Plum Cottage Kitchen - review

Reviewed by the What To Do With The Kids Team

Active Play Specialist Company Plumhave just released a new collection of beautiful and colourful kitchens which are set to be top of every little girl's wish list this Christmas.

We were invited to review one of the items from the range, the Cottage Kitchen (pictured above) for What To Do With The Kids, and decided to give it a trial run during a tea-party we hosted when several friends came over with their children. Below is our report...

The Plum Cottage Kitchen came flat-packed, in a large package, how a standard piece of furniture might look and weigh, which was rather exciting. We decided to set the kitchen up in our own kitchen, in time for a tea party we were hosting with several friends attending with their children.

We were somewhat alarmed when we read the instructions that the construction time for the kitchen would be 2 hours and that 2 adults were required, especially since our friends were arriving in an hour! Happily it only took one of us and it was complete within just over an hour of concerted effort!

The set up itself was not too difficult, the pieces were well cut and easy to put together.

The kitchen looked pretty amazing when it was finished and felt really sturdy, again like a real piece of furniture rather than a toy.

When the girls arrived they absolutely loved the kitchen and all the children made a bee-line for it without bothering to stop and say hello to anyone or to play with any of the other toys. They were cooking on the hob with the pan and spatulas that came supplied and twisting the clicking dial on the microwave in no time! The great thing is that the kitchen is sufficiently big for two or three small children to stand at it and play with it all at the same time, unlike some of the other kitchen toys on the market.

The kids obviously loved it and played with it until it was time to go home again, but from a parents perspective here are some of the features we particularly liked:

This is a seriously sturdy toy, and will be extremely hard-wearing
The details are lovely - we really liked the transfers of the chiller, the books and the shopping list - and these really ignited the children's imagination while playing
It's made of premium FSCcertified timber
The kitchen is really attractive as a piece of furniture for a kid's bedroom - lovely design, nice colours, not plastic or garish like many toys
The cupboards and shelves are well proportioned and this means the kitchen makes for good storage at tidy-up time.

On the downside, we would have liked to have seen more accessories with the kitchen given the price it sells at, and also it is very heavy, which means it is better given a permanent place and is not easily shifted from room to room.

In summary, this is a gorgeous toy, and although it is much more expensive than other kitchen toys on the market, the Plum Cottage Kitchen is an investment toy. It is really high quality and durable and would easily last across several generations of children. One of the other parents at the party also suggested that this toy would be an ideal purchase for a child-minder or a nursery.

You can find the full range of Plum toys with RRPs ranging from £49.99 to £169.99, at www.plumproducts.com

You can buy the Plum Cottage Kitchen on Amazon