LEGO® Disney™ set review: 43242 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' Cottage

"Heigh-ho, heigh-ho! It’s home from work we go!"

The cozy house from that memorable song to is now featured in LEGO® Disney™ 43242 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' Cottage. Based on the revolutionary movie from 1937, this set depicts the little house in the woods Snow White stumbles upon after being chased away by the huntsman. So grab your pickaxe and join me in song as we march home to explore all the new elements.

Products in this article were gifted by The LEGO Group; the author's opinions are their own.
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43242 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' Cottage
US$219.99/ £189.99/ 219.99€/ AU$399.99
2228 parts
Released Date 01 March 2024 for LEGO Insiders, 04 March for all.

Set 43242 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on LEGO.com

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs made movie history as the first feature length animated movie. Despite this feat, the movie has been the focus of just two prior LEGO sets; 4+ Disney Princess 10738 Snow White's Forest Cottage from 2017 and DUPLO 6152 Snow White's Forest Cottage; both clearly aimed at little children. Snow White and the Evil Queen also make appearances in a few other sets, sharing the stage with characters from other Disney properties. So, high time for a detailed 18+ set, and with 2228 parts, 43242 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' Cottage looks very promising. I can’t wait to start building, but we’ll have a closer look at all the new elements in the box first.

New molds

We are treated to 4 new molds, 3 of which can be found in the minifigures.

To recreate the dwarves, 2 new beard pieces are introduced; 

• Minifig Neckwear Beard Short in White (6466031 | 5322)
• Minifig Neckwear Beard Long in White (6466029 | 5321)

It took me some time to notice, but some of the dwarfs wear a new version of 93558 Hat Gnome, with the tip pointing backwards. The original version has appeared in just two sets in Green; CMF Series 4 8804 Lawn Gnome from 2011 and 41102 Friends Advent Calendar from 2015. In the image you can see the new version, appearing in 3 colors, alongside the original version, here recolored in Dark Tan. More recolors can be found in the Minifigures section.

• Hat Gnome Backward in Bright Light Orange (6486486 | 5320)
• Hat Gnome Backward in Sand Green (6486482 | 5320)
• Hat Gnome Backward in Dark Orange (6466026 | 5320)

The other new mold is a bigger version of 24246 Tile Round 1 x 1 Half Circle, now coming in a 2 x 2 size. We can find this tiles used for the beds, so it won’t surprise you we get 14 of Tile Round 2 x 2 Half Circle in Medium Nougat (6474122 | 5520). They are a very welcome addition to the rounded tile family, as long as you don’t call them Stadium Tiles… 

Elements in new colors

There are some very welcome recolors to be found:

• 14x Brick Special 1 x 2 with 1 Center Stud on 1 Side in Tan (6478176 | 86876)
• 1x Brick Special 1 x 2 with 1 Center Stud on 1 Side in Reddish Brown (6469349 | 86876)
• 8x Brick Round, Half 1 x 2 in Reddish Brown (6478179 | 68013) Very welcome for building trees!
• 22x Plate Special 2 x 3 with Rocks in Bright Light Orange (6478178 | 27261)
• 3x Plant, Sea Grass in White (6478180 | 30093) Used here for the birch tree.

There are some more, but I’ll save those for the minifig section.

Decorated elements

Aside from the minifigures, there are 4 new printed elements:

• Snow White’s coffin bears her name, using 2x Tile 1 x 4 with Woodcarving, ‘SNOW WHITE’ print in Dark Tan (6476339)
• On the end of most wooden beams we find more wood carvings, featuring an owl. We get 12x (plus 2 spare) of Tile 1 x 1 with Owl Woodcarving print in Medium Nougat (6476342)
• The shutters for the window are printed as well: 2x Tile 2 x 3 with Shutter, Heart Shape print in Medium Nougat (6476340)
• And the final new printed element is a dish set aside for Grumpy: 1x Tile Round 2 x 2 with Dish, 'GRUMPY’ print in Tan (6476341)

The sticker sheet is pretty small for the set size. Most are used on the beds of the dwarfs

Minifigures

Naturally, the set includes 7 minifigures for the dwarfs, as well as Snow White, Prince Florian and the Evil Queen.

Snow White and Prince Florian have previously appeared in 43222 Disney Castle (read our review for this set here), and the Evil Queen in witch form has been used in 43227 Villain Icons.

