We have the KidCraft “vintage” style kitchen. It’s held up to a lot of abuse and G still loves it (he got it at Christmas when he was 13 months). It’s a little taller than some of the other kitchens, which is great for my super tall kid. We do have it anchored to the wall so it can’t tip. My husband got annoyed with the fact that all of the doors except the microwave have latches, so the microwave door wouldn’t stay closed in our super not-level house - he wound up drilling a small hole and using some super strong magnets with epoxy so it has a magnetic latch now. I will note that the kitchen was a huge pain to assemble, but I did it on my own so it would have gone much faster with two people.

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/KidKraft-Vintage-Kitchen-in-Blue/dp/B0040MK48W

I know a few people who have the Ikea play kitchen and love it. It has a slightly smaller footprint than the one we have, in case that’s something you’re looking for. I didn’t want to deal with an Ikea trip and my FIL wanted to buy the kitchen, so it was easiest for us to get one through Amazon. I definitely recommend anchoring whatever you get to the wall so it can’t tip with rough play. We used the same furniture anchoring straps we used for anchoring dressers, etc.

We have a bunch of the Ikea fabric play food - I love that if it gets gross, you can machine wash and air dry it all, but we haven’t had to do that yet.

The only pots and pans/utensils we have are the little skillet and lidded pot set from Green Toys, which comes with a ladle and spatula. They’re the perfect size for the KidCraft kitchen and super durable. We got them when G was at peak throwing phase so they’ve survived a lot of abuse and still look like-new.

My daughter is 2 now but has been really into pretend play for a while. We got the IKEA kitchen because it's not too big and pretty sturdy. We also love the IKEA toy pan set and the cooking utensils. I added 2 lights that shut off by timers - one for "task" lighting and the other in the "oven". I like that the kitchen is pretty small but can also be set up at another height as they grow. These tubs from IKEA also perfectly fit in the shelves or directly under the kitchen for storage. https://m.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/art/70177255/

For the play food, she loves this magnetic food cutting set so much :
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZW6JG1?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

Learning Resources also makes really high quality play food - and they are usually appetizing and whole foods instead of all pizza, etc.

Thanks so much! Just wanted to make sure. Also, your story is so beautiful, I teared up a bit! What a lovely family you have! <3

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Kay (7) loves singing. She's believes she's a princess, & can sing to solve any problem. lol She sings Frozen songs at least a couple of times a week, since 2015! At this point, everyone in the house knows every word to every song. xD She really wants a karaoke machine.

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Eugene (6) is recently getting into video games, particularly Minecraft. He's also loved cars since he was little(r). He has a bunch of little Hot Wheels that we got from the dollar store, & he'd be so excited to get a track for his cars.

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Little Lizzie (4) is obsessed with Minnie Mouse. When we asked her what she wanted for Christmas, she said "Minnie." Then we asked if there was anything else she wanted. She said "Pink Minnie." lol She also loves to play with my old play food from when I was a kid. She would be thrilled with this Minnie Mouse play kitchen.

My 6yo daughter, Alannah, would LOVE LOVE LOVE the wooden sandwich making set: http://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Wooden-Sandwich-Making-Set/dp/B00006JZCS/ref=br_lf_m_10238446011_1_12_ttl?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&s=toys-and-games&pf_rd_p=1995927482&pf_rd_s=cente

She begs me to help make meals every day and love to cook - pretend and real. This would be like her dream come true. Thanks so much for considering us! :)

I'm a national voice artist and I've been in a few regional TV commercials, too. If you live in Western PA/Eastern Ohio, I can guarantee you've seen or heard me at least once. But I'm not telling where. :P

I love home improvement projects, video games, scrapbooking and watching movies. I still go to the drive-in, which works because I have a toddler and I can't/won't take him to a traditional theater until he's much older. Despite the fact that I'm blindingly fair-skinned, I DO go outside and quite like it. I just had a fence put in my yard so I can enjoy the outdoors at my new house. (I like my home extremely private.)

I also love pretend play with my son. He uses his play kitchen while my husband cooks. This set of play pantry items would be awesome.

Thanks for the contest!

For outside play, our daughter loves her picnic table because she can bring her art stuff outside and paint there. She also has a tee ball set like this one. Bubbles are definitely a favorite, and we have a brick patio so she enjoys drawing with chalk. And, really, she just likes to play pretend. She will set up a beach ball and random toys and pretend she's at the beach with friends... or she'll make a pretend boat out of a box and "sail like Moana" on our lawn, haha.

