Wednesday, January 24, 2007

A Tale Of Four Kitchens

This year we decided to get Bella a play kitchen. I'm all for women's lib but also understand that little girls looooooove to pretend they are domestic goddesses.


I didn't want to spend alot on a kitchen since it wasn't to be the focal point of her room. I also bought her an art easel and her dad bought an adorable writing desk & chair. We have high expectations.


I found a kitchen on sale for $30. It was a steal as it was regular price $60. How could I not? I ordered it and received a box of 150 million pieces of plastic all stuck together awaiting an evening of cursing and ARGH!-ing to put it together.


My husband's aunt ordered a kitchen for their granddaughter, who they are raising. She bought the fancy schmancy expensive one. It was delivered to our house since she and her husband work.


Then she figured out that the store over-charged them and so the store...sent them another one. To our house. So now I had three play kitchens at my house. Why? Because they insisted my aunt had to take her first one back to the store for a refund because she paid by check, blah blah blah.


After comparing apples to carcass, I decided to buy the schmancy kitchen from the aunt and give the crappy one to his grandmother so all the grandkids could play and destroy without anyone feeling bad.


Problem?


El' Crapo was missing parts. Are you kidding me?


I contacted the store, they said they'd send the parts.


What did I receive? Oh yeah! ANOTHER KITCHEN.


I have never, nor do I ever want again, four plastic kitchens in my home. Try explaining to a 2 1/2 yr old that you are basically a plastics warehouse and she only gets to keep one. How very Mommy Dearest.


The tickle-your-funny-bone-or-not part? The original store told me to keep Crappy Kitchen #2 for free. HA! All that means is that I have two turds and one is still missing pieces! That will be donated. Don't feel bad for the kid who gets it, SHE can have HER mommy call for the missing sink.


As for Bella, she's happy as can be with the expensive kitchen. Go figure. And when I asked if she could make me some tea?


"Uh-oh...I'm fesh out, Mama."


*sigh*





12 comments:

Amanda said...

rachael ray in the making, eh?

save a kitchen for dillon. he will need one to pile his dishes in the sink and use the microwave.

Unknown said...

Somehow I scored. Both the young men in my life (the ones who can speak at least) love cooking. We are excited for Kindred to get his own kitchen someday too. Domestic gods out there too, thank goodness.

Kelly said...

Oooooh, I want some tea from her kitchen too! Love it!
We don't have room for a play kitchen (crappy or expensive)here...our place gets smaller by the week. But she has fun with her tea set in the bathtub!!

RockerMom said...

We had a plastic kitchen (not nearly as pimped out as yours) several years ago. I got it at a garage sale, intact and with all accessories. The Boy enjoyed it but never sat still long enough to get much out of it. We ended up selling it to a friend for her daughter. I suspect had we kept it The Boy would have simply integrated it into his Star Wars collection as a futuristic space vessel. Oh well...at least it didn't keep him from enjoying cooking!

He still always wants to help me cook, even if it's just pouring stuff. Apparently he prefers life-sized stuff! Come to think of it, he never liked the kiddie-sized toilet, either...

Jennboree said...

Bella loves anything grown-up that is her size. You should see all the fake food she has. I have a free buffet daily! If I could just survive on pretend eating, I'd lose this baby weight...

T-girl said...

LOL Funny I have a kitchen coming for mine for her b-day in April and I SPECIFICALLY said I did not want her to HAVE a kitchen (space was the issue) and yet, I am told two days later- "I found that kitchen I wanted to get her so I bought it for her!" My in-laws are really good at respecting our wishes for my daughter! LOL

It IS cute though! I like her little table also. I am looking for on myself for Baby J so she can sit and draw ect.

Oh, and baby J is the same way about mini stuff! I think it is so cute to watch her pretend with it.

Jennboree said...

My MIL made the table and bench. Cute, eh?

Anonymous said...

No sure if you have an Ikea near you or not (or even if you're in the market for these), but they have the BEST set of pots and pans - and cooking utencils - for play kitchens!! And like all things Ikea, they're dirt cheap!

louann said...

awww im sure your little girl will enjoy her time playing around her kitchen...and the 2nd one will soon enjoy that too!

Girlie said...

LOL. Four kitchens! Really Jen, slow down. I think you can exchange one kitchen for a dining room set. :)

Bella will enjoy that kitchen for years to come.

NB Warrior said...

That is a really cute kitchen! My Bella loved to play with this Kitchen set at the hospital and so my MIL decided she wanted to buy her one. I was all for it, but instead of buying her a kitchen, she bought her a darn McDonald's Drive thru set. My hubby and I said thank you, but it's never been out of the box. Not that we don't like McDonalds, but we try not to promote the fast food in our house. =)

I've been meaning to buy her a table like the one you have so she can have a little tea party or color, but I haven't found one I like yet. That was really sweet of your MIL to make that.

tallulah said...

Gee whiz Jenn! You might be "fesh" out of sanity.
We bought Izzy the super expensive wooden one. I thought it wouldn't get much use and chastised myself for spending so much money on it, but the child is three 1/2 and has had it for two years and still plays with it EVERY day.
Yesterday Tori ordered some ice-cream from the kitchen for Izzy to fix her some. He replied, "Sorry. Mom ate it all."