Step 2 Prepare and Share Kitchen

This Step2 Prepare and Share Kitchen Set was Kira's main gift for her first birthday. We knew she was a bit young for it, but we want to foster imaginative play as much as possible and she loves to imitate what we are doing. We also wanted something she could really grow into. There are many play kitchens to choose from, but we chose the Step 2 brand based on the positive reviews about durability, the price and the fact that they look like real kitchens rather than huge pieces of pink plastic in your living room. We settled on the Prepare and Share model because it has a lot of features squeezed into a relatively small footprint, and we don't have a huge amount of space in our play area.

The whole thing took about 40 minutes to put together, with about 10 minutes of that time being devoted to carefully placing sticker decals on the unit. The kitchen comes with a number of play pieces including pots and pans, cups, plates, cutlery, a coffee pot, spice jars, a salt and pepper shaker and a phone. It also has a decent amount of play food included, but we picked up an extra set for less than $10 at Toys R Us to complete the kitchen.

I really like the realistic look of the kitchen and the fact that it makes boiling or frying sounds depending on what is placed on the burner. Kira loves the sounds every time and likes to try out different foods in the pans. Over the last few months we have seen her really start to play imaginatively with the kitchen. She is stirring with the spoon or spatula, pouring into cups from the coffee pot and pretend eating the food. She likes to dump all the food out of the storage baskets or hide it in the oven or fridge. I think she will get a lot more out of it as the months go by, and that's exactly what we were looking for when we bought the toy.

The only issue we've had so far is that on one occasion she opened the oven door and stood on it, which made the whole unit tip over towards her. I was sitting right there, so I could catch it. The kitchen is not super heavy, but it probably would have scared her had it landed on her. Otherwise, it's sturdy on our carpet and doesn't wobble. She hasn't tried this little trick again, so hopefully she learned her lesson.