For inside, my daughter draws, builds train tracks, plays with magnet tiles and Lego, molds play doh, paints, colors, draws on her dry-erase board, uses her play kitchen, plays "picnic" with her lovies, and dances to music.

As a man with 2 and 4 year old daughters and a younger sister who has the same gift-giving philosophy as you, I'm well qualified to answer this question. Here are the most annoying toys my children own.

Any kind of whistle/recorder/whatever. They'll absolutely love it, it's loud, and you can't take out the batteries. At my daughter's 3rd birthday, we bought some cheap plastic whistles to go in goodie bags for the guests and had a parade of toddlers running around the room blowing them at the top of their lungs. 10/10 annoyance factor.

A toy xylophone. Not quite as noisy as the whistle, but still pretty loud and the kid will like banging on it. If possible, go into a toy store and buy one (rather than online) so that you can specifically pick out the one that is most out of tune.

Nerf swords. My kids have a pair of these and they love hitting literally everything with them. Themselves, each other, me, the walls, the furniture, the pets. If you get hit in the right place it stings pretty good but they aren't dangerous enough to really justify taking away. 95% chance this ends with something broken or someone crying within 5 minutes.

This Melissa and Doug pizza party set. This one's nice because it's subtle. It doesn't look immediately annoying. But there are about 50 little wooden topping pieces, and those will end up all over the house, constantly.

Large toys that will take up a lot of space in their house/garage. For maximum annoyance, buy stuff like this multiple birthdays/Christmases in a row and watch them struggle to find space to put them. The last few gifts my parents got my kids were a trampoline (the little 4-foot indoor kind), a wagon, a bike, a toy kitchen set, and an easel. The amount of space that stuff takes up really adds up.

Crayon Rocks: They are great for strengthening little hands while teaching pencil grip. Just Rocks in a Box 16 Colors https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002M28AOW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_BttdAbK24SFK5

Wooden Marble Run: If marbles are allowed for your age group. My kids love these and I just bring out the marbles when we use them. Ideal Amaze 'N' Marbles 60 Piece Classic Wood Construction Set https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00000IZC9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fytdAbKDMAVBJ

Hape brand: We use their realistic wooden kitchen items. This is just one we have. Hape Kid's Coffee Maker Wooden Play Kitchen Set with Accessories https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006WZM79O/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_gAtdAbQ6RP3TM

Anamalz: Small wooden animals. My class loves them. We have the farm set with their playmat listed under roaming Mountains. https://www.anamalz.com/

My son was 14 months last Christmas and the one Christmas present we've gotten the most use out of this year is his Little Tykes Food Truck. As we were putting it together I remember thinking "he's going to be too young for this right now". He immediately took to it and has yet to tire of it like he has with other toys. If you don't want to go full kitchen, I'd definitely recommend getting play food and kid sized kitchen items.

My MIL bought him pots, pans, & utensils from IKEA that he likes more than the stuff that came with his truck. It's all smaller versions of their actual kitchen stuff and made with the same materials. IKEA also has felt food that's pretty cute.

My mom just bought him this play food for his birthday. It's really nice quality and is sized down for kid hands.

My food related item is for kids and exactly $7 plus shipping. My hope is to try and inspire kids to cook through pretend play. This will be used with my relatives and the kids I work with.

I love food and the strangest thing I have eaten is a cricket chip cookie and a meal worm taco while at a science museums event on gastronomy. Both were surprisingly good. At this same event there were exhibits on taste and smell, appearance, and texture along with science explanations for cooking techniques and food products. It was really an awesome event filled with so many delicious foods...

I got it on Amazon. It was a bit expensive but I liked the versatility and that it looked like my kitchen. I think it's something that will last awhile so we can use it for future children too.

Melissa & Doug Wooden Chef's Pretend Play Toy Kitchen With "Ice" Cube Dispenser https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01B1V32N8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_2nVSDbPNAXE5R

I also bought these accessories

Learning Resources Pretend & Play Cooking Set, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004TFXT/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apap_T5GCppFwRW7wl

KidKraft Tasty Treats Play Food Set (115 Pieces) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JLGGH2Y/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apap_49yh6UY86WL1M

I like the play food because it had a lot of variety of different fruits and vegetables (and other common foods too). It's helped me build his vocabulary.

