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Awesome LEGO kitchen designs and décor

The kitchen is considered the heart of the home. It is where the family cooks, gathers for meals, have discussions, and even play together. In fact, the kitchen table is often a favorite place to play board games and work on large LEGO models. Kitchens also have lots of interesting appliances and accessories that aren’t found anywhere else. All of these characteristics make kitchens great candidates for LEGO projects. 🙂

Designing and building kitchens allows LEGO fans to display their building skills (appliances, cabinets, utensils, etc.), decor skills (choosing coordinating colors and interesting shapes), and their collection of interesting LEGO accessories. Below, I will show you some of my favorite LEGO kitchens. But, before we begin, let’s explore a little bit of LEGO history to get a better understanding why stocking a LEGO kitchen takes so much diligence and devotion.

LEGO has been quite minimalist when it comes to providing a variety of tools and accessories. This is especially true for kitchen utensils. The LEGO fork wasn’t introduced until 2012, and the LEGO spoon until 2017 – both in the LEGO Friends line. (An earlier spoon appeared in a few LEGO Belville sets). LEGO did a little better with dishes and cups. The iconic LEGO cup was released in 1979, the goblet in 1986, and the basic dish in 1995. We also got a frying pan, a saucepan, and a large cauldron in the early 1980s. However, we didn’t get a teapot until 2016, a tea cup and saucer until 2018, and a soup bowl until 2017. All in all, LEGO has been getting better with kitchen utensils, but they are still fairly rare items that LEGO fans treasure. The LEGO Friends line is still the best source of kitchen utensils, although sometimes they are available in other themes as well.

When it comes to LEGO food items, the variety has been much better than with utensils. The LEGO bread was introduced in 1982, the ice cream in 1995 (ice cream cone in 2013), the turkey, apple, and an elaborate cake in 1997, the cherry, popsicle, hot dog, banana, and croissant in 1998 (hot dog bun in 2016), the carrot in 1999, the pie in 2011, the pretzel and steak in 2012, and a very pretty knotted bread loaf in 2018.

Monica’s kitchen (see image above and first image) was inspired by the Friends television sitcom and was designed by LEGO fan aukbricks. It is fully stocked with everything imaginable, including all those coveted kitchen accessories and utensils we talked about above. Check out all the clever designs, like the kitchen knife block, toaster, coffee maker, fridge, stove, chairs, etc. I really like the colors too! See full-size flickr gallery image here.

This elegant modern kitchen was built by LEGO fan Littlehaulic. The chrome fixtures nicely accent the white cabinets and lime-green tiles and decor. They go well with the brown hardwood floor. See full-size flickr gallery image here.

Interestingly, LEGO fan bruce n h also choose lime-green to tile his kitchen. You can also see one of those fancy and rare LEGO cakes I mentioned above. See full-size flickr gallery image here. (UPDATE: this user deleted their flickr account.)

Johan Alexanderson serves a full breakfast in his kitchen with juice, milk, egg, sandwich with butter, Kalles Kaviar (a Swedish specialty), and Kellogg’s Sugar Smack cereals with strawberries. Also check the rest of the kitchen behind them. There are some nice design elements like using a couple of LEGO vehicle doors for the roll of paper towel. See full-size flickr gallery image here.

Here is another nicely designed modern kitchen by LEGO fan Tim Schwalfenberg. The elegant black, white and chrome color-scheme comes together nicely. See full-size flickr gallery image here.

This kitchen is also by Littlehaulic. It is part of a fully built doll-house (see below). I really like the use of LEGO’s more unusual pastel colors. See full-size flickr gallery image here.

As you can see, there are many ways to build and decorate a LEGO kitchen. You can make them minifig-scale, or use another scale if you really want to build up the details. You can also make the kitchens fully stocked and cozy, or more like a show kitchen for entertaining esteemed guests. And, if you have been collecting LEGO kitchen utensils and food items, building a kitchen is a perfect way to highlight them. If you need more, check the LEGO Friends section of the Online LEGO Shop.

What do you think? How do you like these LEGO kitchens? Do you collect LEGO kitchen utensils and food items? Have you ever built a kitchen before? Feel free to share and discuss in the comment section below! 😉

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LEGO Chinese New Year sets video-reviews

The LEGO Group announced last year (see: LEGO in China Newsroom Announcement) that they will release a series of sets inspired by the celebration of the Chinese New Year. One of the sets depicts a family reuniting to celebrate the lunar New Year in a traditional home. Another set features a team of dragon dancers carrying a dragon, and led by a minifigure dressed as a cute pig, celebrating the current Chinese New Year of the Pig. This set has some movement as well by turning a crank to make the dragon sway. There is also a third set, recreating a traditional dragon boat race. 🙂

There is a lot of interest in these sets, as they are really nicely designed, with exclusive minifigures, and lots of unique printed elements. Unfortunately, these sets are limited-release, only available in China and Asia Pacific markets. Currently, there are no plans to release them anywhere else. However, if you have connections in Asia, or you don’t mind spending more than retail price on the secondary market like eBay and BrickLink, you can still get the sets. Below, I have included video-reviews of two of the sets, so you can see what they look like.

#80101 LEGO CHINESE NEW YEAR’S EVE: This set features a traditional home with a family celebrating Chinese New Year. It is full of unique elements, exclusive minifigures, and printed pieces! Just take a look at all those printed bowls, utensils and food items. There are also a few stickers in the set, but most of the decorated pieces are printed. It looks so nice! Watch the video-review below to see all the details.

#80102 LEGO CHINESE NEW YEAR DRAGON DANCE: This set features a Chinese Dragon, carried by four traditionally dressed minifigures. They have the same torso and leg prints, and two different types of hair pieces with headbands. The fifth minifigure is dressed in a pig costume to celebrate the Year of the Pig. The dragon has tons of unique pieces as well; printed scales, re-colored decorative elements, and a mechanism built into the base to make the dragon move. Watch the video-review below to see it in action!

#80103 LEGO CHINESE NEW YEAR DRAGON BOAT DANCE: It appears that this set is not yet available, as I can’t find any reviews on it, or any pictures that are not watermarket. It features two longboats shaped like dragons (one green, one red), each with its own team of five minifigures. There are an additional five minifigures serving as spectators and judges of the race. There is also a nicely designed viewing stand and podium with lots of decorative elements. Again, I can’t find a video review of this set, but when it is available, I will include it below.

The piece-count and price of the sets in Asia are not known, however they all seem to be about medium size. While they are not going to be sold outside of Asia, they are available on eBay and BrickLink. The #80101 LEGO Chinese New Year set and the #80102 LEGO Chinese New Year set sell for about $80 (without shipping) on BrickLink, and about $130 on eBay with free shipping from sellers in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. The #80103 LEGO Chinese New Year set is only available for pre-order on eBay for about $170 with free shipping.

Prices of the first two sets are actually not too bad, probably about twice the original price. It also appears from the BrickLink Price Guide that prices are gradually coming down. So, if you wait a bit longer, you may be able to get even better prices. However, I also heard that there is severe shortage of these sets even in Asia, so prices could go up too. If you have a relative or friends in Asia, you might be able to get them if you ask nicely.

If you don’t mind building the sets without the unique prints and minifigs, building instructions are available for the first two sets at the Building Instructions section of the LEGO website. Just type in the set number, and you can download the instructions in a PDF format.

What do you think? How do you like the LEGO Chinese New Year sets? Would you like to get them? Which one is your favorite? Feel free to share and discuss in the comment section below! 😉

And you might also like to check out the following related posts:

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