Country Hideaway Kitchen {Guidecraft Mom Review}

While on a cleaning binge last year, I hauled our plastic play kitchen out of the house and dropped it off at Goodwill, much to our children’s chagrin. It was bulky and I was convinced that the kids were done playing with it. A few weeks ago, in the midst of our moving and unpacking, a box from Guidecraft showed up on our doorstep and inside was the Hideaway Country Kitchen.

{Insert the cheers of children here}

The kids agreed to play in their rooms for a bit {so that I didn’t have four extra sets of hands trying to help me put it together} and a little over an hour later, they came out to ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ over their new play kitchen.

About the Hideaway Country Kitchen

From the above picture, you can see what makes this kitchen a little extra special. If your house or classroom are tight on storage, the Hideaway Country Kitchen compacts to only 6” in depth with a simple twist of an Allen wrench. Fully extended, it measures 30"W x 15.25"D x 38" H.

Guidecraft also added some great details to this kitchen: beadboarding on the kitchen wall and dishwasher door, an adjustable clock, switches and knobs that make a clicking noise when turned, hooks for towels, a storage shelf for dishes, and an oven with a pull-out rack.

When the unit is fully extended it has a locking bar that drops in place so that it will not fold up and pinch little fingers. The kitchen counter also locks in place with a bolt to further secure the play set. When the kitchen needs to be compacted, it will fold up securely in a matter of minutes to be stored.

My Thoughts

Aside from the fact that this play kitchen is very sturdy and well built, it has been WELL received by our children, young and old. Laurianna is almost ten and both she and McKenna wanted the kitchen to be put in their room so they could play with it ~ and it has been used almost daily since then. They have it well stocked with their doll dishes and are completely in love with it!

Assembly wasn’t extremely difficult, but it did require an hour and 15 minutes on my part. An Allen wrench was included with the parts and the only other tool that I needed was a Phillips head screwdriver. I would highly recommend sorting out all of the screws before starting to help save a little bit of time and help the assembly go faster.

The pieces were all labeled well and the most difficult part for me was getting the knobs on. Out of everything that I put together, that took the longest block of time overall {and I was about ready to just let Rick take care of it when he got home}. My stubbornness persistence finally won and the knobs were successfully attached. While it did take a bit to put together, the result was well worth it!

For teachers that are limited on classroom space or for moms looking to save a little space in their children’s bedrooms, this is a GREAT kitchen to purchase! The product quality is also high, making this a piece of furniture that can be passed down from child to child ~ and even generation to generation.

Learn More

The Hideaway Country Kitchen is available from both Amazon and the Guidecraft website. If you prefer a little more color, look for the Hideaway Playtime Kitchen instead. It features a pink, blue and yellow color scheme and is also available from Guidecraft. The kitchen is recommended for ages 3 and up.

As a Guidecraft Mom blogger, I was provided this product to review. I was not paid for this post and all opinions expressed in this post are mine…or my kids.