DIY Play Kitchen Tutorial

Last spring I had my heart set on purchasing an adorable red wooden kitchen from Target for Amara's second birthday. Everything about it was just perfect. Everything except the $120 price tag, that is.

While searching for a cheaper alternative I started running across some DIY (do it yourself) play kitchens that are all over the blog world. I was scared to tackle a project this big, but I was determined and talked John into doing most of the work helping me. The project was wayyyy easier than I expected and only cost about $40 to make! We used a nightstand from Goodwill we scored for $6. I don't have a before picture of the nightstand because my memory card broke soon after taking the picture... sigh. But it was just a wooden nightstand you find often at thrift stores. Here is our kitchen after completion.



Supplies Used:
Nightstand (Goodwill)
Plywood (Hobby Lobby)
Canvas Strechers (Hobby Lobby)
Metal bowl (Goodwill)
Wooden letter 'J'(Hobby Lobby)
Black Acrylic Paint (Hobby Lobby)
Wooden pieces (Hobby Lobby)
Handles (Home Depot)
Fabric (Joanne's)
Ceramic Tiles (Home Depot)
Wood Glue (Home Depot)
Paint (Home Depot)
Wooden Dowel (Hobby Lobby)
Plexiglass (Hobby Lobby)

We sanded the nightstand and John attached the plywood to the back of the nightstand with screws. He also attached the canvas stretchers to border the plywood with screws to give it a more finished look. He drilled a circular hole for the bowl for the sink. We used little wooden pieces to act as sink handles. Those were screwed in also so they can turn. For the faucet, we bought a wooden letter 'J' and turned it upside down.

I painted on the grills with black acrylic paint using a bowl I traced onto cardboard. We took the bottom drawer completely off and added a wooden dowel to hang the curtain I sewed. The top drawer we left on, but drilled a rectangle hole and filled it with a piece of plexiglass to act as the oven window.

We also made a window using random pieces of wood, stretcher bard and another dowel. The picture is one we took looking out our field at our home in Northern Michigan. That is my favorite part about the whole project :) Oh, I take that back. The ceramic tiling is my favorite part. John thought that I was going completely overboard when I brought home ceramic tile. I did remind him he just ceramic tiled our back splash in the home we had recently purchased, so this nothing compared to that. So he did it. Because he loves me :) I think it adds so much character!

So that is that. My favorite DIY project to date, and the first one we did as a couple. Happy creating!