1992:
THE KITCHEN PLAYSET
(Ponies shown sold separately)
The Kitchen was the last proper playset to be sold in the My Little Pony line, being that it was an actual proper building rather than an add on accessory like the Bed and Crib set. It was fashioned from the old mould used for the Grooming Parlour, but fitted out with so many accessories it seemed really impossible they'd all fit in the small space! It did not, however, come with any combs or ribbons.
Loose Accessories for the Kitchen Playset
As can be imagined, the small accessories are very hard to find second hand, on account of their tiny size and the ease with which they can become lost.
Like the Grooming Parlours before it, the Kitchen's mould style was designed for portability and compactness. It featured the same heart shaped handle holes at the top for a child to carry it from place to place when not playing with it, and this helped to keep all the many accessories inside. The key difference was the base, which was a flat floor instead of a raised plinth.The outside was less decorated than the inside, but two prominent windows were added to the existing structure. These can become detached and lost. To enable the playset to be closed up, the yellow unit was on a hinge and could be folded in over the top of the sink for storage.
KITCHEN CLOSED FOR TRANSPORTATION
The Kitchen was sold for more than one year, concurrent with the Schoolhouse, who only gets prior mention on an earlier page because it first appeared the year before the Kitchen's initial promotion.
According to the box, the Kitchen playset was made in Spain.
THE KITCHEN in PUBLICITY
KITCHEN AS SEEN IN ORIGINAL INSERT (1991-2) (NOT RELEASED)
The first insert image for the Kitchen looked quite different from what was eventually sold, and even featured a yellow cat (I nicknamed it Custard xD) which sadly was never produced. Despite that, some of the accessories/fittings are familiar to the set that was eventually put on sale.
KITCHEN (Correctly shown in 1992-3 insert)
The later insert showed the Kitchen in more accurate detail, and was presumably photographed from what wa s actually on sale. The Cookery Ponies were issued this year as a complementary theme to the Kitchen set, but none of them were officially sold with it. The apron Cherry Sweet is wearing in the image was not sold with the Kitchen but came with her instead.
RELEASE ODDITIES
Odd things did happen with the Kitchen, especially during later release. Some Kitchen playsets, sold through particular stores, had carded ponies included in the offer. One such store was Woolworths, who sold Teeny Weeny Ponies (!?) with the playset (I got my Little Rattles this way, as a bumper Christmas surprise!). I have no idea why Teeny Weeny Ponies, since surely they'd need adult supervision to run the oven...
These ponies were sold still on their cards, and the cards were folded over to insert them inside the box.
More bizarrely still, some non-English language Kitchen sets sold here on clearance had surprise guests hiding inside them! My Little Pony had reached its death in America, and many of these surplus loose ponies, sealed only in clear plastic bags, got shipped over here to be dispersed through cheaper methods. These ponies included the babies from the Slumber Party Gift Set. I have a Baby Nightcap which we got with a Kitchen in a French box. You can see an image on her page. These ponies did not have anything with their name on to identify them to (confused) European children, for whom they were completely unknown.
