We absolutely love this kitchen and bought all the espresso accessories to match. Building it takes 4-6 hours so don't make this the last thing on your to do list. The knobs for turning on the oven make clicking noises and shouldn't be turned to fast or else you can strip them (truly no big deal). The design is modern and soft on the eyes. We made ours more realistic by adding battery operated led touch lights to the microwave, oven, refrigerator, freezer and above the range (see photos). Hope this review is helpful
I looooove the look of this kitchen! I won't know how much my daughter will enjoy it until after tomorrow (this is her Christmas present)..... So I will update later!
I've included some notes from a few pages of the instructions to help others with which color screws to use at what time (either bronze/brown or silver). Also a couple notes of things that I ran into that I had to fix during assembly! I hope the notes help!
I took almost a full day (8 hours) to put this together because my husband and I took our time and our daughter was up during this time!
We teamed up with family to purchase several big "play" items for our daughter's birthday/Christmas in 2015, and this is without a doubt my favorite of everything she got! It's the perfect size for her at 2 years old and will easily grow with her over the next few years. We ended up buying the Learning Resources basket meals to go with it because it had a nice variety and was fantastic quality.
I read several bad reviews regarding assembly... but they left me scratching my head. Yes, there are LOTS of pieces. Yes, it will take you a solid couple hours. But we knew that when we bought it and set aside the time to work on it. Also, don't be stupid and assemble it the night before gifting it. That's just asking for frustration. For us, everything fit together perfectly and we had no damaged or blemished pieces.
The other reviews are right. FOUR. HOURS. It's a cute little kitchen and it seems very sturdy. I would have given it 5 stars at this point if- 1- the instructions were written out and more clear, and 2- one of the holes had lined up better. Something caused the holes for one of the shelves in the refrigerator to line up incorrectly, so the door sticks a bit. Every other piece of assembly up to that point went smoothly, it just took a long time.
Advise for assembly: 1. USE A DRILL. 2. On step 27 it tells you to put the right wall for the microwave on. Do this BEFORE you put on the shelf that acts as the bottom of the microwave, or your screwdriver/drill (like mine) won't fit under it to put it on and you'll be cursing kidkraft for a little bit.
Since this kitchen doesn't have lights or sound, I bought battery operated GE LED touch activated puck lights and stuck them to the underside of the inside of the fridge and oven. The one for the oven, I colored over the light with a red sharpie and let dry overnight (the lights are cool to the touch) so that the oven glows red inside. It was a cheap $10 upgrade and my kid loves turning the oven on and off now.
We just put this together last weekend and only gave it to our daughter for her 2 year birthday yesterday, so my feedback is based more on building it than on its longevity. Yes, it took my husband and I about 3.5 hours to build it. 3.5 hours and we used an electric drill with an allen wrench drill bit. So, if you don't have anything electric working for you, I can imagine it taking much longer. There are a million pieces to this thing: it can be overwhelming.
Tip 1: Don't start opening the hardware when you see it. Enter through the back as you go from step to step.
Tip 2: Some hardware has brown tips because the they will be up against the espresso wood. Some are merely silver because they will never be seen. The instructions do NOT specify when to use which. If this matters to you, you should be aware of it and take note of where the screws are going: if inside something like the refrigerator or stove, use the silver. If outside, use the brown.
Tip 3: Again, I highly recommend an electric drill and an allen wrench drill bit.
Tip 4: Divide up the work over two days or so if you're working with a partner so you don't kill each other.
Tip 5: Work with a partner. I can't imagine trying to do this alone. There are some parts where you literally need one person to hold something while the other drills/screws, etc.
Tip 6: Do NOT be tempted to do steps before you reach them in the directions. As flawed as I feel some of the directions are, doing the aforementioned will only add time to this already extensive project.
Tip 7: Read the directions beforehand. Get an idea of where you're headed, what's going together first, etc. It helped me visualize the process as we went along and therefore understand the directions better.
The result? She loves it. It's the longest stretch of independent play we've witnessed thus far. It looks real---just like our kitchen. She immediately set to putting a sponge under the faucet and cleaning her countertops. It was worth it.
Bought this item due to the other reviews saying it had longevity etc and its lasted years. I bought this for Christmas 2017 and it will probably be retired this year. Its 20 pound delivery for a 5 pound replacement door.
First door came off last year and then another a few months later. Fixed both with super glue and then today October 2020 i think I should just give up the ghost. Its a shame, it is. A lovely wee kitchen but not as robust as the others make out. For clarity mine has been in a living room. I wouldn't buy another kid kraft. Very pleasing to look at but a lot of money considering it isn't that sturdy. My thoughts are now that the reviews that have had it a long time must have kids that don't play with them