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Unfortunately, I have to agree with several of the comments in the previous review of Angelo's Bakery.

I thought I could get past the drawbacks, and when there was a big promotion and sale several months ago that brought the total cost down to a little more than half the original cost, I decided to bring it home. I figured that I might dissemble the side panels, sand down the plastic wedges, and figure out a different way to reattach the panels so that it could be stored more easily. I mention this just to show the lengths I was willing to go to in order to make the bakery work, as there are several aspects I really like about it. However, I never even fully unpackaged it, because I just got so annoyed with certain parts of the design and construction and I didn't want to keep something that annoying in my house. I ended up packaging it back up and driving it back to the store a couple of days later.

Here are my thoughts on the major parts of the set ...

The three-panel backdrop: I really like the look of this and how well the colors go with Claudie's collection. I think it's a cute idea to make one side the storefront and the other side the kitchen, and I like the details of the shop name, tiling, stained glass, piping, and brickwork. The orientation of the hinges on the side panels doesn't bother me (and for the record, it does come pre-assembled and folded at right angles). I think the printed images of bread and baked goods in the cabinets look kind of silly, but they aren't a dealbreaker. I wish they would have more subway tiles or brickwork instead of the printed cabinet images, or even better would be some snap-on shelving, and I also wish the drawers on the 3-D cabinet really worked (although I understand that that's the opening to the oven on the other side).

The oven is the part of the design that I really had a hard time getting over, and really why I ended up returning the piece. Firstly, if it were a stand-alone oven, or even if it were pretty much as it is now but only had some minor little adjustments, then the panels could fold all the way closed and this would be 1000x better. The fact that it has little pieces sticking out (like the oven shelf and handle) that don't need to stick out, and that the whole thing is less convenient as a result, was just aggravating. Secondly, I did test out raising and lowering the oven door a few times, and it worked perfectly - at first. After four or five tries, and being pleasantly surprised by how smoothly it worked, I noticed there started to be more resistance and that it didn't work as smoothly. It went downhill quickly. This was literally within the first couple minutes and I didn't keep trying it, but it gave me significant doubts about its durability. I was already annoyed by the design of the oven, so having it apparently not function properly was the icing on the cake and sealed the decision to return for me. If at some point this is redesigned, I would suggest giving the panels the ability to fold flat by removing the parts that stick out, which could include a fold-down shelf at the opening of the oven, a removable metal oven door handle, and a better functioning oven door.

Moving on to the furniture, I never unpackaged the (non rolling) shelf, but the low baking table doesn't bother me (or at least it doesn't in the store displays), and I actually really like the bakery counter. The counter, with its nice curved edged and fancy gold "Angelo's Bakery" painted on the case, was one of the reasons that I really wanted to purchase this set. I don't think that Maryellen's Bakery Case would be a good substitute because each of these seem decade-specific, but if I can get this one on the secondary market for a reasonable price someday, I'll be a happy camper. (Or if AG redesigns the bakery to be more functional!) I was sad to package this piece back up because I really like it - even though it is a really big piece of inexpensive-feeling plastic.

And finally, the food and little accessories are a mixed bag. I never unpackaged these, but I looked at them in the store display and through the plastic packaging, and most of the food looks ridiculously unrealistic, as you can see in the photos from the previous review. That said, there are some pieces - the rye bread, the bags of flour, and the boxes of baking soda and rolled oats - that are pretty nice. I also really like the price cards, with their 1920s-appropriate type face, and some of the baking utensils seem perfectly fine to me and like they would have good play value. Since returning the bakery, I purchased some of these items on the secondary market. There are many more pieces that don't appeal to me at all than there are pieces that do appeal to me; I just want to mention that there are a few pieces that are in my opinion kind of nice.

Overall, Angelo's Bakery has some nice features as well as some really unfortunate drawbacks. Ultimately, I decided not to keep it, despite being able to get it at an appealing price point, because of a few small design and construction decisions that prevented me from being able to store it and use it easily, even with the modifications that I would have been willing to make. (Not to mention the unrealistic food, which I was also willing to overlook.) Taking into account the appearance, quality, play value, and importance to story, my overall grade for Angelo's Bakery would sadly be around a D, and that's assuming the oven door actually works. However, some of the individual piece would earn a higher grade from me, and I would happily reconsider purchasing this piece if it undergoes a design revision later.

I guess it's worth noting that although the side panels don't fold all the way closed, the low bakery table can fit under the oven shelf in the back and between the side panels when they're closed at 90 degree angles. I don't know if this is coincidence or an intentional attempt to make storage/packaging take up less room. Either way, it just wasn't enough clever enough to win me over, but it could be good for someone who doesn't intend to fully store this piece away.