Friends

Cat Hotel

A tiny cat daycare with three of the most characterful kitties LEGO has ever made.

Brick Rated Score

4.2/5

Set 41742 · 2023

Pieces445

Minifigs2

Year2023

Set number41742

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The verdict

I opened this one expecting a cute filler set and ended up grinning at three separate cat faces before I'd even snapped the roof on.

Gertrude the grey queen with her tiny crown, Pixel the chunky grump, and Shadow with that smug little smirk, they steal the whole build. It reads more like a cozy cat daycare than a proper hotel, and the price is genuinely fair for what you get. If you or your kid is cat obsessed, this is an easy yes, though the sticker sheet will test your patience a little.

Best for: cat lovers and Friends collectors who want a small, characterful build under thirty dollars

The full review

What it is

The Cat Hotel is one of those small Friends sets that punches well above its size because of the character work, not the architecture. You get three cats, and I mean three genuinely different personalities molded and printed onto brick, not just recolors slapped on the same face. Gertrude wears a tiny crown and struts like she owns the place. Pixel is the chunky one who looks perpetually unimpressed, built on a mold LEGO has reused for other grumpy cats. Shadow, the little black cat, has this smug little smirk that got an actual laugh out of me. Add in Olly and Naomi, the two minidolls running the place, and you've got a cast that carries the whole set.

The catch

I'll be honest about the parts I didn't love. The signage out front leans on stickers instead of a printed tile or brick built sign, and after you've built a few Friends sets with nicer printed graphics, that feels like a small step down. The set also markets itself as a hotel, but once it's built it plays more like a daycare, small pens, a scratching post, a litter tray, some deliberately shredded furniture as a gag. That's charming, but if you came in picturing a multi story cat resort, temper expectations. It's compact, and at 445 pieces there isn't a ton of room to expand once everything is placed.

Who it's for

Get this one if you've got a cat lover in the house, a Friends collector filling out the animal care lineup, or you just want a quick, satisfying afternoon build with strong minifig energy for not much money. Skip it if you want a big centerpiece build or you're allergic to sticker sheets, because this one leans on both stickers and small scale rather than scale and spectacle.

The parts story

What the build is actually like, and the pieces worth knowing about.

This is a fast, relaxed build, four bags, paper instructions or the Builder App, and nothing here will challenge an experienced builder. The fun is in the details rather than the engineering: the small cat pens snap in and out for easy access, the scratching post and litter tray are their own little minibuilds, and the intentionally clawed up furniture is a nice comedic touch that shows someone on the design team has actually lived with a cat.

The standout pieces are the cats themselves. Pixel reuses a chunky grumpy cat mold seen elsewhere in the Friends line, but the printing and coloring here make it feel fresh, and Gertrude's tiny crown piece is an unexpected bit of flair for a set this size. At 445 pieces for under thirty dollars retail, the part count and the minidoll pairing make this one of the better value entries in the 2023 Friends wave, even with the sticker sheet dragging it down slightly.

Fun facts

01The three cats are named Gertrude, Pixel, and Shadow, each with a distinct personality baked into the design rather than just being recolors of one mold.
02Pixel uses a chunky grumpy cat mold that LEGO has reused across other sets, but this printing gives it a fresh look.
03The set released in January 2023 at £24.99/$29.99/€29.99 and was only available that year before retiring.
04Despite the name, several reviewers noted the finished build plays more like a cat daycare than a literal hotel.