Vibe checking play kitchens: a thread

The child who plays with this is just a few short years away from refusing to be in mom’s instagram posts anymore.

Minimalist and retro, this kitchen is perfect for playing diner. The child playing the cook will become a strong capitalist and entrepreneur; the child playing the server will identify with the common worker and become a socialist.

Strikingly graphic and enticingly simple, like something a child would see at a daycare center that is not theirs and keep dreaming about, even though their daycare has a “better” kitchen.

Sparse, more reminiscent of poverty than clean Scandinavian design. Perfect for playing orphan.

Offputtingly big. The child who plays with this will bully others into eating their dish at a potluck because they “can’t” take home any leftovers.

Romantic and dreamy, but limited to historical make believe. While the kitchen suggests opulence, the child will concoct stories of empty ice boxes, poorhouses, and rich mysterious benefactors.

Retro futuristic, where Rosie might cook for the Jetsons. The child who plays with this kitchen is astonishingly good at times tables or obsessed with orangutans, maybe both.

A play kitchen selected by parents who moved to the suburbs to raise their children. The hanging planter almost makes the mother cry when she thinks about their studio in Manhattan and their young idealism.

A play kitchen for a future grill dad.

Agressively depressing in its realism. No child should have to be aware of what subway tile is.

The child who plays with this knows to compost their carrot peelings but doesn’t know how to share with other kids, given that they’re an only child with a nanny.