Dora the Explorer: Sizzling Surprises Kitchen

Dora's Flimsy Kitchen
My daughter is 17 months and loves to watch me in the kitchen so I thought this would be a great learning tool for her and being Fisher Price, I had high hopes. Boy was I disappointed! First of all, it was very easy to put together but the plastic feels so cheap and flimsy! She has knocked the entire thing down twice just by lightly pushing on it and it's not heavy at all to keep it in place so it's also not sturdy. Another complaint I have is that the picture of the pie in the oven and the backsplash images are printed on cheap CARDBOARD and are only held in by tiny tabs so my daughter has easily removed them and ripped one. Kids can push right through them; Fisher Price would've been better off making these stickers to stick to the flat surfaces so they'd at least stay in place. The purple pan doesn't sit flush on the burner and while I like that it has little hooks to hang up the cups, there should be something to store the dishes and other accessories in instead of having to put...
This toy is a hit
This is the first Toy that my granddaughter gravitates to when she comes to visit. She will always look for it first. She loves to pretend that she is making food for us and she makes food for her dolls. The dishes are sturdy plastic and She uses them alot. The cardboard cutouts that are used for the scenery are a bit flimsy but have held up pretty well. We did have an issues with keeping the oven door shut as it had to be shut firmly and my granddaughter didn't have the strength to close it. My husband fixed the problem with a little duct tape. This is a hit at our house.
Flimsy and cheap feeling
I was hoping that the Dora Sizzling Surprises Kitchen would be a fun toy for visiting grandkids, ages 2-4. Um, yeah. Not so much. First of all, they TOWER over it. (I'm pretty sure the cute ad is photo shopped)The beautiful color pictures shown on the set are mostly just cardboard. The oven door flops open, which may be the reason the child is pictured standing to the side! There are not very many play pieces, which I found disappointing.

Here's the thing: The size of this set would make it appropriate for a child aged about 18 months. However, a child of that age may not be very steady on their feet and I feel this set is too lightweight to support a child leaning on it. There are better choices out there.
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