Last year I found the M&D Cook's Corner Kitchen $36! I still get a little giddy when I think of that shopping coup, which I scored at Home Goods. I recently saw a compact Alex kitchen there for $30ish.

I wanted the Plan Toys one so badly. I love the way it looks and I especially loved the small footprint. Our house is little, so it would've been a good fit. But, I could justify the price. We got the one from Ikea without the upper cabinet, and it has held up well, it's not garish, and our daughter continues to play with it almost daily. She usually plays with it when we're making dinner.

I hear there are some play kitchen-related toys on the way this Christmas. Both family and friends have hinted about food and accessories. So I'm thinking I may just need to buy the upper cabinet. Seems crazy to me that my daughter's play kitchen may be getting a renovation!

That first one by Hape is pretty cute.

Ooops. I meant I couldn't justify the price.

I was planning on getting my daughter the hape/educo one for christmas and I waited too long! it was 88 dollars from amazon about 2 weeks before thanksgiving. I saw it, added it to my shopping cart, and waited so that I could talk to the grandparents about their christmas plans. it shot up first 20 bucks, and now it is up to 158!

I simply can't rationalize paying almost twice as much for as it cost less then a month ago. I am going to wait and maybe she'll get it for her birthday in may.

Anmar, we had the same conundrum and ended up adding our own shelf and "bamboo countertops". All were repurposed from other parts of the house but were inexpensive to start with. You can see it here if you are curious. Enjoy the mini reno :)

I got tremendously lucky: I found the "complete kitchen center" listed above at Goodwill. It hadn't been priced yet and - miracle of miracles - they priced it for me on the spot for $29.99! I went back the next day and scored the food and pots and pans that had been donated with it. While it's pretty small, it's nice that it has two sides and lots of storage. I like that it doesn't take up an entire wall, but it was a bit tricky to find a good spot for it in her bedroom. I think soon it'll move to our tiny breakfast nook (it's too small to be useful - bad reno by the previous owners).

I've also seen the Hape/Educo one at the same Goodwill (it needed a bit of a touch up), a KidKraft one at a different GW and also a Plan Toys refrigerator (that I just didn't have space for).

In January, Target put their wooden kitchen set on clearance for $29.99 (if i remember correctly, retail price was $130). By the time I got to Target there was one left and of course I grabbed it! I have to go back and take a look at it again, but I think it's the same one Kate had gotten. Painting it such a great idea!

We also got the pink Target kitchen (for $50 on eBay) and transformed it with some apple green paint, a backsplash, and different handles. Quick, simple project and it came out lovely. I also like that it has a small footprint, but is a little taller than a lot of the other kitchens I've seen.. should grow with our son for awhile.

We made our own play kitchen with free plans from Lowe's. It turned out really cute and my kids spend hours playing with it.
http://lilybugdesigns.blogspot.com/2010/07/kids-kitchen.html

lcg - The same thing happened to me on amazon - the hape/educo kitchen is available at hayneedle.com for $99.99 plus there's a $10 coupon floating around.

I love these adorable new kitchens! My kids have a great play kitchen as well. But my question is what cute ideas you have for storing all the food, dishes, accessories that come along with them? If you stuff the fridge and oven with food then it makes it very hard to play with. Have you seen any good storage options besides for plastic bins?

I got very lucky and found the Educo kitchen on Craigslist for $60. I can't recommend this enough for a small place. It fits in a small spot in our apartment and is easy to move from room to room.

We have the Educo kitchen too. I got it for my daughters for Christmas last year and they have had tons of fun with it. It is a nice small size, but very sturdy and has held up well. It's short enough for my 1 year old to use, but not too short for my 5 year old.

Oh, but I just noticed the Camden's Kitchen up there. We were looking at that one in a local shop today, and it is lovely. The Educo one is nice and functional and all, but the Camden one is more like a beautiful piece of furniture.

