Review: 41747 Heartlake City Community Kitchen
Posted by MeganL,After building 41748 Heartlake City Community Centre, it was a natural choice to build 41747 Heartlake City Community Kitchen next. Box art on both sets show that the Community Kitchen can be a standalone set but also serve as the ground floor to the Community Centre, completing a rainbow of colours in a rather tall building.
Wes Talbott has also designed 41747, so I expect similarly good things from this set. With one designer designing both sets, I wonder if the Centre/Kitchen combo was first imagined as a single set - however, that would likely put the price to over $200, a price point not yet reached by a Friends set.
Read on to see what's special about the Kitchen, and see how 41747 and 41748 look like together.
Summary
41747 Heartlake City Community Kitchen, 695 pieces.
£62.99 / $67.99 / €69.99 | 9.1p/9.8c/10.1c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
A suitable companion piece to the Community Centre; albeit at a higher cost
- Gorgeously detailed kitchen
- Displays well with 41748
- There are stairs!
- Pricy compared to 41748
- To get the full building costs over $200
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Inside the box there are five numbered bags, one unnumbered bag (containing a 16x16 plate, a 8x16 plate, the new 8x8 plate, a white flex tube, and a tube with shafts), an instruction book, and a small sticker sheet. The sticker sheet was damaged - something had sliced it halfway through!
Minidolls and animals
There are four minidolls in this set, which is a family affair for Leo. Leo is the only one of the main cast in this set - he's wearing a hoodie that we've seen before with yellow board shorts and blue shoes. With him is Churro, his grumpy cat. I always like seeing Churro in a set! Stopping by the kitchen for a meal is Matilde, who we see for the first time here. Matilde has a flower patterned sleeveless shirt with a chunky necklace paired with a short blue skirt.
The microdoll in this set is Alba, Leo's sister. We first met her in 41729 Organic Grocery Store (coincidentally also designed by Wes Talbott) and she's wearing the same adorable dress with a dinosaur logo as she was then. Rounding out the cast for the set is Leo's grandmother, referred to only as Abuelita, or "grandma" in Spanish. Abuelita wears a very colour outfit - a fuchsia cardigan over a blue shirt with yellow polka dots and a statement necklace, over a bright yellow long skirt with fuchsia shoes. Abuelita is a not a wallflower type of granny!
Completed model
The building is quite attractive with the purple walls with blue awning. A table with some of the kitchen's offerings is on the sidewalk. The next floor up features an outdoor dining area with two trees and some overhead lights.
I'm quite pleased to see stairs leading to the upper floor! The flex tube for a handrail is rather nice parts usage, and the building technique for the stairs is a great one to introduce to this age group. There's a sign indicating what's found on the next floor. I really like the greenery on the wall and the planter on the sidewalk, providing some extra colour.
The visitors from the Community Centre have stopped by for a visit. Churro the grumpy cat is still not amused, and is still cute enough to almost be my favourite Friends animal. Almost.
(Note: community centre visitors not included in this set)
Inside the building is a very well-equipped kitchen, not surprisingly. This is the centre of all the activity. Shelves full of supplies are against the wall, next to the sink that has several kitchen implements hanging overhead. There's a cutting board with greenery for prep.
The centre island features a stove, the counter with some dishes being plated, and several other details. I particularly love the inclusion of a tortilla press!
Over the door we find the menu, which looks like Heartlake City's version of Chipotle. The primary menu items include: tacos, burritos, and burrito bowls. A kiosk for payment is close to the door.
In the corner there's a fridge for drinks and other staples, like the eggs on the top shelf.
The outdoor dining area is lovely. The table is set with some drinks, two plates of tacos with lime and tomato, and what could be a bowl of salsa in the centre. The railings are quite colourful, and the orange works surprisingly well with the purple.
Here's Leo at work in the kitchen. I think the tortilla press is my favourite part.
The rooftop dining area is an L-shape, just like the rest of the building.
Combining with the Community Centre
In combining the set with 41718, the community kitchen becomes the ground floor, with the rest of the centre on top. This makes me even more nervous for anyone using that slide on the yellow floor! The purple looks right in place with this building, and the blue awnings from the kitchen work perfectly with the blue walls on the next floor.
With the restaurant as the base for the entire building, that means the base from 41748 is empty. Fortunately, the upstairs dining area from the Community Kitchen fits perfectly here, allowing for a next door patio instead of rooftop dining.
