Melissa & Doug Classic Deluxe Kitchen

by Melissa & Doug

Product Features

• A little chef's dream kitchen. There's plenty of space for every culinary activity
• Prepare, cook, clean and create in this gorgeous wooden kitchen. Includes a sturdy stovetop, roomy refrigerator, fancy freezer, see-through oven with knobs that turn, microwave with turntable, and spacious sink
• Sizeable storage, beautiful detailing and bright, colorful graphics, all for an exceptional price!
• Sturdy and durable, newly redesigned engineering for easy assembly, here is the one perfect place to play with your food!

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 49 x 5 x 19.5 inches ; 52 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 96.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item can only be shipped to the 48 contiguous states. We regret it cannot be shipped to APO/FPO, Hawaii, Alaska, or Puerto Rico.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B000GYUYC4
• Item model number: 2607
• Manufacturer recommended age: 36 months - 7 years
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #6,753 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games)

  #30 in	Toys & Games > Preschool > Pre-Kindergarten Toys > Pretend Play > Kitchen Sets & Play Food
  #18 in	Toys & Games > Pretend Play & Dress-up > Sets > Cooking & Housekeeping > Kitchen Playsets

• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (141 customer reviews)

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

The Melissa and Doug Deluxe Kitchen offers outstanding design features and sturdy wood construction that will provide your children with years of serious kitchen fun. Although a bit pricey, this is a kitchen set that has few rivals in terms of safety features, durability, and overall design. Recommended for children three years and older, this kitchen includes a stove top, refrigerator and freezer, see-through oven, microwave, sink, and plenty of storage space.

The deluxe kitchen set is solid and has lots of activities. View larger.

Kids will love working at the kitchen, pretending to make meals. View larger.

What We Think Fun Factor: Durability: (what this means) The Good: Sturdy wood construction pre-painted with durable acrylic paint Rounded corners and several safety features; Fun, bold colors ideal for younger children The Bad: Up to four-hour assembly time required; A bit pricey In a Nutshell: Long lasting, durable, wood kitchen set that children will enjoy for years. At a Glance Ages: 6 and up Requires: Phillips and flat screwdriver

Set-Up Time and Design Features
Before you invest in this set, be prepared for four or more hours of set-up time. To assemble this Deluxe Kitchen Set, you'll be asked to connect over 30 separate sold-wood pieces together with more than 170 nuts, bolts, screws and hinges.

Don't panic! The good news is that the instructions couldn't be any easier to follow. If you know how to use a screwdriver and a hex key, you can do it. (A power screwdriver would speed things up quite a bit.) You'll also want a second set of hands on call due to the set's weight--the finished product weighs over 90 pounds.

To ease assembly, each wooden piece is color coded and pre-drilled, making it virtually impossible to make mistakes. Just be certain to give yourself plenty of floorspace and time before you start, and with so many easy-to-swallow pieces, you'll want the kids to be fast asleep.

The great news is that once the set is assembled, there is a very good chance that it will outlast your child's interest in make-believe kitchens by more than a few years. This kitchen is incredibly well-constructed and designed; you'll consider it as much of a piece of furniture as a child's toy. It would take an extremely determined and strong child with a heavy object to harm it. And if you treat it well, it could easily become an heirloom to pass down to the next generation of young chefs.

A nice safety feature parents will love is that there are no sharp angles that can harm stumbling children; every wood piece has been rounded at the corners, and every knob and faucet similarly features soft curves designed specially with toddlers in mind. Each wooden piece and metal hinge is pre-painted with a hard, durable acrylic. All the screws and bolts are recessed, and the see-through oven and microwave feature unbreakable plastic windows.

When completed, the set measures approximately 41x42x17 inches (HxWxD).

What the Aspiring Chef Needs
Although this set is recommended for children three years of age and older, one of our test children who was two years old loved every macaroni-and-cheese making minute of her time with it. On her tiptoes she could reach the microwave and storage cabinet (the set stands over three feet tall), and over the next several months of growing she will assuredly gain greater satisfaction with easier use of the top shelves. Our slightly taller three-year old test boy also had to reach a bit, but neither one of them minded in the least.

