The Sims 4 Cool Kitchen Stuff Pack Review

Hey guys,

It's August, and here I bring you the newest release for The Sims 4, The Sims 4: Cool Kitchen Stuff Pack! This pack is for sale on Origin for $9.99 and contains a new gameplay object, 2 rooms, 29 CAS content and 22 Build/Buy content that fleshes out and customizes to bring more flair to your kitchen.

Hope you guys enjoy this review!

Cheers,
AznSensei

Game Information

Game Cover Art

Game Icon

Game Features

Game Screenshots

New Gameplay Object: Ice Cream Machine

Introduced with this stuff pack is a new gameplay object called the Sweet Tooth Ice Cream Machine! While it may seem like a clone from The Sims 3, there is much more you can utilize and use with this new gameplay object, and not to mention it can be utilized with the previous Get To Work Expansion. 

This ice maker maker got a newer and classic look to it than it's previous counterparts and comes in a variety of colors.

Sims can craft around 30 different flavors, and the following can be made (based on your Cooking level). Some of these flavors, however, give special effects when consumed and they can be listed below.

• Vanilla
• Pistachio Gelato
• Chocolate Ice Cream
• Lemon
• Pure Perfection
• Orange Sorbet
• Weight of the World (Increases weight gain speed)
• Peace Yogurt
• Mint Chocolate Chip
• Bacio Gelato
• Cherry Ice Cream
• Taste of Diet (Increases weight loss speed)
• Strawberry
• Twin Roses (Gives Flirty emotion)
• Liquorice Gelato
• Stracciatella Gelato
• Haunted Mint (Gives Inspired emotion)
• Banana Yogurt
• Blue Moon
• Mental Upheaval (Gives random moodlets that changes emotions)
• Plant Matter (Temporarily turns sim into a PlantSim with green skin)
• Fruits of the Forest
• Butter Pecan
• Amarena Gelato
• Rainbow Sherbert
• Dragon's Breath (Gives sims "Dragon Breath" and can burp fire)
• Chilling Mocha (Turns sims blue and chills them)
• Gives "Ice Treat" moodlet
• Unlocks "Chilling Touch" Mischief social on other Sims
• Ricotta Stregata Gelato
• Neapolitan Ice Cream

Once a flavor is made, the ice cream isn't just eaten instantly, rather you get a movable object for you to place anywhere in the house, or to sell with The Sims 4: Get To Work Expansion Pack! You can choose to get a bowl or a cone, whichever your sweet tooth desires!

Other than the flavors, there are many topping and garnish options that players can choose and customize to change the look of their ice cream. 

There're so many different options and customizations of your ice cream and it's a nice addition to have for any Sims' party! Sadly, we can't name our own flavors or create a custom flavor and look, but hey this is still a lot better than The Sims 3 counterpart.

There are five distinct special flavors that introduces some type of extra animations/gameplay to sweeten up your dining experience and they are explained below:

• Dragon's Breath - This flavor just gives your sim the animation that they are eating a spicy/hot ice cream. Occasionally your Sim will fan themselves, and the extra kick of it is that sometimes they may burp on fire. 

• Haunted Mint - This flavor gives you the inspired moodlet, but sometimes you may be visited by a ghost and an animation will occur.
• Twin Roses - This flavor makes your sim flirtier if you're Teen/Adult/Elder or even happier if you're a child eating this flavor.
• Plant Matter - This flavor will make your sim want to go to an environment with more water, possibly a pool area, and also will make your sim turn green. Extra gameplay to be determined still.

• Chilling Mocha - Gives your sim a chance of turning blue, and a Mischief interaction to give a "Chilling Touch" to a sim you desire.

Build/Buy Mode

Included in the Build/Buy Mode category are 22 different objects and 2 new pre-made rooms that you can add to your game. While most of the content seems boring and dull at first, there are some visual features that make this stuff pack "cool" and will be pointed out below. 

