Best Play Kitchen Set For Toddlers

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Published by 
Jess Miller
Last updated: 
April 2, 2023
Child Paying her kitchen Toys

A good way to teach children about safety in the kitchen is to buy a play kitchen set. To find the best play kitchen set available, many products were reviewed. Each play kitchen has been selected because it provides exceptional fun, safety, or another necessary trait for toddlers when compared to other play kitchen sets.

Comparison Table

How We Chose Our Favorites

Kitchen Toy
Image source: pixabay

Each play kitchen set has the potential to be the best play kitchen set. When choosing a product, the feedback of users will be taken into consideration. The comments of testers will weigh into the final decision. We will also take the criticism of other reviews for the product into consideration.

If they said, the play kitchen should appeal to a specific age range, how well it meets that goal will be considered. The next step will be to compare the company's goal and all of the relevant sources of information above.

In an attempt to offer you a diverse number of kitchen sets to choose from, only one candidate for the best play kitchen set will be selected from each brand. If two kitchen sets are considered unique enough, there will be an exception. The intention is to provide you with numerous options while shopping, so this will be avoided unless the quality of the product speaks for itself.

Each kitchen set will be judged using several criteria. The best age range for the kitchen set will be taken into consideration. The number of accessories will be noted because a set with fewer toys will be less entertaining. The ability of a play kitchen to educate children about kitchen safety and organization will be factored in.

Top 6 Best Play Kitchen Sets For Toddlers

These are the top best play kitchen sets for toddlers. Each playset should have something unique to offer. Each play kitchen set should be the best play kitchen set for a specific set of needs, but they should also be an above average set for general use as well.

Melissa & Doug Wooden Chef’s Pretend Play Toy Kitchen With “Ice” Cube Dispenser – Charcoal

The Melissa & Doug Wooden Chef’s Pretend Play Toy Kitchen With “Ice” Cube Dispenser uses primary colors. This red, blue, and yellow coloration makes it easy for children to see the different parts of the playset, and know what they can interact with.

The sink faucet can be rotated, and the basin can be removed. This allows children to use the sink as a washing space, or as a mixing bowl. The cutting board in the middle is a bright, brown grain, and the timer behind it correctly counts down once it has been set.

The burners are a bright yellow that most children will instantly be wary of. The way this play kitchen set uses color to help children learn what is safe to touch, and what is dangerous, is worth mentioning again.

The age range of toddlers can be between one to three years old. While many play kitchen sets appeal to the upper end of this age range, this playset appeals more to younger toddlers. It is considered middle-height for a play kitchen, so children won't get too tall for it when they do become closer to three years old.

The only tool you need to assemble this kitchen set is a screwdriver. The refrigerator, oven, and countertop are all easily assembled and part of one continuous play space. The play set is slightly shorter than others, and is sized so that young toddlers will have the best experience.

The Melissa and Doug Cook's Corner Wooden Pretend Play Toy Kitchen Set is one of our favorites. A play kitchen set will stand out if it is fun for children while educating them about kitchen safety well. This playset balances those traits well, has several accessories to keep children engaged, and works as a gift for both younger and older toddlers.

Step2 Elegant Edge Play Kitchen Set

The Step2 Elegant Edge play kitchen set is designed with a bright style. The knobs and buttons are all color-coded to attract the eyes of children, and make it more intuitive for them to use.The Elegant Edge does use lights and sounds in several places to entertain children. The refrigerator has an indoor light that turns on and off when they open the door. The stove makes popping and sizzling sounds, the blender makes whirring sounds and more.

The largest selling point of the Step2 Elegant Edge is its 78-piece accessory set. A large number of utensils, toys, and other items mean children should have a lot to distract them. Clean up can be an issue if they tend to run around the house with toys, but the volume of accessories alone is impressive. The Step2 Elegant Edge uses colors and visual direction well. Even very little toddlers will easily understand how to use the set due to the visual cues. While the set pieces like the stove aren’t lacking, it’s the accessories that make this play kitchen stand out.

KidKraft Ultimate Corner Play Kitchen Set

The KidKraft Ultimate Corner Play Kitchen Set prides itself on looking realistic. This kitchen play set is designed with silvery colors and wooden panels to look more like a genuine countertop. It includes an oven, refrigerator, freezer, washer, a microwave, and plenty of counter space.This kitchen set can require up to nine batteries, but the tradeoff is plenty of noise and several lights to keep your child entertained. The ice maker, microwave, and other parts of the play kitchen set make noise to keep children more engaged.

The KidKraft Ultimate Corner Play Kitchen says it is for children three years of age. This means it is for the older side of the toddler age range. Because it has a more realistic design and requires a lot of battery life to operate, you may want to heed this advice and make it a gift for older toddlers.The KidKraft play kitchen is the best play kitchen set if space is limited. It’s designed to fit in a corner, so its l-shape makes it easier to fit in a room than other toddler’s play sets. It has a large number of appliances, utensils, and accessories. The large number of batteries required can be a hassle for parents. The noise and lights are also very entertaining for older children but can grate on the nerves of some adults if space in your home is a problem.

Little Tikes Ultimate Cook Play Kitchen Set

The Little Tikes Ultimate Cook Play Kitchen Set strikes a healthy balance of play kitchen features. One stand out is the cappuccino maker, which your child can use to make tea or other drinks for guests. It is large enough for more than one child to play with this set without running out of counter space. The set is kept short enough that toddlers below the age of three will still be tall enough to use it easily, though.

