Customer Reviews

Kidkraft Retro Kitchen and Refrigerator in Pink

5 star:		(112)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Pros:
1. It looks much like Pottery Barn's play set for a fraction of the cost.

2. Walmart is cheaper then Target. We had liked one at Target, but Target's is smaller in width than this one. Also if buying online Target doesn't have free shipping to store. Shipping alone would of been almost 50 bucks.

3. Makes noises but not loudly. This play kitchen has
3 knobs in the front that make clicking noises.

4. Nice compartments sizes. The door under the sink opens to a large space without a shelf which is a plus because wood play appliances could be stored in there or a large basket of play food.

5. It's made of wood and not plastic. All the wood is sturdy, solid and it was easy for my husband to put together.

6. HUGE hit with our 2 year old daughter and all her play date friends.

Cons:
1. Weird holes. I didn't like was there is holes the size of quarters drilled in on the back side and floor in the area below the sink in inside the compartment area. The same size holes are drilled in the very bottom area under the oven and yet again in the back areas of the refrigerator. Not really sure what the holes are for wish they were not there. But I probably still would of bought this play kitchen set because it is the best out there for the price and being real wood.

2. Plastic handles and knobs. At least their heavy duty would be extremely hard to break. I personally like metal hardware better. But its not a deal breaker.

Specific Dimensions:

Outside the sink stove part:
about 25.5 inches wide and 20.25 inches high. The back slash with the clock at it's highest point is 26.5 inches high.

The inside areas of the sink stove part:
Within the oven it's slightly over 9.5 inches high and slightly under 13 inches wide. The lower shelf is slightly over 3 inches high the top is right at 6.5 inches. The shelf area below the oven is right at 6 inches high and slightly under 13 inches wide. The are under the sink is 16 inches high and slightly over 11 inches wide.

Outside the refrigerator:
Is 29 inches high and 31 inches high on the highest point of the door.

Inside the refrigerator:
Inside the top door of the refrigerator it's a little over 15.5 high and the space is split evenly with a shelf making two compartments. The bottom door is 11 inches high.

The dept on the inside areas in all the doors of all pieces is exactly 11 inches in depth. The dept on the outside of all pieces is 12 inches.

If you want to see 2 pictures I posted the same review on Walmart's site with pictures of all compartments open.

Hope this helped happy shopping! :)

We surprised our twin 20 month old daughters with this pink retro kitchen set for Christmas. We stocked it with pots and pans, dinnerware, felt food and the Kid Kraft coffee maker and mixing bowl set. It was a hit! I too was drooling over the Pottery Barn retro pink set--agh, but the cost! So we settled with this one. With twins you need more working space--and more storage. So I ended up buying the white pie cabinet from PB anyway to go with this kitchen set. It works like an accent piece. The quality of PB is much better--it's more solid and durable than Kid Kraft and you do not see the screw holes. PB uses solid wood--Kid Kraft is MDF board. The Kid Kraft set has only been mildly used since Dec 25 and I've already had to contact Customer Service for replacement knobs (clickers inside the knobs broke)and we've had to tighten the hinges several times as they continue to come loose. The CS dept is good and I'm awaiting replacements as I write this.
Bottom line: You get what you pay for.

A YEAR LATER: Well, we've had the set nearly a year now and it has brought the girls endless hours of fun and learning. It's held up beautifully except for those darn clickers in the stove knobs--the only sound feature. Not really a big deal in the end. Customer Service rocked, but call early on if something gives out. The Melissa and Doug cutting food set fits great in the open space under the oven

Love this set! High quality. Really, one of the cutest that I have seen. This set has a lot of personality and charm. Looks really cute in playroom. Good storage. Assembly required -- allow a couple hours at least and find someone who is good with that type of thing. My only complaint is that while I love the retro pink, I wish they offered this exact style in a color that was more suitable for boys and girls.

We liked the Pottery Barn Kids Retro kitchen but it was very expensive. This kitchen is very similar in look (a little smaller) and it extremely sturdy. It was easy to assemble (less than an hour). My 2-year old daughter loves it and it is high-quality and attractive enough to have 'out' in your house ... we use it as a cute piece of furniture for her bedroom. I would definitely recommend it! (A couple of the pieces arrived damaged, but there is a website where I picked the pieces from the part list, entered my address and received replacements for free in about 3 days.)

I have two girls, 2 and 4 years old. We got this for them last Christmas. We LOVE Pottery Barn Kids merchandise and were debating between their sets and this one. After reading reviews and more product info, this was the clear choice. Much cheaper and frankly now that I have it, better built. My two-year old tends to climb. She has climbed on this and bounced up and down and the kitchen is like a rock. Very sturdy! KidKraft always come through for us.

