I am a huge fan of the Melissa & Doug food items.. own almost all of them. I do not own this one, but my friend does.. and I wanted to give my review on it.

Pros:
Very durable. These toys will go through everything.. paint stays on well, and can withstand abuse. Obviously, teeth marks.. stepping on them.. throwing them, etc. are no problem for these foods - they will not break.

Cons:
Heavy. Watch your little one's toes with these items..
Not realistic. They are blocks (literally). They are wooden blocks that are painted with "cereal" "rice" etc. Not even the pictures are realistic.. and toddlers can not read these! They get a 1 star for how unrealistic they are..


Bottom line.. yes, they are very good quality, and durable.. but in my opinion, they are more like wooden blocks than food (actually.. they are wooden blocks.. just painted to "look like" food.. which they dont). So I am disappointed with this particular wooden set by Melissa & Doug for the realistic aspect of the toy.

I purchased this item for my cousin's younger daughter, and both her girls (four and one) love it! We included a shopping cart with the gift, and both children have a ball with it -- the 4-year-old puts the groceries in the cart while the one-year-old pushes it. We love Melissa and Doug products, and recommend them whenever we can!

Well made, realistic looking, durable. I feel this was a great value considering the price of the item. Ths wooden crate was a nice touch, too.

My almost two-year-old grandaughter loves using these with her new playroom kitchen.

I purchased several other items from this company, and was impressed with all of them.

My children enjoy this food set, as they are durable and realistic looking. However they also have the Melissa and Doug play food groups which I prefer, because the food items are a more manageable size for all ages. Some of the food items in this set (especially the cereal and pretzel box) are very large and heavy and I worry of children dropping them on their toes, etc. The age guide is 3 - 6 years which is a good guide, as they are fine for my 4 year old, but more of a concern with my 18 month old (who of course wants to play with everything the older one has).

We got this to go with my little girl's kitchen and it came today. My daughter and my 9 year old son have played with this all day long! My son would kill me if he thought his friends would see this but I think probably any of them that age would play with this set as well as the other Melissa and Doug sets we bought. It's durable and educational. We had a real bottle of ketchup on our table at supper tonight and my little two year old went and got her bottle of ketchup and set it beside the real one. So, I guess you could say it's educational, too. Great toy!