What’s cookin’?
As the kids are
currently tearing your garden to pieces as they make the most of the
unpredictable British summer, savour this time, and let your
interiors take a break. But what will happen when autumn comes and
that paddling pool and water pistol set is less of a draw for them?
Is it time once more to cover the furniture with plastic? No, simply
get them something for the garden that they’ll cherish whatever the
time of year. On that note, we check out a hand-made Mud Kitchen from
Purepallets.
A what? If you’ve never seen or heard of one, a Mud Kitchen is essentially a hard-wearing toy kitchen designed to be kept outside. And you’ll be thankful for that, as kids typically mix soil, sand, and mud with water, snow, ice, rocks, and your uprooted prize begonias to make crazy (and messy) concoctions. Imagine a baby enjoying a cake smash; but the cake is outside and you don’t have to clean up after them. Parenting win.
In searching for a
tough and fun Mud Kitchen, we stumbled upon Purepallets, a company
based in our home city of York that uses reclaimed wood and timber
from old pallets to make very impressive and unique things, including
Mud Kitchens for kids. But if the thought of letting your kids play
with something that was once used to cart boxes of nails or
multi-packs of crisps about is a little worrying, Purepallets lovingly
clean and sand all the parts of the wood to produce a finish that is
distinctive, smooth, and safe.
As the preparation of
the timber is different every time, and as the grain of the wood is
truly unique, not one Mud Kitchen is the same as the next, and as you
can specify exactly what your kids might want in the finished design,
this is a true bespoke item.
The one we were sent is
roughly one metre wide and just as high. It’s so solidly put together that
is required two of us to carry it into the garden. This makes us
pretty confident that no matter how much punishment the kids give it
in their faux culinary careers, there is no chance it will topple
over and crush them. Which is definitely something we’re keen about
not happening.
Despite
being chunky and sturdy, the Purepallet Mud Kitchen has some great
play features. The black ‘hobs’ are painted on by hand, while the
plastic ‘sink’ is a removable washing up bowl. Down below there
is an opening ‘oven’ with a latch, and storage space for pots and
pans (and buckets of mud, should the wee ones fancy it), while on top
there is shelf space for tools and hooks for ladles and forks and
other such implements of mud-makery.
There is also a
double-sided chalk board to the left side, something we were really
keen for our kitchen to possess. The kids can chalk up their menu on
there (‘Today’s special: Mud’) and also personalise the whole
thing with their name and crazy drawings. Such as pictures of plates
of mud being enjoyed by their parents. Creepy.
Bon appetit!
As a long-term bit of
outside furniture, the Purepallets Mud Kitchen is excellent. Clearly
this will last the kids for many many muddy adventures, and as it
isn’t made from brightly coloured garish plastic, mum and dad will
also enjoy seeing it in the garden. They might not be so happy about
trying what the kids make, however.
£100
Visit
www.purepallets.co.uk