Doll Kitchen

I think this kitchen first caught my eye at Sue's place. Then I started seeing it in more than one doll diorama on Flickr, particularly with Blythe dolls. I was interested, but a little hesitant because it did not have a dishwasher or microwave, and I couldn't live without either of those in my own kitchen. But then I saw someone's photos on Flickr who did have a unit with those as part of his kitchen! My interest quickly rose, so I did some looking around. I discovered one seller on eBay was selling all four pieces, plus they came in different color sets! You could get a red, blue or pink kitchen. The set of four was not substantially more than Sue said the three piece kitchen cost her in the UK, so I blew through my doll budget for a month and bought one. Honestly, the shipping was almost as big a part of the cost as the kitchen itself, but it doesn't seem that this set is sold in stores anywhere in North or South America, so I figured shipping was going to be a bear in any case.

Here are some pictures of it still in the box. They're dark and blurry because, as usual, I didn't want to wait before pulling my new stuff out, so these pictures were taken by night with one lamp.

My research shows that this kitchen set is made by Goldlok, but the logo on this says Qun Feng Toys. Google claims this means "peaks." Goldlok's office is in Hong Kong, and its factory in China. Also, this package seems meant for the European market, since the descriptions and restrictions are written in European languages, with European flags: German, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and the UK. However, the set was made in China and I bought it from a seller in Thailand. Small world. :)

Although other sets seem to have different interactive attributes, this set has two: a toaster with bread that goes up and down, and a stove that makes noise and lights up. The stove makes a "sizzling" sort of noise, but unfortunately the sizzling noise starts and ends with a siren like sound that sounds almost like a smoke detector going off. I don't think my dolls will be setting off the smoke detector when they cook. Plus the siren sound is very annoying. Too bad, because the light up stove and oven are cool.

I'm still trying to decide where I'm going to put this, get some flooring for underneath it, and get it set up with dolls and props. I'll post some more pictures when I do!

Update: Mr. BTEG checked with his Chinese coworker. "Qun Feng" means "range of mountains," and is used poetically, not conversationally.