The Outcome Is Cute (And Hopefully Fun), But DAMN This Thing Was Confusing!

We got Claire that kitchen that I want to get her for her birthday. It's the Just Like Me Park View wooden kitchen from Toys R Us. They had a REALLY good sale on it a few weeks ago. It was $70 and usually it's $119. David stopped on his way to work one day and picked it up. I was SO excited when he got home and I saw it. It sat, untouched, in Claire's room for about a week. She's currently bunking up with Ethan. We're moving Ethan into Claire's room since Claire's room is bigger, and we need to fit two kids into it. Since Claire is the only girl, she'll be getting her own room. I finally decided to start putting it together last week. I couldn't use the internet (David and his games). I couldn't watch TV. (David and his games). I didn't have anything to read. (Library hadn't gotten my books in yet). So, I grabbed a screwdriver and a hammer, just in case I needed one, and headed in after all the kids were in bed. I moved some stuff around to give me some space to work, and then I laid the box flat on the floor.Looking at the cover, I was all, "Oh yeah. Piece of cake. I can totally put this thing together!" That's when I opened it.I had a little mini heart attack. Oh crap..What did I just get myself into. Then I calmed myself down, and was back to the, "I can do this!"

Want to know what one of my favorite things about this was? The whole putting together process part I mean. This!
All of the screws and hinges and things you need are in one box in little sections, so you aren't scouring through a baggie of screws and crap and comparing them to the picture and thinking to yourself, "Is this the screw for that?" The screws are also color coded, so when you need screw e, you flip to the front, look for screw e and is says pink, then you grab the pink E screw. That was awesome. I loved that.

As for the directions, I myself found them a little hard to follow. There's no wording until you come to the part where you put the counter on, and even then, it's just, "When you put the counter, holes a and b can no longer be accessed." The rest of them are just numbers, letters and pictures. I was confused and got a couple of parts backwards, but they were easily fixed. Not a big deal at all. Once the base was put together, it was simple after that.
This is the base. This is all I got done on night one.
Night two. It's looking more like a kitchen!
The finished product on night 3. All I had to do was put on the doors and put the rest of the shelves in where the microwave and oven are. I also put in the sink, the towel holder and the shelves.

I think Claire is going to LOVE this. It's really sturdy. After I finished putting it together, I grabbed the towel rack and tried rocking it side to side to see if the wood felt loose and it didn't budge. I did the same thing on the fridge side. I didn't want it to wobble at all, and it doesn't. It does come with wall tethers, so if you want to hook it to the wall, you can. It's still well over a month until Claire's birthday on April 14th, but I can't wait to see the look on her face. Now we just need to get her some play foods and some little dishes and she's all set.

I'd love to get her some felt foods, but I don't think they sell them in stores, and I'm really not that handy with my sewing machine yet. I have lots of red felt fabric that my grandmother sent me, but since my sewing skills aren't up to par yet, I'm saving it. I think my first big sewing venture is going to be a pillowcase dress. They seem pretty easy.

Also, just so you know, I wasn't provided this product, nor am I getting any compensation for writing this. I just wanted you to know what I thought of the kitchen, and I think it's darn cute! I'm sure Claire is going to have a blast with it!