Topline
Nearly 500,000 play kitchens and children’s step stools were recalled Thursday in a pair of announcements from the Consumer Product Safety Commission that detailed dozens of injuries and one death from use of the items.
Backyard Kids is recalling 192,000 model play kitchens after a 23-month-old was asphyxiated and died when his shirt was caught on a hook as he climbed and crawled through an opening at the back of the play kitchen.
The Farm to Table play kitchen uses hooks to hold accessories, like play pots and pans, and the company is providing replacement hooks for owners of the toy.
The kitchens were sold online at KidKraft.com, Amazon and Walmart from 2018 through July 2025.Cosco recalled 302,000 kitchen steppers, a folding step stool with two steps and a safety bar, after reports the safety bar was detaching or breaking while in use, posing serious fall and injury risk.
The company has 34 reports of the safety bar detaching or breaking, including two incidents that resulted in head injuries, and customers should contact Cosco parent company Dorel Industries to receive a repair kit for the bar.
The steppers were sold at Target, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Walmart and BJ’s Wholesale Club stores nationwide, and online retailers like Amazon, from February 2021 through July 2025.
Kitchen steppers or toddler "learning towers" have become increasingly popular in recent years as parents on TikTok popularize them in a shift toward Montessori-style learning. The products allow children to reach countertops and participate in cooking, cleaning and other activities alongside their parents, and their designs vary widely with different sized steps, safety railings and, in some cases, safety netting. The Cosco stepper is the second to be recalled this year—the Onasti brand recalled about 10,000 plastic toddler towers in March after reports they were collapsing or tipping over while in use.