost like new. So great for sibblings.

I got one for DS when he was almost 2. Was never much of a fan.

DD however adores it and is always playing with it.

Yep I regret it.

I got DD a wooden kitchen, cost me a small fortune, has fridge, freezer washing machine, microwave and electronics built in. It's a Kidcraft one.

Played with it for about 20 minutes on Christmas Day and now it just sits there in her bedroom. It's on the donate list.

Get the IKEA one would be my advice.

We had 2 - one plastic, one wooden and a whole range of accessories. My DC had hours of enjoyment from them. They were still in lovely condition when they were passed on and hopefully someone else is enjoying them as much now.

MY GC have one in the kitchen....they copy their MUm whilst she cooks tea

I would wait a bit and see if she seems interested in other ones as she gets older.

We've had 2- the first was possibly a chad valley one and blue- it also talked and made noises which got pretty annoying pretty quickly. My 18 month old boy loved it though.

6 years later, I bought the Ikea one for son no.2 2nd birthday. Also loved. Much preferred this one, it was quiet and looked nicer. We had it in the kitchen diner and it was played with loads.
He outgrew it at around 5 and a half, and it sold in seconds on a preloved site.

We had one that DC 1&2 played with loads , together and separately. It was played with for several years.DC3 didn't use it much but in general didn't do a lot of imaginative play and had no sibling of a similar age to play with.I think they are great toys personally.

Dd got hers for Xmas at 15 months , she’s 5 now and I’m replacing it this Xmas for her little brother.
Ours is in the toy corner in our large lounge ,not regretted it once !

No regrets about buying one. We had it for several years but had to get rid to make room for beds in our girls room. The fabric food sets from IKEA are great for them.

At 18 months I wouldn't buy one, especially if you can't hide it in a bedroom or playroom. Of mine one child showed no interest, the others used it quite a bit but only from playgroup type age. He had the plastic type - Little Tikes possibly - so it spent a lot of the Summer outside in the garden.

Ours is in our eldests bedroom- she’s had it for 3years and not overly into it, her younger sister loves it and it’s a very easy play date activity when kids come over. Overall worth it even if the intended recipient was enamoured

I bought one for £5 at a car boot sale. It had quite a lot of use, but more when my dd had friends over. I think if you have 2 children they can play together with it, but in my experience a single child is often going to ask you to play with them.

We have the Asda one for our twins 2nd birthday and it's been played with every day for nearly a year now

We don't have a playroom, ours is on their reasonably small bedroom that they share-. A cot bed and a single bed is also in there

We bought ours for second b day and it was played with a lot and still is. We bought the IKEA one second hand from eBay

We got the Ikea one with all the accessories for DS aged 3. He hasn't been impressed with our attempt to break gender stereotypes and has made it into a car storage area

Dd loved them at playgroups so I bought one but I cute a cutesy wooden oven not a giant plastic thing with sink et .

She had very little interest in it 🤦‍♀️

Get her one with electric things like lights and sound or something, ours was too boring.

We had a second hand wooden IKEA one that we've now passed on to someone else. My son loved it and I never really felt it took up too much space in the corner of our dining area (and our rooms are quite small).

My kids loved their kitchen - it was played with for years

It was a red wooden one from Amazon - I can't stand those plasticky ones!

The ikea one is pretty small. Doesn’t take up much room. We got it at 18 months & DD ignored it until she was about 3. Even now at 4, she’s not that interested. She does play with the pans & toy food a lot though.

However DD2 is an entirely different child. She is 18 months & plays with it for hours! She pretends to cook, puts things in the oven, pours from the kettle!

We got ours for £15 on Facebook marketplace. So I don’t regret it & it is now being used! Maybe look for a second hand one & if your kid likes it then great & if not, oh well, sell it on!

If you don’t have much room you could just get a toy oven with hob. At least that way you can store the toy pots and pans and food. We had the IKEA kitchen and it’s been so well loved by both our boys. It’s almost 8 years old and I think we have about a year left then it’s going to a younger cousin.

Ours was much loved and was a great investment.

@Thebookswereherfriends

I bought one for £5 at a car boot sale. It had quite a lot of use, but more when my dd had friends over. I think if you have 2 children they can play together with it, but in my experience a single child is often going to ask you to play with them.

This is true really. It wasn’t an issue for me because mine played with each other but for one child alone it isn’t as much fun - they liked to take turns in cooking/serving the food or playing at being mummy and daddy or customer and cafe worker etc.

My 20 month dd loves the one at nursery, but we don’t have enough space for a big one here. I've bought her a fold-away hob set that will sit on a chest of drawers in the lounge. She's also getting a pizza set, tea and coffee set and fruit and veg. If she feels she missing an oven and sink in a year or so I'll upgrade.