Play Kitchen at 1?

[silverspoon]

Parenting brought this idea to my attention and now I can't let it go. 

I'm thinking of getting J the Ikea play kitchen for Christmas along with the pots and pans, fruit and veggie baskets. He will be a week shy of turning 1 at Christmas. Is that old enough? I'm assuming he will be most interested in opening and closing the cabinets at first. I want to get him something that will last and not just a bunch more baby toys (of which he will get plenty from everyone else I'm sure).

I've also fallen down the rabbit hole of redecorating the Ikea play kitchen. It comes looking like this:


There are pages and pages devoted to making it over and I would love something like this:


It is going to be in my living room, hence my desire to make it somewhat attractive looking.

[dizzycooks]

We waited on a toy like that until she was old enough to be excited about it. I'd really consider some small things to wrip open and save that for the next year or two.

[dizzycooks]

It's adorable though!!

[pinktartan9]

My H and I wanted to do this too. We are constantly in the kitchen and want to instil our love for cooking and baking in DD from an early age. There was a kitchen at Costco that was very cute but that IKEA one is adorable too! We decided to wait until next year for the same reason dizzycooks mentioned. I do love it though. If you end up getting it you must share pics!!!

[silverspoon]

Oct 25, 2016 8:22:32 GMT -5 dizzycooks said:

We waited on a toy like that until she was old enough to be excited about it. I'd really consider some small things to wrip open and save that for the next year or two.

This is a big consideration. I was originally thinking of just doing some small things because he's certainly not really going to "get" Christmas this year. 

[NellieOleson]

Granted, my dd1 is on the shorter side, but the IKEA kitchen was tall for her even when she was 21 months or so. I thought about getting her that for Christmas last year, but we ended up going with a different kitchen.

And as far as making it cute goes, I think painting it is a great idea, but all those little knickknacks and nicely hung up spatulas and spoons are going to be on the floor in about 2.5 seconds of playtime. We have a bin with all the gear that we keep next to the play kitchen.

[silverspoon]

Oct 25, 2016 9:30:08 GMT -5 NellieOleson said:

Granted, my dd1 is on the shorter side, but the IKEA kitchen was tall for her even when she was 21 months or so. I thought about getting her that for Christmas last year, but we ended up going with a different kitchen.

And as far as making it cute goes, I think painting it is a great idea, but all those little knickknacks and nicely hung up spatulas and spoons are going to be on the floor in about 2.5 seconds of playtime. We have a bin with all the gear that we keep next to the play kitchen.

Oh, I'm sure the stuff will go in a bin. The knickknacks on the one online is a bit overkill. I'm thinking more just about painting it and a backsplash. The backsplash I think is actually practical because it has an open back otherwise.

[scorpioscuba]

I bought DS all of the IKEA food and pots and pans at this age. He loved them!! We saved the kitchen for when he was 2. Best investment ever. At 5 1/2 he still plays with all of it.

[sjames2015]

We got DD1 a play kitchen and a toddler trampoline for her 1st Christmas. She's loved the kitchen since we got it. Same with the trampoline. Now DD2 loves them both, mainly just to cruise the kitchen but she bounces on the trampoline.

[sjames2015]

Here is what I found on my history of Amazon orders for DD1's first Christmas.

[Lollipop]

I don't think 1 is too young. He might not get it right away, but he will eventually, and until then, opening the doors and dumping everything out will be hours of entertainment for him.

[Lsquared]

We did the kitchen at 2 for DD and it was fun to see her so excited about it!

That being said, DS plays with the kitchen all the time since he could pull himself to stand. I'm sure he would love it!

[sjames2015]

Ok. I looked back through everything and it was her 2nd Christmas that she got all of those. Sorry for misleading you all.

[Lollipop]

I honestly don't remember what we got S for his first Christmas. I think clothes and a couple of little toys. But he was only 4 months old, so it was a little different.

[tinydancer]

I like this idea. My baby loves to play around in the real kitchen - opening drawers and cabinets, banging metal bowls, measuring cups, a wisk...- this is probably just a safer version of that.

[sjames2015]

Here is a reference for my 10 month old next to our play kitchen.
She was waving at us.

[silverspoon]

That's adorable sjames2015

[tinydancer]

silverspoon, just saw kidkraft play kitchens on sale on zulily...

[nikiswimr]

We're getting a play kitchen for E for Christmas. The barre3 daycare has one and it's her favorite thing ever.