• Glass Cabinet-Islands - Introduced to further customize your counters are the fact that the Island Counters have a curved glass cabinet option that gives it a classier look than your plain old boring island pieces. 
• Multiple Posters - Honestly, if this were The Sims 3, each poster would be created separately and sold separately, costing 25 Simpoints each and there's about 18 different posters, aka that's already $4.50 of the stuff pack there. 
• Kitchen Clutter - Many people wanted more kitchen clutter (and while I still do want more) the team did deliver more kitchen clutter, which many are enjoyable to add to further give your kitchen life! 
• Kitchen Styles - While the items may look boring, the style gives the players more of somewhat a modern minimalistic look to it, and gives it that "cool" edge that gives the stuff pack its name.
• Color Options - I love many of the color options that mix and matches to give that extra look, without making the colors look all funky. Lets be honest, while I loved Create-A-Style and miss it, this will still never compare to that, but I do suck at different color options and the color and styles they picked for these items were pretty decent.

I actually did enjoy most of the build/buy content and I think as time goes on, some of the content is actually worthwhile to have. Below are all of the images and color options for each object.

CAS

Introduced in CAS from this stuff pack are outfits and hairstyles for Teens/Adults/Elder Sims and let me tell you, I'm slightly, no I take that back, severely disappointed in the approach on CAS. Most of the clothing looks like it can be utilized in any other pack, and there was no WOW-factor that got me jumping (Well OK, maybe some of the hairstyles).  Not to mention there is ZERO CONTENT for Children.... Like seriously, what is going on again? Are we going through with the same route as The Sims 3? At least give some children some nice clothes since none of it was anything special. Other than that, there isn't much to say and I think the approach on releasing new CAS content needs to be reconsidered before introducing it. I'm not saying I hate the stuff that came with this pack, just would prefer an all-around approach no CAS content for all age groups. 

Overall Review

Price: 8/10 - I actually like the price of Stuff Packs introducing a decent amount of content, but at the same time cutting the price of $20 to $10. Not to mention it at least includes one premium gameplay object, which normally $5 of the stuff pack itself compared to The Sims 3 marketing format, leaving the remaining $5 for the rest of the content. I do wish there was more bang for the buck, but hey it's a stuff pack right? 

Gameplay Object: 8/10 - There is so much fun using the ice cream maker, and not to mention there is no problems gameplay-wise as my Sims don't seem obsessed with the darn machine, maybe I'm more obsessed with it? There's many different flavors, topping/garnish options, and somewhat gameplay introduced with this item. I am disappointed in the Plant Matter flavor as the leaves only appear for like 2 seconds, and then your sim is just green and no extra gameplay. The same goes for the Dragon's Breath flavor also.  I wished there was some kind of interaction introduced much like the Chilling Mocha Flavor.

Build/Buy: 9/10 - I actually enjoyed the content introduced in Build/Buy mode and I think more clutter would have been nice, but hey it's pretty decent in terms of content, especially the new posters and the other clutter that further fleshes out a kitchen. Of course, it's a stuff pack so there's different tons of potential kitchen clutter out there still that can be introduced. 

CAS: 4/10 - Severely disappointed in what we were given in CAS. It's not a special style or anything introduced and there's nothing for children.  I do love the hairstyles for the female sims that were introduced and maybe one of the male hairstyles, but none of the clothing got me super interested and jumping to make sure my Sims wore it. 

Overall: 7.25/10 - If you like the ice cream machine gameplay object and new kitchen content, then yes this stuff is worth it for you. If you're more of a player that likes to dress up your sims with new fancy clothing, then no don't get this stuff pack unless it's on sale.  If you care for neither and just like to be a collector like me, I'd maybe hold off for a sale of $5, but it's not a bad pack. I'd like to consider the stuff packs as Store Sets like The Sims 3, so I'm being optimistic for potential future packs that may give that WOW-Factor. Hope you guys enjoyed this review!