The dwarfs are all new, all coming with new prints for their dual-sided heads and torso, as well as some recolors and the earlier mentioned newly molded beards and hats.

I’ve taken off the beards to present the full torso print. The backsides are all pretty similar, showing the black belt and some creases. Only Dopey is slightly different sporting a hoodie. 

Going left to right, top to bottom:

Grumpy

• New mold for Hat Gnome Backward in Dark Orange (6466026 | 5320)
• New printed head in Light Nougat (6476349)
• New printed torso in Red (6484286)

Sleepy

• New mold for Hat Gnome Backward in Sand Green (6486482 | 5320)
• New printed head in Light Nougat (6476345) which is perfect for my sigfig
• New printed torso in Tan (6484242)

Sneezy

• New mold for Hat Gnome Backward in Bright Light Orange (6486486 | 5320)
• New printed head in Light Nougat (6476343)
• New printed torso in Dark Tan (6484237)

Dopey

• Recolor for Hat, Elf Ears with Lavender Hat Print in Light Nougat
• New printed head in Light Nougat (6476355)
• New printed torso in Lime (6484449)
• Recolor for Legs Short in Lime (6484468 | 41879)

Doc

• Recolor for Hat Gnome in Dark Tan (6484469 | 93558)
• New printed head in Light Nougat (6476353)
• New printed torso in Red (6484474)

Bashful

• Recolor for Hat Gnome in Sand Green (6484475 | 93558)
• New printed head in Light Nougat (6476351)
• New printed torso in Bright Light Orange (6484476)

Happy

• Recolor for Hat Gnome in Bright Light Orange (6474228 | 93558)
• New printed head in Light Nougat (6476347)
• New printed torso in Reddish Orange (6484263)

These figs just look amazing! The faces are very expressive, and even without the body attached you can easily figure out which face goes with which dwarf. The hats and beards are a great addition, adding to their personalities and making each figure feel unique. The hat can also be spotted in the (as of writing) upcoming 10332 Medieval Town Square, suggesting the mold doesn’t have an IP lock. It is as of yet unclear if the beards will appear in other themes.

Other elements of interest

We welcome the return of two long-lost elements. Window 1 x 2 x 3 Pane Latticed with Thick Corner Tabs in Black (6478177 | 60607) appeared in a single Elves set back in 2017 and comes 8x in this set. For Brick 1 x 10 in Reddish Brown (6469351 | 6111) we have to go back even further in time as its last appearance was in 2011, appearing 2x here.

And there are elements that have appeared in just a few sets:

• Plant, Leaves Stacked 4 x 5 x 1 2/3 in Medium Lavender (6507838 | 5058) has been seen in a single set. Plant, Leaves Stacked 4 x 5 x 1 2/3 in Bright Green (6507837 | 5058) has appeared in more sets, but all released in the January 2024 wave.
• Plate Special 4 x 4 with 3 x 3 Quarter Round Cutout in Flame Yellowish Orange/ Bright Light Orange (6430391 | 35044) has appeared in 2 sets prior.
• Plate Special 8-Sided Crystal/Gem 1 x 1 x 2/3 in Transparent Blue with Opalescence/ Satin Trans-Light Blue (6446914 | 65092) has appeared in 2 other sets.
• 79393 Tile 3 x 3 Curved, Macaroni in Dark Orange (6468066 | 79393) has been featured only in 10329 Tiny Plants (see our review here).
• Tile 1 x 2 with Groove in Olive Green (6100158 | 3069) sneaked its way into the wrong tray and made it into the photo, as it has appeared in 3 sets.
• Bar 3L with 1 Clip on One Side, 2 Clips on Other Side in Black (6445341 | 3628) has been seen in 2 sets.
• Plate Round Corner 2 x 2 with 1 x 1 Cutout in Warm Gold/ Pearl Gold (6473751 | 79491) was introduced in the January 2024 wave in 43241 Rapunzel's Tower and the Snuggly Duckling Tavern.
• Tile 1 x 1 Heart in Dark Orange (6502193 | 5529) made its first appearance in plain in January 2024 in 2 sets.

After Snow White is chased away by the huntsman she finds comfort by talking to animals, several of which appear in the set as well. We find a bunny, two squirrels and three birds, but I wish we would also have gotten at least one deer and a turtle to complete the lineup. This would have been a great opportunity to re-use the Bambi mold from 43230 Walt Disney Tribute Camera.