Get him one! Not all of them are pink and purple, haha.
http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-Servin-Surprises-Kitchen-Table/dp/B007G3VBOI/ref=sr_1_30?ie=UTF8&qid=1395687894&sr=8-30&keywords=toddler+kitchen
My boys have this table, and they love it! It can be used for arts and crafts, and it comes with plates and food too. They enjoy playing with the food, and it has definitely been one of our most worthwhile purchases!

I've found that Step2 is pretty good about having gender neutral colors and themes for pretend play toys, like kitchen sets, tool sets, etc.

http://www.amazon.com/Step2-Lifestyle-Custom-Kitchen-Black/dp/B00A2N867E/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1395184811&sr=8-2&keywords=step2+kitchen

http://www.amazon.com/Step2-762700-Real-Projects-Workshop/dp/B000FHQJLW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1395184833&sr=8-3&keywords=step2+workbench

Melissa and Doug is another good source for sturdy pretend play items. And even using real-life items for pretend play, like an old set of pots and pans or used adult or big-kid clothing can be used.

Here's the capsule "machine" I use

Here's a coffee grinder

You're on your own finding a cookie sheet but here's a top rated oven Good luck!

Enjoy!

I second getting a wood one. We were lucky enough that my dad rebuilt the he made for my sister and I as a child. C plays with it so much! Then my mom bought the realistic pots/pans and other utensils to go with it. So many hours of play!

For her birthday we asked for and got a lot of Melissa and Doug accessories.
https://www.amazon.ca/Melissa-Doug-5501-Kitchens-Shopping/dp/B071ZMT9S2/ref=asc_df_B071ZMT9S2/?tag=googlemobshop-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=234376523249&hvpos=1o5&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16175318764699831549&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9000893&hvtargid=pla-293946777986&psc=1

https://www.amazon.ca/Melissa-Doug-Grocery-Kitchen-Accessory/dp/B00AY375JM/ref=pd_aw_fbt_21_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=SX3EEZS1YCSKHKS9GZXK

https://well.ca/products/melissa-doug-lets-play-house_148835.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIl8aIka663QIVUuJ3Ch2PIA0PEAQYASABEgIK9PD_BwE more

http://m.toysrus.ca/product/index.jsp?productId=92495126&eESource=92495126&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIuN3Dgq-63QIVGOR3Ch1O-QXoEAQYBCABEgKAnvD_BwE&overrideStore=TRUSCA

In addition we got a plastic shopping cart off of a buy sell group. You can get a little apron, oven mitts, etc if your little guy is really into it. C used an old cornstarch container and pretended to make coffee for us yesterday (just like she helps my mom do). It was so cute to watch her imagination go and role play.

We want this the most out of all the things on Amazon. Babydude loves playing kitchen!

2 or #5 are awesome, thanks!

12 piece wooden Puzzles, water wow books
Pretend play stuff - foods, doctor set etc
little people - farm / zoo animals is a huge hit
Got this game for kid at 18 mths and he still always wants to play it and he is just a few months shy of 3 Thinkfun Roll and Play Board Game https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0070A9OUA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_asTMzbTWHSFBC
Color sorting / shape sorting toys - something like this to work on colors, sorting and counting etcLearning Resources Birds in a Nest Sorting Set, 36 Pieces https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NANLCT1/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_HATMzbN6R7J4C or Learning Resources Farmer's Market Color Sorting Set https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006RQ8TY0/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_GBTMzbH395GVE

I love that New Sprouts play food. It's way more durable than the cheapie sets. We have the set where you can sort fruits and vegetables into the five color baskets.

I read on Amazon reviews that they sometimes sell that big set at Costco for like $20. Is that where you got yours?

EDIT: This is the set we have. Made by Learning Resources, which is the same company that makes the New Sprouts food line.

These are a few things we bought for my nephew when he was that age, and he loved them.

B. Alphaberry - $17.95

P'kolino Geared Robot Shape Sorter - $20.17

Farmers Market Color Sorting Set - $24.65

Popular at our house http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B006RQ8TY0/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?qid=1463983385&sr=8-3&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=learning+resources+bushel&dpPl=1&dpID=41UVyWxx1eL&ref=plSrch

https://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Pizza-Wooden-Toppings/dp/B0000658L4/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1499366567&sr=8-4