With only a couple more of the Summer LEGO® Friends sets to review, the one I’m taking a look at today can also be combined with another set. Yet, it still provides an interesting build on its own. Heartlake City has always garnered a sense of community and that’s perfectly captured in the Community Kitchen. A place for the folks of Heartlake City to gather and help those in need, have a catch-up and cook some tasty treats. Here’s a closer look at the Heartlake City Community Kitchen.
Product Details
Set Name: Heartlake City Community Kitchen | Set Number: 43747 | Pieces: 695 | Theme: Friends
RRP: £62.99/$67.99/69.99€ | Number of Bags: Bags x 6 | Instructions: 1 x Paper booklets + Builder App | Stickers: Sheet x 1 | Characters: Leo, Alba, Abuelita, Matilde & Churro the cat
Availability: LEGO Stores, LEGO Online & General Retail
The configuration of the set is a little different from most of the other buildings featured in the Friends theme. They are largely the front of a building with the back fully open to access the interior. The Community Kitchen, it’s a more enclosed building but you can still access the inside from a smaller open area in one corner of the building. You can also remove the roof section for even better access. The interior of the building is a single room, which acts as an industrial kitchen. I love all the little details dotted about the kitchen. On one wall is a large sink area with various kitchen utensils hanging on the wall. On other sides of the kitchen are a fridge and shelves each filled with ingredients. Right in the centre of the kitchen is an industrial stove, complete with a waffle iron. These all add to the ambience of the kitchen.
It’s not just the interior that impresses, the outside of the kitchen’s building is also visually pleasing. I especially like the ‘Weetabix’ paving used on the pavement around the building. This is also where some of the seating can be found. The rest of it can be found upstairs on the rooftop terrace. The staircase leading up to the roof and the plants growing up the wall, give this section of the set the feeling of a fancy bistro.
The roof plate can be removed to better access the interior of the kitchen but this also comes into play when combining the Community Kitchen with set 41748: Heartlake City Community Center. My review of that set is on the way. With the roof removed, The Kitchen becomes the base for the top section of the Community Center to sit on and then the roof of The Kitchen can be added to the base section of the Community Centre to create a new seating area.
There’s a nice mix of characters featured in the set, including a couple of unique ones. Leo and Alba have both appeared in other sets. I’m assuming that the micro-doll, Alba is Leo’s sister as they both appeared today in the Organic Shopping Centre set, released earlier this year. Another returning face is Churro, the rather chubby cat. The remaining two mini-dolls are exclusive to this set. Both Matilda and Abuelita are unique to this set. A trait I’ve noticed with the Friends sets is that the adult characters offer some of the most interesting-looking mini-dolls. Some of the elderly characters in the Friends set can often look like a young person cosplaying as an old person, but Abuelita looks like a wise elder.
Overall
It may seem like a fairly simple set and one that relies on being added to another set to really shine. But it’s actually a great set in its own right and that is mostly due to all the little details it features. The cobbled path that surrounds the building, the detailed kitchen equipment and the pottered plants on the rooftop terrace are just some of the little details that elevate the set. It is billed as a community kitchen as it really does feel like a hub where residents of Heartlake City gather to share stories and food.
Shop Now: UKIrelandUSCanadaGermanyFranceDenmarkAustraliaNew Zealand