The stove dials and sink faucet and assemblies turn freely, which made it easy for the kids to use. Each of the doors is held shut by an adjustable plastic door latch that provides just enough tension to keep them from swinging freely but still easy for the kids to open. The stove,

With rounded corners all around, children won't have to worry about sharp edges. View larger.

microwave, and refrigerator each feature simply painted details, such as timers, temperature gauges and a ice maker. It's possible that as kids grow older, they may want more realistic details, but for toddlers, the bright and bold colors and simple designs are perfect. This is make-believe, after all.

Be forewarned that the set itself does not come with any cooking utensils or other assecories. We purchased a Melissa and Doug Kitchen Accessory Set before assembling the kitchen and were glad we did. Our children adopted the wooden pans and spoons immediately, and within minutes they were cooking blue pizza, apple sauce soup, and mango sorbet.

While the related accessories would be nice, as long as your children use appropriate objects, such as wooden or plastic utensils and pans, their creations will be just as scrumptious. (Aside from the safety factor, metal objects in the hands of an energetic child will scratch the paint over time.)

Overall Impressions
Our basic criticisms for this kitchen set are that it's pricey, it takes a long time to assemble, and it's heavy. But this kitchen set is the real deal. It doesn't include cheap plastic detailing that will break easily. Don't consider this a mere toy; think of it as a fun piece of furniture that will provide your child with years of imaginative play. In this day and age of disposable products, we can't offer a great compliment to any toy than to predict that it will likely outlast your children's make-believe years.

Product Description

Melissa and Doug presents every little chefs dream kitchen. The Deluxe Kitchen features room to prepare, cook, clean and create. This sturdy, durable wooden kitchen includes a stove, refrigerator/freezer, oven, microwave with turntable, and sink. Bright, colorful graphics, and an exceptional price make this the most attractive kitchen! Easy to assemble, here is the one perfect place to play with your food!

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What is everyone talking about???, September 27, 2008

By	A. Bird - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars Educational:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Melissa & Doug Classic Deluxe Kitchen (Toy)

My husband cracked open the box tonight and it took him a mere 1-3/4 hours to assemble, all by himself. He found the instructions to be extremely well-written and logical to follow and the color coding/numbering on the pieces made it one of the easiest flat-pack items (kids, grownups or otherwise) he's ever seen. Contrary to a previous reviewer's assertion, this is way easier than ikea.

He also feels that this is a very well engineered toy. Don't let other reviewers scare you.

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mostly happy overall but somewhate disappointed, July 5, 2007

By	E. Weilage - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Durability:3.0 out of 5 stars Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars Educational:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Melissa & Doug Classic Deluxe Kitchen (Toy)

We purchased this kitchen based on the other reviews that we read on-line. We felt the cost was reasonable for a wooden kitchen. Although we are happy with the overall appearance, it did come with some damaged corners and the door of the microwave has what appears to be dried glue on the inside of the see-through door. Although the instructions were very good and very thorough, we had a lot of difficulty putting it together. It took much longer than it should have because at least 4 of the pre-drilled holes were not pre-drilled so we had to drill them ourselves (which cracked the wood in some cases) and find other screws that would work. We also had problems with the metal pieces that are inserted inside the holes to hold the screws in place once they are screwed in. Several of these came out making it impossible to keep the screws in place.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Missing Parts!, August 15, 2008

By	J. Pearson (Asheville, NC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Melissa & Doug Classic Deluxe Kitchen (Toy)

We purchased this kitchen with some reservations after reading all the reviews. We've had such good experiences with other Melissa & Doug toys that we thought we'd give it a shot. Well one of the major components was stightly damaged and had a manufacturing flaw that was painted over. That wasn't too big of a deal...I could touch it up. Then we realized that the microwave door and a smaller "wooden" part were missing. Melissa & Doug's customer service was great and parts are on the way. Good thing we bought it well ahead of my daughter's birthday! When we get the parts (in 4 days) I'll see if assembly is as bad as others have said.

My advise is to order this well ahead of when you need it. Then count ALL of the parts as soon it arrives. Then WHEN something is missing or manufactured wrong call Melissa & Doug's customer service. They will treat you right. And it's a good thing because their manufacturer's quality stinks! Hmmm...I wonder where this thing is made...

Update: Per Melissa & Doug customer service we have the third version, which is supposed to be much easier to assemble. It took less than three hours to assemble, including time to "modify" hardware to compensate for a hole drilled off center. And most importantly, my daughter loves the kitchen.