In 1980, one year after the dresser, fridge and cooker (see them below), Otto Simon released these two fancy chairs. Interestingly, if you consider catalogue numbers, these chairs should have been sold first. However, Otto Simon didn't always follow a logical order when numbering Fleur items. We know these chairs came later because of toy catalogues.

The chairs are very beautiful and quite fancy for a kitchen - Fleur was sitting in style! If the molding looks familiar, it's because it matches some of the living room items from the same era.

Fancy chairs above require a fancy table - here it is! Just look at the gorgeous molding of the legs and edges. The table matches the chairs perfectly and elegantly. It would look very nice in Fleur's living room too.

Here we are, it's 1979, and Fleur gets her first kitchen in three components - first of which (in order of catalogue number) is the cooker. It is a slim single-section stove, with very realistic details and opening doors. The bottom photo shows the description on the side of the cooker box. Interestingly, it does not mention the three metal utensils which are included, but it does mention a 'baketin' which is not included in my box (does anyone have it?) The 'suction pipe' is a funny translation for range hood, also called extractor fan, hood fan, kitchen hood - depends on the country. It's the thing above the stove that sucks in steam and cooking smells.

Next in catalogue numerical order is Fleur's refrigerator - another delightfully realistic single-section unit. All doors open, and there is even a tiny freezer (which is translated as 'ice partition') inside. My grandma's 1970s fridge had one just like it! There are shelves inside the door, and even a vegetable drawer. My set did not come with any bowls, and they are not mentioned on the side of the box (see yellow photo), although they are shown in the photo on the box.

The final piece in Fleur's brown kitchen is the dresser - a cute translation of 'countertop'. This is a double-section unit (it's roughly twice as wide as the fridge and stove), with a sink, two cupboards and one drawer. The drawer under the sink doesn't open and is there for decoration only. My set came with a matching garbage bin, but it should also have cups and saucers - which it doesn't. I imagine they were easily lost. In the promo photo, you can see various accessories - a red pot, yellow bowls (same as in the refrigerator photo above) and a white plate. Interestingly, the yellow sign on the side of the box (see below) says in Dutch that there is a 'drawer with cutlery', but in English it is translated to 'drawer with cover'. And no, my set doesn't have any cutlery either.

Fleur's brown kitchen is not exclusive to her - as soon as 1980 (so just a year later after Fleur), it was pictured in the Petra doll catalogue in a very pretty pink-and-blue variation. You can see it is identical, except for the colours - it even has the three metal utensils included with the stove. I have also seen this kitchen in other colours, presumably made for other dolls. The only true Fleur version is brown - the other colours are clones, and not variations.

Photo credit: Sonnenschein World on Flickr