The Play Kitchens Professional Chefs and Food People Buy for Their Kids

“What sold me was that this feels like a real kitchen rather than a toy version,” El-Waylly says of her ultimate decision. Such details include, for example, the magnetic knife rack — “the kind of thing that makes my kid take it seriously as a workspace,” she says. Also, the burner dials click with real resistance, the oven door has a proper hinge, and the faucet moves.

The other big consideration for El-Waylly was scale, as she lives in a New York City apartment without a dedicated playroom, and she knew the play kitchen would end up right next to their real one. In fact, the La Fiamma Grand is bigger than some of the other options she looked at but with good reason: “Most play kitchens I found have no counter space, leaving kiddos working on the floor or requiring an additional side table,” she says. “This one has plenty of room to roll out Play-Doh cookies, prep pretend veggies, and build the included pretend pizzas. We’ve actually been able to put her old play table away, so considering that, it feels like we lost no space.” There’s also loads of storage. The cabinet and oven have shelves inside, there are four small drawers, and there’s an additional bit of side shelving, which means no accessories spilling out all over the floor.

It’s been a relatively short amount of time since El-Waylly bought the kitchen, but so far it has stayed in great shape. It’s made from real wood, so the structure is rock-solid. “The bulldog has barreled into it several times, knocking off all the accessories, and all is still well,” she says.

For cookbook author and recipe developerAnna Jones, the main draw of this kitchen was the working sink, which her son — who is 3 now, and was 2 when she bought it — loves to operate himself. You fill a tank in the back with water, and turning the tap lets it slowly flow into a basin that alerts you when it’s nearly full (Jones uses the collected water for her house plants). “There are no other buttons or dials, which I think he would have liked using, but we bought a timer to give him a sense of that,” she says. That simplicity also means it’s easy to wipe down.

Overall, the kitchen is relatively compact, fitting against one end of their own island perfectly, with two cupboards, which Jones said are well made, a small sink on one side, and some counter space on the other with a little shelf on top of that. It comes with a handful of accessories, like a cutting board, wooden knife, colander, and tea towel — but Jones has added real utensils and tools to supplement. “I don’t really feel like we need lots of play kitchen toys or play food,” she says. “My son chops real food when I am cooking or for a snack and washes his hands in the sink. The kitchen is an extension of our real kitchen.”

While this is the most expensive kitchen that was recommended to us, it has also gotten the most use.Top Chefhost and cookbook authorGail Simmonshas had it for nearly a decade, through a daughter and son who are now 12 and 8 and have mostly outgrown it — though they haven’t even officially parted ways with it yet, because her younger child and his friends sometimes still fall back on it. “It’s very alluring,” she says. She chose this particular one because it so perfectly matched the façade of her real kitchen (she has the gray pictured, but it also comes in white and natural wood). She liked that it was modern looking with smart details like a farmhouse-style sink, raised burners, and brass-colored hardware.

It’s the biggest model of any on this list — but that means the storage capacity is excellent. It has a full fridge, an under-the-sink cabinet, and the oven has two levels. Still, it’s surprisingly lightweight. It moved from her daughter’s room to a shared play space, and then to her son’s room, with no problem. “We’re probably getting to the time when we’ll pass it on to a friend with younger children,” Simmons says. “It makes me sad, but it’s in perfect condition. They and their friends have played on it hard, but everything still looks great.”

Chef and podcast hostGina Bruno Knopovbought this Tiny Land kitchen for her 2-year-old daughter, on her first birthday, who reportedly loved it right away. “The details are sweet without being overwhelming,” Knopov says. “No blinding colors, no chaos. The knobs all make sounds, which Mars is obsessed with. She’ll twist one on, load up the microwave or oven with play food, pull it out, and look at me completely seriously: ‘Is it hot enough, Mama?’” Tiny Land makes an array of size options (indeed, I got a recommendation for a more compact one, below). Knopov’s falls somewhere in the middle: “It’s slender and not too overwhelming.” Finally, she’s impressed by the quality. “It wipes down easily and after a year of heavy play, it still looks perfect,” she says.