This is the play kitchen that my hubby is currently building. Almost everything is the same, except we are painting it antique white, and are using different coordinating fabrics, but everything else is the same!

http://ana-white.com/2010/04/i-built-it-kirsten-from-crafting-chicks-amazing-play-kitchen.html

Like a couple of other commenters, I found a JonTi-Craft sink/oven combo for $10 at a local thrift store. Such a great toy and will last forever! My son loves it!

kas423 - I agree! Our play kitchen has little spots for storage, but they're tiny. I spent a couple hours wandering around IKEA looking for something that would fit there and found some tiny (supposed to be hanging) recycling bins that fit the bill. They're not great, though, and I'm definitely looking for ideas, too.

You can't buy a brand-new wooden play kitchen for $20, but you may well be able to find a used one, and isn't that better in many ways anyway?

My daughter plays with the wooden play kitchen my parents had built for me in the early 80s. I've done a little work on it (25 years in the attic is hard on lamination) but the sheer value is priceless.

We got Camden's Kitchen for our 17 month old son this year--we picked it up right from the manufacturer in our neighborhood. It is solid wood and beautiful, and made out of reclaimed ash trees from our city. The ash trees in Southeast Michigan were devastated by the Emerald Ash Borer.

We bought the Ikea one as a group gift for my daughter's 1st birthday. My 12 year old loves to play with it, with the 1 year old, so its going to be a gift with a long life. I love how it looks, and the price was right. I was happy that it only had a few pieces of plastic!

My daughter has the My First Kenmore kitchen, individual pieces: stove, fridge, sink, and washer/dryer. Also the ironing board. It is sooo cute. After Christmas when she gets more accessories for it I plan on taking some pictures and sending them to ohdeedoh, it's a cute set up in her room.

I second the Kenmore kitchen. We got an older model that I don't see online from Craigslist and it is awesome. Also, it is bigger so not good for a small space but great for taller children.

I learned a little something on play kitchens - get one that is open-backed (and don't put it against a wall). Like the second one above in red. Playdates/siblings can play together at the same time. Closed-back ones require turn taking.

Just my .02 for harmonious play with other kiddos (read: no parent intervention). We've had both, and now we know.

I bought ours for $5 at a garage sale and it included the food! It's not huge, but it gets the job done and we can fit it in my son's closet when the kids aren't using it. Although, some of the kitchens above are pretty awesome!

We have a plastic one that I hate. But it was free (it was left brand new, unassembled in an apartment unit my husband was cleaning out as part of his job). I would love one of these beautiful higher quality wooden ones.

We just bought the red Kidcraft kitchen on amazon, and are waiting for it to be delivered. I just can't wait !

We waited until almost the last moment. I'm French, and the dealer on amazon.fr keeps lowering his prices as Christmas gets near. It started at 180E; I bought it at 135E. I can think of a few accessories to give to my son with that extra 45E...

i had my eye on the ikea kitchen, but when I found one at target for 75% off I couldn't resist...I don't remember the brand but you can see a picture here http://1088churchill.blogspot.com/2011/09/life.html

I want to give a shoutout to the Kidcraft as well (second row, 3rd pic). That is actually just like our Little Tikes Deluxe Wooden Kitchen. It has a little washing machine which was a selling feature to us and it has been a major hit. It has held up really well for 3 years now.

I just picked one up off of craigslist this weekend....wood, like new - $20!!

We have the IKEA one that my son got for his Christmas/1st Birthday gift from his grandparents. He loves it and plays with it all of the time. The legs are nice because you can make it taller as the child grows. It looks nice enough that we have it next to our kitchen table so he can cook at the same time as his father.

You left off my two favorites:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/62303738/the-little-kitchen

The Little Kitchen which you've featured in the past. Made in the USA. Solid wood. We have it and love it. Very good quality at a reasonable price and portable + good storage.

And this Canadian one is so pretty and special:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/85955499/play-kitchen-solid-oak-cherry-and-maple?ref=sr_gallery_3&ga_search_query=play+kitchen&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade

I'm glad to see the IKEA kitchen on here. We bought one for our son a year and a half ago and he and his little sister both play with it a lot and it's in great shape. It's small and easy on the eyes so I don't mind looking at it in the middle of our hallway and it didn't cost us a small fortune at all--a great buy.