Small -- which may be a good thing -- fun and Inexpensive
Let me preface my review for a moment... About a year ago, my wife brought back this hulking kitchenette toy from the "free room" at the recycling center (also known as "the dump"). I was a little horrified at the looks of it; it is bigger than my desk at work, two-sided, nothing electronic working on it, but when we unloaded it outside, my two-year old son loved it. He began making coffee for his grandfather, pizza for my wife and I, and loved getting drinks from the fridge. As long as there were people around, it kept him totally busy and entertained.
So. Winter comes, and we have a small enough house as it is. We can't put something that size in his room, nor will it have a place in the living room without sacrificing some piece of furniture. Also, I've already looked at the "newer" versions of what still stands outside near the swing set, and they are ludicrously priced at approaching $200, if not more. Then I see this oven as well as a grill, and I can tell that...
Fun at First.....A Little too Small
My 3 1/2 year old niece was very excited to play with her new baking oven and at first it was a hit, but it didn't hold her attention long and it isn't a favorite toy now. The oven comes with cute accesories and makes fun sounds, so I wasn't sure what the problem was, but now I think it's just a little too small. My niece struggled to work on the pull out "cutting board" it's too small and narrow to really do much and I noticed the small bowl she was using kept falling off of it. The oven is well made and sturdy, but I think it could be a little bigger or least the "cutting board" should be wider. She does play with it and one of her little friends seems to enjoy it more than she does, so it just may be a prefence thing as my niece does have a larger play kitchen that she plays with all the time. I hesitated to give the oven only 3 stars, because it isn't junk like alot of toys, but still it's a little pricey for what it is and not quite being a 4 star toy and since I can't do 3 1/2...
Falls apart easily, and the recipe holder keeps falling over backwards
My daughter had so much fun playing with this at first, until she got REALLY annoyed that the recipe card holder kept falling the wrong way. I inspected it a few times and made sure I assembled it correctly, and I did. My daughter tends to be a little OCD about things so she felt better about the toy once I'd just removed the recipe card holder.
There is something strange about the setup. I like that the "side table" or "cutting board" can be put on either side, but it doesn't hold all of the utensils correctly, so a lot of them are just floating around the playroom now. I'm not OCD but I do think that if you make a toy with so many accessories, you should be able to store them all inside or on the toy somehow.
It's fun for her to play with, just seems a little disorganized in the design. The battery life is great, though, and except for the recipe card issue she plays with it often.
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