Why is your husband so against it, does he not know its the 21st century. Cooking is not a female chore anymore - has he never cooked?
A play kitchen will stimulate him and as you say keep him busy.

I think if you make a big deal of these things that can effect the child more - I let my 15mths play with his sisters dolls (my partner hates it), but my son does think there is an issue and usually puts it doen and picks something else up.

Hope this helps.

MY SON IS 3 AND HE HAS A KITCHEN PLAY SET. AND HE LOVES IT BUT THEN HE DOSE NOT PLAY WITH IT ALL THE TIME.

Nothing wrong with a play kitchen. My son is 3 and loves to pay with them. Not only does it give him plent of things to do on his own. It has also helpwd me teach him how to be careful in the kitchen. What is hot or not and so on. It also gives us some great time together. I do all the cooking as it is just he and I. He really enjoys pretending to cook me brakefast or dinner, and of course I have to finish all my food.
Tell dad to come up to date I am sure he is alot younger than I.

Bobby

I don't suppose there is a sibling sister in the picture at all??? How it can make getting "girly" things in the house so much easier. I have the same problem. Hubby didn't want son to get a "doll" (my mom got him a Caillou doll). Boys need to use their imagination. And sometimes, having non rough n tumble toys is a good thing for quiet times. My son (now 4) loved playing with the kitchen as well as his sister but generally, she needs to be playing with it before he gets ihnterested. I would try the imagination angle and how it would help him stay out of the kitchen when you cook (think safety...boiling water etc). Oh just thought of it, have you gotten one of those step 2 catalogs??? They have BOYS playing with the kitchen sets SERVING the girls!!!!!! HTH and good luck!

I want to get one for my son. But we don't have the room there is nothing wrong with it my son loves to play with the kitchen and he loves taking care of my friends daughters dolls

I worked in a private day care yrs ago, and the 2 favorite things for the little boys were the kitchen and the dress up....I know some fathers are set against anything that may seem "girly" but really, the more you keep things away the more they want them, and what harm is cooking? My husband does all the cooking in our house and he is not girly! LOL...Tell your husband to watch Food Network and see how many "guy" chefs there are and how well they are doing....It is a good way to help them learn to clean and pick up as well...Good luck I hope it works out for you!

Remind your husband how much money Emeril makes! LOL! (most chefs are still male) My husband cooks and it was a very attractive thing when we were dating. He still makes better cookies than I do. Definitely encourage the cooking.

If it's the expense or the space. A couple of neighbors of mine built their girl a kitchen. Very small, but it has everything she needs. Cut down on the space and the cost of the kitchen.

Have you seen the "C is for cooking" book? It has the sesame street characters in it and gives you ideas of how kids can help cook starting as young as 2. Instead of playing cooking, maybe your son would enjoy helping you. Maybe not every night because it will take longer, but one or 2 nights a week. Somehow helping to make the food makes kids want to try it too.

Well my son is 17 months old and I love the idea of him loving to help mommy in the kitchen. I would like to think we could get him a kitchen set, but my husband has not seemed too thrilled when I've mentioned it before. I've told him that there are plenty of male chefs (mostly male chefs in fact!) and they are not gay or anything like that (must be a male machismo thing...) How about telling your husband that it is a good way to have your son get excited about eating healthy foods if he can help you and pretend to cook when you are preparing foods? Maybe you could get our husband in the kitchen too!

Okay, so I'm reading Raising a Son by Elium and I just read a paragraph last night about boys and cooking and thought of this post!!! I can't find it now (I'm only starting chapter 3 and started last night). URG...but the jist was that cooking was a good thing. Had to do with healthy relationships and connections and how later in life it is such a blessing to be able to cook (future relationships with self and other people say spouse).

My sister recommended this book and I think you would enjoy reading it as well. I am considering purchasing it so I can leave it for my hubby to read. He doesn't realize how detrimental he is being right now to our son. Having a good relationship with mom is only half of the equation to raising a son to be a man. I think his father didn't do his job so my hubby is bound to continue it but doesnt' have to if he can teach our son better. Good luck.

My son got a kitchen for his third birthday and it was even BLUE. He absolutely loved it. I even got him a cabbagepatch for his first birthday his name is buddy and 14 years later we still have him and he does all kinds of manly things with my son (he is finally growing out of the make belive stuff lol )

I think all kids like play kitchen sets. Besides a lot of the gangster chefs are men. Just check out Iron Chef.
I say go for it.

I am married to a Marine and I have two boys, trust me I know the battle. Thing is my boys enjoy helping in the kitchen, pretending that they are cooking and their number one favorite make believe game, tea party. Okay so maybe that one is a little girly, but who cares they are using their imaginations right? They are not weird, they still go hiking, play with cars and beat up on each other (I am not for this but can't seem to stop it) The point is any way that you can develop their imagination it is a good thing, and like people have said men cook too. I say get the kitchen.
I have another though to add to this one, there is a book called "William Wants a Doll" it is a kids book about a little boy who just wants a doll but his parents won't let him have one, in the end the grandma buys him a doll and he loves it. Anyway the moral of the story is "why do we teach little girls to be mothers but we don't teach little boys to be fathers", just some food for thought!

Wow! Thanks everyone! Y'all have some great posts and comments! I think I'm just going to buy it. We have some space in our kitchen where I could put the set. This way I won't have to worry about him getting burned from being under my feet when I'm cooking

And I'm going to definitely look for that book, Raising a Son. I've seen it before and I think it would be a good read for me.

Also, when he gets older, I am going to see to it that he learns to cook, if it's the last thing I do. I remember being back in the dating scene when I was always so impressed when a guy could cook, really cook. (not hamburger helper or kraft mac n cheese)

Cali123, I think that not only could you benefit from reading Raising a Son but I think your husband could too. Another spot they say that imagination for boys is so very important in their masculine growth!!!!! And I'm not even half way. I would take my sister's advice, put the book in the bathroom he uses and chances are, while he's in there doing his thing, that parts if not all of the book would be read! Good luck and I'm sure your son will love the kitchen set.

My son inherited his cousins kitchen and loved it for quite awhile! He also had more than 1 baby doll. He is 10 now and shows no signs of being traumatized!!! He is a sporty man's man but he is also REALLY good with his baby sister. In fact she prefers to play with him over her 7 year old sister. He will be fine!