Would you bother with a toddler sized play kitchen?

[buddyleebaby]

I am thinking of getting a play kitchen for dd (for Christmas). I saw a cute wooden one in the constructive playthings catalog. The cost with shipping would be about 300 bucks for a stove, fridge, and sink/cabinat.
It is advertised as being sized for toddlers, which would be perfect for my dd at the time (she'll be 18 months). I'm wondering though, if she will outgrow it too sonn. OTOH, I don;t want to get a pre-school sozed one that she won't really be able to play with yet.
What would you do? Toddler or pre-school size?

[new_mommy25]

Do you have a link?

[traciann]

My dd will be around 18 months at christmas, and she is getting a Step 2 kitchen. She will be able to reach somthings, and what she cant she will grow into. I would go for a regular size just because it will last longer.

[buddyleebaby]

Yes, which I should have thought to add.
http://www.cptoys.com/cgi-bin/cptoys_cgi.sh/WService=cptoys/cptoys.com/school/product.htm?stateInfo=llbndnJdplchdlhL3181|1&dept_id=&pf_id=XX-7584&parent_id=&qty=1

Eta: i'm not sure why it's not appearing (in its entirety) as a link.

[mominjune]

I vote for the preschool one as well.

I got the Target wood kitchen for my DD at 18months and she had to stand on a little step stool to reach the sink. However, she really didn't start playing with the kitchen much for "pretend play" until after turning two. She's a pretty short 2 year old (10%) and she can reach things pretty well now. She can't reach the utensils rack up on top, but that isn't a big deal. I like that she will grow into the kitchen later rather than have to re-purchase.

[annasmom]

Alicia - you may want to check craigslist or ebay for a used smaller kitchen in the meantime. My sister just got one that was in great condition. I got Anna the Step 2 Little Helpers kitchen 2 Christmas ago, and it was a great size -- although I am looking to get a bigger one for this Christmas. My need for a bigger kitchen at this point though has more to do with having room for more than one child to play at the kithcen rather than the counter size of the kitchen.


ETA: For some reason whenever I try to post links from Constructive Playthings it never works!

[C99]

I would suggest getting just the stove/sink set in the toddler size and then as she grows into a bigger set, you could invest in the whole shebang. We have the Plan Toys Sink/Stove unit and it's tall -- really more preschool-sized. It's perfect for Nate now, and Rose likes turning the knobs and taking out the sink. I didn't get the fridge partly due to space, partly due to cost, and partly due to the fact that I didn't know how popular the set would be. If Rose ends up playing a lot with it when she's older, I could always get her the fridge for her birthday or something.

[mattysmom]

We got the kidcraft one from Learning Express for DS1 for Christmas last year when he was almost 3 and DS2 was 8 months old... DS1 has loved if from the beginning, but DS2 has really started to play with it in the last few months, since he was about 15 months old. He's still not walking, but he loves to stand at it and play with things. We've been really happy with the learning express one (link:
http://www.learningexpress.com/childrens_toys/partNumber_KDKLEKITCHEN/proj.html

We got it at our local store with a 20% off coupon and they set it up and delivered it for a small fee. I picked this one b/c it had a microwave (since we use our microwave a lot - I wanted one for DS too).

[kijip]

IMO the preschool sized ones are fine for the littlest tots too. Also, this is something you don't really want to buy more than once out of space and $$ concerns. I would get her a regularly sized toy kitchen.