The Ultimate Cook play kitchen set has many places to hang the utensils and other accessories your toddler will play with. This play set is easier to organize for parents due to the additional storage space.It comes with a thirty-eight piece accessory set, so you don't have to buy play utensils separately. The ample hanging space makes it easy to put these toys up when the toddlers are done with them. The hangers are also placed high on the playset so children can't bump into or injure themselves easily. It is colorful, has an ample number of accessories, and takes the difficulty of cleaning up into consideration. It isn't small, but a few additional features would improve this kitchen set.

Chelsea All-in-One Play Kitchen Set

The Chelsea All-in-One Play Kitchen Set has a modern aesthetic to it. The wood has either a white or gray aesthetic and the sink, and door handles are all brushed with a brass coloration.The large, farmhouse sink is capable of holding water. If you want to enable this feature, children can wash their dishes in this playset and learn to scrub dirty pans.

There are a stove and refrigerator for children to play with, as well. This kitchen play set is narrower and taller than other play sets, and can, therefore, fit in homes where others cannot.While the stove and sink are at the right height for toddlers of all ages, the refrigerator is the tallest appliance. Toddlers may have trouble reaching the top, which is a negative tradeoff of Chelsea's attempt to conserve on space with this design.This play kitchen set is tall and functional, but it has very few accessories. The gray colors also make it blend into a modern apartment, but they won't capture a child's attention easily. Your child can have a lot of fun with this playset, but it may have difficulty initially attracting their attention.

Hape Play Kitchen Set

This kitchen play set, designed by Hape Toys, is one of the smallest entries on this list. The set doesn’t have many accessories, either. This set is smaller so that it is safer for young children, and does have utensils, but the amount was kept low to make clean up easier.The entire set is made of wood and decorated with water-based paints. All of these are non-toxic materials. If your child does drop food on the playset, eat food off the surface, or make another mistake they won't be harmed.

This play kitchen set has an oven and a refrigerator as the centerpiece. Aside from utensils, there are matching salt and pepper shakers, a pot and lid, and a play sink.If space is an issue, this may be the best play kitchen set for you. The dimensions are roughly half the size of other entries on this list, like the KidKraft Ultimate Play Set. It is roughly twenty-two inches wide, twenty-eight inches tall, and thirteen inches deep in total. It is a good set for very young toddlers. The health-conscious materials show consideration for families. The lack of features may lead parents to buy additional accessories and play appliances as their children grow, however.

Buyer’s Guide

Kitchen Toy 1
Image source: pixabay

The products listed above are worthy of consideration as the best play kitchen sets available. They all have different sizes, battery demands, and other needs. If you understand how well your home can meet those needs, you may be able to select the play kitchen that is not just good for your home, but a perfect fit.

Play Space Size Vs. Free Space In Your Home

When buying the best play kitchen set, space will be the most common issue parents face. A large playset will have more toys. The size will also make it a good play place for toddlers as they get older, and reduce the speed with which they grow out of it.

A larger play kitchen set may frustrate small toddlers if they cannot reach the countertop. If it is too large, parents may not find room for the play set in their home, either. Some sets, such as the Hape Play Kitchen Set, are small so that they can fit in homes with limited space.

If a play space is wide or has extra countertop space, it is also easier for children to play together. For this reason, a play kitchen set that is very vertical, like the Chelsea All-in-One, won’t serve large families as well as a kitchen set like the KidKraft Ultimate Corner Play Kitchen Set.

The Number Of Accessories Is Very Important

When referring to a play kitchen set, accessories refer to utensils, pans, and other individual pieces of the set. At first glance, a play set with more accessories can seem like a better purchase. The Step2 Elegant Edge stands out with these criteria in mind.

Each accessory should be considered an individual toy. Children can quickly scatter these toys around and fail to pick them all up, especially when there are many of them. The clean-up then falls to the parent or guardian, so keep in mind how much patience you have for such challenges when buying a play kitchen set.

A play kitchen set doesn't feel right if there are no utensils or pans though so that a minimalist kitchen set can feel boring to children. One of the benefits of having utensils is that children can be taught to organize and pick-up items when they are done using them.

A common recommendation is to buy a kitchen set with enough accessories for two or three individuals. That many accessories can entertain several playing children, but won’t take too long to clean up.

Flashing Lights And Loud Noises Entertain Children, But Exhaust Parents

One of the easiest ways to make a play kitchen set engage children is through visual cues. Bright colorations, such as those in the Melinda and Doug Cook’s Corner, do this well without batteries.

Lights keep children engaged, but they also direct their play. The idea that you place pans on the stove and not a cutting board, for example, is not intuitive to children in the same way it is to adults. If your playset uses light and noise, consider investing in rechargeable batteries.

The other side of this issue is that playsets that lean too heavily on lights and noises can irritate parents if space is an issue. A play place near a work area can be distracting, and even more so if stoves are producing fake sizzling sounds for hours on end.

If you don't want to buy a play kitchen set with garish, stand out colors, then a playset with internal lights can help you strike a healthy balance. A set with a refrigerator that has an internal light, burners that blink, and other tamed uses of light can still teach children without producing a distraction that extends too far away from the play place.

Featured image source: pixabay

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