New Kitchen

Someone got a kitchen on the weekend and it wasn't me! I've been talking about gettin Madeline a kitchen to play with for about 6 months now. I was going to get her one for Christmas but we didn't think she was old enough. She proved me wrong when we visited her friend Kate in December and the only thing she would play with was the kitchen (she played with it for about an hour and half, without stopping).
So ever since then I've been watching TRU to see if it goes on sale. I finally gave up (it never seems to actually go on sale) and pulled the trigger on the weekend. I knew the weather was going to be crappy, so it seemed like the perfect weekend project.
I debated between 2 different models. The first was this one. It's the same price but it's made out of wood. I liked the look of it and the fact that it was wood, not plastic. The only problem with it was that it didn't "feel" like a real kitchen. For example, the "oven" just felt like a wood door that opened up to an empty space. Plus, it didn't come with any accessories, so we'd have to buy those as well.
So we opted for version 2, which is the one you see in the pictures above. This kitchen came with lots of "extras"....pots and pans, utensils etc. It also has a bunch of working buttons and sound effects. For example, the stove lights up and makes different noises when you put a pot on the burner.
Michael put the whole thing together in about 2.5 hours. He seemed quite happy to do so in the solitude of the basement. I think he was just really excited to finish it and see Mads play with it. I think he was pleased with her reaction. She was literally panting when she saw it. She played with it all weekend long. She would tell us she "cook" and "hot" (as in make things hot in the microwave). She mostly moves all the pieces around - from the sink to the oven to the cupboards. Sometimes she'll put things on the stove. Or she'll "wash" her hands in the sink. She also makes important calls on the portable phone....

Here she is about to "wash".....

"hot"....