I was really torn between the KidKraft Retro kitchen and several kitchen sets from Pottery Barn. Nevermind the opinion of my kids (age 3 and 2), the most important thing to me was to get something that would look good in our house. Ultimately I settled on KidKraft because of the price, but I was expecting ugly particle board and cheap construction. I just finished putting it together, and WOW! I'm really blown away by the quality! Very heavy duty. The paint job is really beautiful, and they even painted the screw heads that show, a detail my husband will appreciate. Assembly took me two hours, but I'm definitely not gifted in that area. Instructions were easy to follow, although I would have appreciated a little more detail on a few points.

For the Moms who are into interior decorating and like a nice looking house, you won't be disappointed with this PB alternative!

We bought this exact product, but somewhere else, for our 20 month old daughter for Christmas. She is always in my kitchen cabinets. My husband put it together in about an hour at 11pm.He isn't experienced in carpentry, just used the pictures and common sense.This was easy to put together; all the screws fit perfectly and all the parts were there. It is beautiful! We have it in the living room. The plastic ones seemed to be too much stuff all crammed together, and the other wooden brands were way too high in price for the same thing this offers, in one box. This is the frig, cabinets, sink/faucet, working buzzer, knobs click, and two burners. It seems sturdy so far. We are impressed with the construction and look. Our 3 year old son even likes it! I would highly recommend this product!

Just assembled it and it was a beast! By myself it took 1 1/2 hrs. I'm glad I tackled it before waiting for my husband to do it with me, it would have just caused fights.

Tips for assembly:
1. You need a regular phillips head and a small phillips head screw driver, in addition to the hex wrench they give you.
2. I would put the screws in little bowls or something because the plastic-wrapped cardboard they come in is hard to work with. (You have to keep turning it over to see what letter the various parts are labeled with, but then you run the risk of them falling out the back when you turn it over. (They could help this by labeling the back of the cardboard too)
3. Turn it on its side when attaching the door hinges. The screws are so small, it really helps to have gravity on your side. You wouldn't think of this because the instructions don't show it, but it was critical.
2. The back of it has the thin board with the grooves to slide into (like an entertainment center)-- at one point I think the directions are a little off because it shows you just sliding the board down the grooves for the top of the refrigerator, but the grooves don't open all the way at the top. I'm not sure the proper way to do it, I just loosened some of the screws and hoped I wouldn't break the board as I wedged it in. If you read this before you do it, I would put that grooved piece in before you connect the shelves to the sides of the fridge.

Quality things I liked:
1. Real screws! (not the kind that kind of look like screws but you just turn the bolt thing around it and it always loosens itself)
2. Painted tops on the screws -- so they blend in well.
3. Stickers labeling parts (1-38!) all come off very easily, no sticky residue -- and they are even placed so that you wouldn't have to take them off, they fall on the inside of it.

This kitchen was purchased in lieu of the PBK retro kitchen. Though pink would not have been my first choice in color, the price was fair & I was not willing to invest the cash in a PBK retro kitchen. Having seen the PBK kitchen in person, I think it does look like a more expensive & durable set, but my kids will do just fine with the Kidkraft set & do not care what name brand is on it.

My children are 2 & 4 1/2 (both are on the taller side) & the size is perfect.

I (mom) assembled the kitchen in about 2 hours, taking breaks here & there to play with the kids, get snacks, etc. It was very easy to put together & the instructions were easy to follow. The only suggestion I would make is screwing in the screws where the hinges go before attaching the hinges to open up the pilot holes a little more. This makes it much easier to attach the hinges without trying to do a contorted balancing act holding the doors up. Trying to get the doors screwed on was the timeliest part & once I opened up the pilot holes on the rest of the doors, assembly was a breeze.

I think the price of $134 for the oven & icebox is a fair price. I wouldn't have wanted to pay much more than $134 for this product & I would probably put it more in the $100 range because I have to assemble every piece of the toy.

It does have a strong odor of styrofoam when first opened & I wiped it down to hopefully get some of that odor & residue off the wood.

I have Prime shipping & I ordered the set 3/31/10 at 2:34 p.m. According to Amazon, the set was supposed to arrive 4/7/10 (due to a delay) & I received it 4/2/10 around 11 in the morning.

If you are on the fence about this set & are thinking of getting the PBK set, I would not hesitate to buy this set over the PBK set. The hardware on the PBK set is nicer & the layout is slightly different, but overall, there are not major differences to warrant the PBK price tag.

On a side note, the Melissa & Doug metal shopping cart (about $40) is really durable & is a wonderful piece to add to this set.

My daughter LOVES this kitchen- though be warned it is not easy to assemble. There are a ton of parts! It took us a good hour to assemble it- it would have been nice to have had an electric drill on hand. The tiny screws were killer. Besides the assembly we have no complaints. Our daughter loves it.