I'm very happy to see stairs here, and they line up perfectly to allow a Friend to ascend from the kitchen to the next floor. Looking from the back, the bottom floor seems a bit disjointed, but nothing that can't be fixed by adding a few plates.
Overall thoughts
This is another lovely set. I like the family story that's being told, with the inclusion of Leo's grandmother and his sister in this set (not to mention Churro!). The set looks great on its own, with a striking and vibrant colour scheme.
There are plenty of lovely details in the kitchen, and suitable opportunities for play. Like the community centre, there are also several interesting recolours of parts; a parts inventory can be found here.
The kitchen looks terrific when displayed with the community centre - the colouring fits right in, and I like that the rooftop dining area can be used as a patio. I'm glad that the decision was made to have the same designer create both the community centre and the kitchen - it leads to a seamless transition when the two sets are displayed together.
My one quibble with the Community Kitchen is the price - it feels like it's on the high side, whether considering it as a standalone set or combined with the Community Centre. It feels like there should be more for an almost $70 set; not to mention that for twice the price, the Community provides four fully detailed floors and a rooftop.
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33 comments on this article
The combined sets look great. Really colorful. But, that Kitchen is pricey. Will look out for a sale.
Missed opportunity to call it "La Cocina" instead of "The Kitchen".
@MeganL said:
"(Note: community centre visitors not included in this set)"
Oh! So the sloths DO come with the 41748 Community Center! ;)
The set is good. The pricing is not. The price on this set alone is absurd. These prices have significantly reduced my purchasing this year. Even with discounts the price points are too much. Also the pricing of $67.99 (instead of $59.99 or $69.99) is somehow more insulting.
Is there any website out there that calculates price per stud instead of piece? This set is one classic example how Lego inflates the piece count with numerous 1x1 pieces just to make the price look better. If my counting is correct more than 230 pieces of the 695 pieces are 1x1 in some form. So it's probably less than 400 real pieces which would make a price of 40€ more realistic and reasonable.
That price is insane. As much as I like the Friends line, this is a $40-$45 at best.
@PetesBricks said:
"Missed opportunity to call it "La Cocina" instead of "The Kitchen". "
It's an off-Broadway show. Actually, it was off-off-Broadway. It was a comedy about a Mexican chef. -- George Costanza
Would love to get this set, but with the price it will likely be one of those sets I put off buying until it's too late and the set has retired
I like the idea of combining this set with the community center, though it is a bit weird to have what basically amounts to an “add-on” floor to an already very large set.
The cynical side of me doesn’t wonder if they pulled out the bottom floor so Lego didn’t get accused of selling a rainbow, LGBT-themed set to kids. I’d be less inclined to think that if we didn’t already have the example of America’s pride pin being included as an accessory so they could remove it from countries with hardline anti-LGBT stances. (At least this is what I heard, apologies if this is apocryphal).
That said, this is a great little set. Reminds me very much of independent restaurants in “hip” parts of town. The purple exterior almost makes me think this could be a Creole restaurant, but it looks a bit vegetarian heavy for Southern cuisine!
On second review, a fifth-floor outdoor slide is astonishingly dangerous. Obviously, public safety isn't Mayor Stephanie's concern.
That cat is awesome.
VERY nice! This looks amazing, and I really enjoy this new approach to modular building - but on the other hand, now it also kind of makes me wish that the individual levels of the tower were sold as separate sets. And I'm kind of hoping we'll see even more floors to increase the height and colour of the tower.
I mean, dang. Look at that end-result, that sparks joy even in the cold, dead lump of coal in my chest-cavity.
@ResIpsaLoquitur said:
"On second review, a fifth-floor outdoor slide is astonishingly dangerous. Obviously, public safety isn't Mayor Stephanie's concern."
After years of practicing her Piledriver-attack, Mayor Stephanie is now basically immune to fall-damage. It's an understandable oversight.
I really like the combined model, always so cool when LEGO does that and it just works.
Actually... There are serious structural issues and even your photos show them. Something is crooked and the roof plate lifts up and the same is true for the corner door. The 4 x 4 tile comes off and the surrounding bricks show gaps. While it doesn't look as severe on your version, it was a major struggle on my end despite rebuilding it several times. I just couldn't fix it in a satisfying way, which to me indicates da fundamental design issue. Of course the price is a problem, too. Other than that it's indeed a nice addition to the big building.
