The other day, unbidden, my 5 year old daughter asked if she could cook an egg for herself. Sure, I said. She cracked one into a bowl (i helped her fish out the shell shards). She whisked it herself. She put the bowl into our microwave. I told her which button to push. A minute later she had a cooked egg, which she salted with kosher salt with all the aplomb of a professional line cook (she took a pinch of kosher salt and tossed it over the egg with confidence and intent). Our microwave cost all of 80 bucks. Which makes me balk at this not inexpensive $229 toy stove which plants a lot of pink but not a lot of functionality into one’s household. Imagination goes a long way, but does it require such expensive plastic? 
At the same store (Target), you could, for a pretty penny less, get a $100 microwave that, with some supervision, could catapult a kid into full-fledged, fully cooking gastrokiddom. 
Just saying, depending on your kid’s age, you might want to consider giving them a microwave that they can be in charge of (as far as button pushing goes. Beyond that, adult supervision and intervention is clearly required here). My 5 year old daughter was thrilled to have made herself an egg, and with an adult handling all the hot stuff, she’s only going to feel more empowered in the kitchen.
—Hugh
