DIY Play Kitchen

This might just be the most fun thing we have ever made together.  I think we had more fun making it than Shiloh has had playing with it.... well, maybe not entirely true... she hasn't stopped cooking food since opening it.

Our inspiration came from this kitchen, and then Ana's plans.  We initially were going to go the whole up-cycled old night stand route, however since we were traveling up to Oregon for Christmas and therefore wanted Shiloh to be able to open her present up there... we had to think about how to transport it.  So instead, Brandon used the plans from Ana's website to come up with a kitchen that he could build, disassemble, then reassemble in Oregon, and disassemble again to bring back home.  Complicated.  We know.  But in the end, it was worth it.

We started out with a loose drawing so that Brandon could buy the right amount of plywood, and cut it down to the necessary size pieces.

He found cabinet-grade quality plywood, from Home Depot.  1 sheet was enough, plus we already had scraps at home to make the face frame and oven door.

Then he build the "box" of the kitchen.  Next he built the face frame for the front of the kitchen, and the oven door.

At this point, we had to disassemble everything so that it could pack in our car and be taken to Oregon for Christmas.  So once there, we painted it.  We swear by Rustoleum's spray paints.  We use them for almost everything.

So we sprayed on 2 coats of primer, and let that dry overnight.  This is what it looked like with only primer on it.  We were trying to see how the stovetop would look, spacing and what not.

We found an old faucet, knobs, and towel bar from our local Habitat For Humanity Re-Store.  We had hoped to find the tall kitchen faucet... but they have any in stock, so we found one that looked really cute, even though it was smaller.

The bowl was from our local Goodwill store.  It was the perfect size, and white which was great.  The pattern on the side was, well, retro.  But it didn't matter because that would be hidden anyway.

4 old cds made great stovetop burners... we just spray painted them with 3 coats of black paint.

After painting the whole thing the final color, and letting it set overnight, we then attached the oven door, and began decorating it with the chalkboard, the towel bar, the faux window, sink, faucet, and stove top.  We still need to add the shelf next to the window and plexi glass for the oven front, and a pull for the oven door... but that will have to happen once back home.

Shiloh opened it up on Christmas morning and began playing immediately!  Its a hit!  And on the plus side, it only cost us 70 bucks, and we figure that Shiloh will play with it for years, and then Capri will too.... so you can't beat that!

Cost breakdown:

plywood          $30.00
other wood      free scraps
bowl                $0.89
faucet               $10.00
knobs               $1.00
towel bar          $3.00
cds                    free (already had)
curtains             free (already had fabric)
paints               $12.00 (already owned primer, white spray paint, & chalkboard paint)
trim                  $7.50
hindges            $2.00
velcro              $3.00
screws             free
photo               free (printed from computer)
TOTAL:         $69.39  (so once we buy the pull & plexiglass, likely it will be $75.00)

(Would cost a little more if you didn't already have some of these things on hand, or bought some of it brand new, or less if you found a night stand free and didn't have to buy the plywood.)