The roof of the house is made out of Bright Light Orange elements, including Slope Curved 2 x 1 with Stud Notch Left and Slope Curved 2 x 1 with Stud Notch Right. In the photo above we see the contents of just one out of three bags that construct the roof. Despite having built a lot of sets, I still have trouble distinguishing mirrored parts, and I often have to rotate them into the same orientation as shown in the instructions to make sure I have the right one.

The manual acknowledges people can struggle with this, and offers a tip:

If you want to be grumpy, dump all the parts in a pile. If you want to be happy, sort them out first. It’s a tip I usually don’t follow while building a set with numbered bags, but in this case I happily obliged. I won’t venture into the endless debate of piling vs. sorting, as everyone has their preference, but I do love how the instruction designer incorporated the subject of the set to illustrate their point without using words.

The build

We start with a little side-build featuring the well from the start of the movie where Snow White gets water for her chores.

On to house itself which is divided in two sections connected by hinges. The protruding backside doesn’t allow for a full 180 degree rotation, so you can’t close up the open backside. Instead, the hinges seem to allow for better access inside.

On the ground floor we find a dining table set for 7 people. Grumpy has his own plate set in the corner, next to the sink. The sink is made out of a window frame, with a Trans-Light Blue window representing the water. Underneath Grumpy’s table is a snack hidden by a mouse. Unfortunately, the mouse itself is not included in the set. The door features some nice iron fittings and I’m always a sucker for Tudor walls.

Heat is provided by a fireplace. The dirty sock, as seen in the movie, is included as well. The firelight is provided by a light brick that's operated on the outside of the house.

Moving upstairs we find the 7 beds using the new D-Tile. I understand that printing the names on the tiles would probably be too expensive, and the stickers look good enough, but as a collector I would have loved adding printed versions to my collection.

One thing I really love about the house is that it’s not a simple rectangle and includes many nooks and crannies. This can best be seen in the supporting beams underneath the roof. It adds to the atmosphere of the build and also provides space for storing gems.

All of those nooks and crannies also mean the roof is not straight-forward as well. Instead, we get several sections that fit nicely together forming a proper shelter. Most of the Bright Light Orange parts are used here, and while looking great, this was the least fun section of the build. Despite the different shapes and sizes, adding all the layers became tedious pretty fast, and the repetition had me feeling quite dopey and sleepy. The section with the window above the bedroom is removable to access the inside, while the other sections are secured by a bar-and-clip connection.

The roof build might have made me grumpy, but I was happy again soon enough thanks to the builds in the final bags. The outside is finished with some trees and a gem washing station. The pine trees are a bit simple but effective. The birch tree is one of the best of its kind I’ve seen in an official set so far. They often look too straight, but the seaweed pieces add that needed bit of randomness  to match the version from the movie better.

Snow White’s ‘final’ resting place is almost a set in itself, not connected to the main build. The mattress doesn’t seem comfortable, but the curve provides space for the dress and hairpiece. She sure looks peaceful as she waits for a prince who is into kissing dead people...

Conclusion

The finished model looks amazing. The color scheme really gives the cottage the right atmosphere. Dark Orange is quickly becoming one of my favorite colors, and it mixes perfectly with Reddish Brown and Medium Nougat. The movie version is more muted and gray, but the LEGO version feels really alive and warm. 

The model is loaded with details from the movie. I rewatched the movie for this review and I was able to spot many little references in the set. That does bring me to my only (sort of) complaint: The set really needs more animals! At minimum, we need at least one deer to make it feel complete. A small pond would be a perfect spot for a racoon with a washing board. And the piece of cheese needs a mouse to nibble on it.

The minifigures are great as well. Granted, Snow White, the Prince and the Evil Queen have been used in another set, but the Dwarfs are all new. Like in the movie, each of them is unique and the new hat and beards are really warranted here. I especially love the dual sided heads, showcasing their characters. They are so expressive!

For MOC designers the new D-Tile can come in handy, as well as the recolored elements. There are not as many as I expected, but the ones we do get are useful. The new beards and hats are welcome too. Hopefully the beards are not IP locked and will appear on PaB at some point (if all the reorganizations are finished…). The new shutter print is nice as well, but the other prints might be less easy to incorporate into a MOC. But that is of course only limited by your creativity, so please prove me wrong!

READ MORE: LEGO® Pick a Brick: new elements added in February 2024

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