Customer Reviews

Little Tikes Play Smarter Cook 'N Learn Kitchen

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

We bought this for our son's Christmas (he's just turned 3yo). He loves to cook so we wanted to give him a kitchen. After reviewing several we chose this one because of its size and price.

The Good: Compared to other kitchens out there this one is reasonably priced. It was easy to put together on Christmas morning and our son is enjoying cooking all sorts of meals for us. The assortment of accessories that comes with it is really good and there are plenty of them to cook all sorts of items. The kitchen fits perfectly into a corner or equally well against a wall. It's smaller than a lot of other kitchens we looked at which for us was good because of limited space.

The Bad: The talking terrified my son. I admit, it seemed kind of creepy to me too. I guess it was because the voice kept saying the same thing over and over if you didn't respond in the right way. My poor boy tried to please the voice a few times then got frustrated and started to cry. NOT the desired effect for Christmas morning. Anyhow, we just disabled it and convinced him it would never come on again and he's gotten over it. The other thing is that the fridge and oven doors won't shut all the way and stay shut. It doesn't bother me because I know we didn't buy the deluxe model. It's just a toy! It's otherwise decent quality and will last through his time and his little brother too (yeah, I want my boys to love cooking - life skill don't ya know).

We got this kitchen for our daughter's 2nd birthday and she loves it. It was a pain to put together- getting the oven and refridgerator doors on was the hard part. It tells you which food you put on the cutting board and in the pan- but sometimes it is wrong. It will say "put the broccoli into the pan" and she does, and it tells her that she is wrong....Other than that- it is a great kitchen to play with and comes with great food and accessories!

We got this kitchen for our 4 year old son who loves to help in the kitchen. He got it yesterday and he hasn't played with anything else since. He has made all kinds of meals and snacks for us. It is a wonderful kitchen that encourages creative play. We already have plenty of tools, trucks, etc and this was a nice change for him to add some diversity to his playtime. He loves being able to "crack open" the egg and have the yolk come out. I only wish I could find the additional food sets but they are out of stock. I only rated the educational as 3 stars because he already knows colors, sizes, etc. Overall this is a wonderful toy. Thanks Little Tikes for always being a quality choice for toys!

We got this for our 1.5 year old son. Its small enough I can move it around from room to room but its still big enough for his 4 year old brother to play with it at the same time. Not much counter space but they use their little tykes table for serving. The sink is very shallow & the faucet doesn't move. There is only one plate, fork, knife & spoon that come with it but the fruit that comes with it has velcro on it for slicing which is really cool! I'm not that crazy about the 'interactive' learning part of the kitchen. My boys don't really play with it they just have fun cooking their own way. I'm amazed for the size of the kitchen that we can still store everything inside including the extra pots, pans, food, & utensils that we purchased. The oven door came somewhat warped but overall I love the color scheme, size and durability of it.

Introduction:
We ordered this kitchen for our 3 1/2 year old son, who loves to cook in the kitchen with Mommy. Other reviews seemed pretty positive, with some minor issues I thought we could live with. We wanted to give it to him as his "big" Christmas present this year, and were really excited when it arrived on schedule before the holiday.

Fun and Educational value:
For us is has been a wash. Because the play modes aren't working (see below), our son hasn't had the chance to get the intended experience. He doesn't even turn it on anymore - it's just sitting in the corner collecting dust. That said, another issue is the voice - waaaay annoying! We used packing tape over the speaker to muffle her a bit, because even on the low volume setting it was too loud. In my opinion, a kitchen with less directed play would be a better choice.

Durability:
When we put it together, we noticed the backsplash was cracked in two places - not good. Also, the doors on the oven and refrigerator are just about impossible to install (as noted by other reviewers). Once you get them snapped into place, there is a 1" gap at the bottom of the refrigerator door and the same gap at the top of the oven door. Bummer. It still "worked" well enough, and I began trying to contact Little Tikes about getting the cracked parts replaced.

Customer Service:
I first called the customer service number on 12/21 and was pleased to hear that they have "a 100% satisfaction guarantee" and that they would be happy to exchange it for a different kitchen. The representative gave me the number for returns, and I tried to call them immediately only to find the office was already closed for the day. Because of the holidays, the returns department number went to voicemail until January 2. I then left a detailed message about our situation, which by then had gotten worse. When we installed the batteries, we noticed the play modes did not function as they should. Drat. Then the stickers on the backsplash began peeling off. Little Tikes called back for more information on 1/4, and I have not heard back from them since. In the past we have been very satisfied with Little Tikes' products, but all in all, this has been an extremely bad experience. What I would like is to be given the option by Little Tikes to exchange this kitchen for another model, with no additional charges for shipping. That would make us happy. We're waiting...

Overall rating:
Don't waste your time and money on the Play Smarter Cook 'n Learn Kitchen. Skip this product and choose something else.

I thought this was a little pricey for "a piece of plastic", but compared to similar products, I guess it was a good value for the money. The grand kids love it and it offers lots of options for imaginative play.

Maybe because my son is only 2, but I am somewhat disappointed by this toy. It is not what I expected. My son would pretend to "cook" prior to getting this toy, but once he got it, it lost it's charm quickly. The interactive part becomes annoying after repeating itself several times. If the child does not follow directions, it repeats itself a few times, then moves on. The volume goes from loud to louder, as well. I can hear the toy clear across the house on the lower volume level. I am hoping that as my son gets older he will enjoy it more, but I now wish that I had ordered the one that talked in 3 languages.

I did a lot of research before I bought this kitchen for my 1 1/2 year old daughter. I read a lot of reviews both good and bad about this kitchen.
I think it is a great starter kitchen, I love the size, and for the amount of time my daughter plays with it, it's perfect. The doors are tough to put on and they don't close all the way but who cares it's a play kitchen!!!!
I would recommend this to a friend:)

We bought this kitchen for my 2 year old for Christmas. When we opened the box Chirstmas Eve to put it together half the parts were missing and we were unable to. I contact Little Tikes to complain and never got a responce from them.

We returned the one we had and exchanged it for the same model. Once it was put together we noticed how poorly designed it was. All the are on the top is just wasted space. The things that the kid wants to play with (the sink & stove top) are shoved into half of the counter top leaving a large space to basically do nothing. The electronic "learning" games are to drawn out with clever ryming that it's no fun to use and they directions move so fast that while you are looking for the right item to add it starts over.

The only good thing in the box were the fruits & veggies that you can "cut". My daughter just takes them into the middle of the room and plays with them on the floor.

A friend of mine bought a simular sized Step 2 model for about $10 more and it was SO much better!! She loves to play with all the drawers and baskets and the sound effects are great. We are going to sell this to a resale shop and get one of those. Tough lesson learned. Please learn from our mistake!

We bought this kitchen 3 years ago for our son. We love the colors for a boy. He and his now 3 yr old sister love to play with it. They don't use the cook 'n learn feature of it though. That part seems to be a waste. In retrospect, I think I would have bought a bigger kitchen but if you're looking for a small basic one at a good price that doesn't look girly, this is it.