Anyone else notice that this set contains the RPOTD?
That Grumpy Cat is fantastic!
Now I get why there are so many disabled people and animals in Heartlake City. I mean, having a door on the 2nd floor with just a bit of awning partially underneath it is quite the safety issue....
I love the idea that those two sets can be combined, I'm still surprised why Lego does things like that only quite rarely. Create big things from small, affordable sets. Though that's the on thing this set obviously fails at: That price indeed is just way too high. Which is a shame as other than that this is just another great Friends set.
C'mon Lego, give us a burrito piece.
Why can't that Grumpy Cat be in a polybag set for cheap? I NEED him.
One of the best Friends sets in a while!
Friends sets of this size used to be between 30 an 40 Euro max. Inflation is a thing, but this is ridiculous and far beyond the rate of inflation.
I believe Matilde made her first appearance in 41733.
@IgelCampus said:
"Is there any website out there that calculates price per stud instead of piece? This set is one classic example how Lego inflates the piece count with numerous 1x1 pieces just to make the price look better. If my counting is correct more than 230 pieces of the 695 pieces are 1x1 in some form. So it's probably less than 400 real pieces which would make a price of 40€ more realistic and reasonable."
Admittedly, I would love to know the cost difference of getting rid of the 1x1 frills and sticking this (and many other sets) on a baseplate. Those little pieces add up! I do like the polished no-studs-exposed look but enjoy that being a personal touch rather than having these end up so pricey.
@graymattr said: "Why can't that Grumpy Cat be in a polybag set for cheap? I NEED him."
The Grumpy Cat piece is available in the smaller Leo's Bedroom set, for whatever that's worth. It's the only reason I bought it (that, and the stores in Australia were clearancing it out for a really good price ... but not the other three bedroom sets, which I found a bit weird).
I am so torn on the price of this set. The price per part is nice (and not too far off the one of the larger set), but alas this isn't the only good metric of a set. Having 1/4th the floors for 1/2th the price of 41748 just seems odd.
But it does look nice though...
Sigh. Decisions, decisions...
@IgelCampus: Considering some of the pieces out there, "price per stud" isn't something that could really be calculated. Just looking at this set's inventory, how many studs would pieces like https://brickset.com/parts/6463790/newel-step https://brickset.com/parts/4119479/carrot-top or https://brickset.com/parts/6372781/kitchen-equipment-no-2 have? Not saying that the set isn't expensive, just saying that your proposed metric wouldn't necessarily work. Honestly, I don't think there is a one-size-fits-all metric; IMHO, everybody should decide what they're willing or not willing to pay for on a set-by-set basis.
@oukexergon: It's a taco, not a burrito, but https://brickset.com/parts/6361439/circle-tile-1x1-1-4-no-31
@ResIpsaLoquitur said:
"On second review, a fifth-floor outdoor slide is astonishingly dangerous. Obviously, public safety isn't Mayor Stephanie's concern."
Given the shenanigans her friend group did, I don't think a slide will bother her.
@PhantomBricks said:
" @ResIpsaLoquitur said:
"On second review, a fifth-floor outdoor slide is astonishingly dangerous. Obviously, public safety isn't Mayor Stephanie's concern."
Given the shenanigans her friend group did, I don't think a slide will bother her."
One more reason why I think corruption in some form (donuts, muffins, cupcakes?) must have led to her having been elected mayor.
Seriously, given their past, what sane citizen of Heartlake City would vote for ANY of the Friends as mayor?
Switch out the stickers for prints and the minidolls (as lovely as they are) for minifigs, knock ten bucks off the retail price, and you'd have a perfect LEGO set.
$70 ish for a final build this size does seem a lot. But it is a 700 piece set, so price per part is 10 cents. All that cobble stone and all the little jars add up. As more designers are coming from the AFoL ranks and trying to build sets like they do, we're going to see prices like this. Lots of small pieces still cost money.
@AustinPowers said:
"Seriously, given their past, what sane citizen of Heartlake City would vote for ANY of the Friends as mayor? "
Maybe the satellite Olivia was launching in 41713 was equipped with some sort of mind-control ray...
Great to see them altogether!
...but it really drives home the lack of even a basic lift for proper inclusivity.
the combination looks great. But it seems to me it isn't perfect. After all the door on the second floor will lead you out into the air.