Play kitchens can become a visual eyesore fast, which is whyNew Yorkerfood writerHelen Rosneropted for a simple model. “The reality of all the toys and accessories and bits and pieces means that it’s going to be a riot of color and mess nearly always, so having a fairly neutral backdrop keeps the clutter-overwhelm to a dull roar,” she says. To be clear: This isn’t a sad-beige-mom thing. It’s simply that the calculus in an apartment is different from that of larger homes with space for big toys to live without it feeling crazy. To make it a bit chicer, she did swap out the plastic handles forleather versionsfrom an Etsy shop that specializes in Duktig upgrades (they’re offline for the moment but will be back, presumably with those and other upgrades like wooden knobs for the stove, rattan screens for the windows in the cabinets, and metal utensil hooks).

This kitchen is small in scale, too. Still, there’s enough room for storage — and the unit has adjustable legs so that it can grow with her 3-and-half-year-old, who has already been using it for the past year. “I also really appreciate that there’s no clear indication of what any of the three cabinets are supposed to be, appliance-wise — the upper one is sometimes a microwave, sometimes a freezer, sometimes dish storage; the ones on the bottom are sometimes fridges, sometimes ovens, sometimes just cabinets,” Rosner says. Ikea pieces aren’t exactly known for their lastingness, but so far — with daily play and friends using it, too — it has held up. (For what it’s worth, Strategist senior editor Winnie Yang’s Duktig has seen nearly a decade of use from three kids, has gone through two moves, and is still in great shape.)

One note, though Rosner hasn’t employed either of these functions (“and my daughter doesn’t seem to notice or care,” she says): The sink can be hooked up to a real water flow, and the stove can light up like a real electric range.

Cookbook author and recipe developerCaroline Chambersis on her second model of this play kitchen. The first was a hand-me-down from a friend that they left outside for too long, so it got messed up — but her sons loved it so much, she bought another when that happened. Her now-3-year-old uses it the most, but her 5- and 7-year-olds (previously just as obsessed) still do, too. “One of the best parts about this play kitchen is how absurdly easy it is to assemble,” she says. “They really had parents in mind.” Indeed, she vaguely remembers screwing the legs in, but nothing more than that. In general, the build is smart: There aren’t too many bits and pieces and doodads that can get broken, scuffed, or fall off. “The simplicity of it helps it stay looking new,” she says. Still, the knobs make a fun click noise when you turn them. It comes with a wooden cutting board, two plates, two teacups, and two saucers.

This retro-looking kitchen belonged to chef and writerJulia Sherman’s best friend — but their kids played together all the time, and she says they preferred it to the one she had in her own house. It’s an especially interactive model, with a working light above the range, a microwave that actually dings, and stove knobs that turn. “Buttons and dials are essential,” Sherman says. “That’s what really lights up their pleasure center.” There are plenty of compartments for storage — but it’s not so massive that she found it overwhelming to clean. “One of the dangers of a play kitchen is that real food gets mixed up in there. It’s inevitable,” she says. “I think the fewer small, hidden compartments the better.” Bonus: It’s one of a few on this list that comes with some food and cookware accessories to start.

Great Jones founderSierra Tishgartembraces color all over her kid’s room, so this play kitchen is a nice counterpoint. She was even considering hand-painting it but ultimately left it as is because the wood — a mix of solid birch and maple — is particularly beautiful. This also means it’s durable: “Transparently, it was gifted to me, and I must acknowledge it’s of course a splurge, but I imagine we’ll have it for many years, as the quality is extremely strong,” she says. It also holds a surprising amount without feeling bulky. “I store Great Jones bakeware in the oven and silicone utensils in the sink. It’s filled with countless miniature toy foods and often the rogue toy car,” she says.

This is the smallest kitchen Tiny Land makes, which was a big part of the appeal for writer, recipe developer, and Strategist contributorFanny Singer, whose daughter used it for a couple of years before a friend of her grandmother gifted her a new one. But this was passed down to another family, and Singer says it’s still going strong over there. (She had one with a slightly different design but the same build.) “It was not only compact but also minimal, with a cute kind of farmhouse vibe, and very much the right price point,” she says. “It’s honestly the only attractive kitchen I found at this scale.” Still, “the undersink zone and the oven are spacious enough for play and for disappearing any kitchen chaos whenever necessary,” she says. It took no more than 15 minutes to set up.