Tender Leaf kitchen range
Best: Overall
Rating: 9/10
- Dimensions: H 91.5cm x W 67 x D 32.5cm
We were immediately won over by the gorgeous pastel colour scheme of this country-style kitchen. Made from sustainable rubberwood and plywood, coloured with non-toxic paint, it’s the kind of toy you’d be more than happy to have on show.
Looks aside, this kitchen is packed with accessories so your child can start playing straight away. The Butler sink (complete with painted plug and plug hole) was big enough for some excellent pretend washing up, and all the oven knobs and microwave dial (a cute bluebird) made clicking sounds, to keep the kids entertained.
The kitchen comes with four wooden hobs, an oven with opening door, two storage pots, three plates, three utensils (which hang neatly away on hooks), three herb chopping boards, a fabric pot holder and tea towel, as well as a two-part magnetic wooden fish and fancy garnishes (none of your bog-standard plastic toast here!) to cook up in the wooden roasting dish. If we’re being picky, we would have liked some pots and pans included too, but there was plenty to spark up our testers’ imaginations.
Assembly was relatively straightforward, with easy-to-follow diagrams, and we were impressed with how sturdy it felt when finished.
The two hand-crafted wicker basket drawers are so handy for tidying everything up at the end of a play session – just chuck it all in there and no one will ever know the chaos hiding inside! They made a nice change from the usual open shelves or cupboard door, and our youngest tester in particular enjoyed emptying them and filling them up.
We liked the addition of the chalkboard on the side of the kitchen, for writing down what’s on the menu, but the biggest hit of all has to be the pump-action, wooden soap dispenser that had our two-year-old tester rounding everyone up to wash their hands – a lot!