I've always wanted a wooden play kitchen for The Boy, but they're incredibly pricey and we just don't have the space for one. It's such a shame because I know he'd love one and would spend hours pretending to cook on it, just as we do in real life. But I can't magic more space or money so unfortunately, I had resigned myself to no cooker for him.
And then I saw a tweet from @Scrapbookerry showing a Pinterest idea she'd seen to use a side table and turn it into a play kitchen. The idea originally came from a site called Ikea Hackers. So I repinned the idea on Pinterest, and in my brain, and we set off for the car boot sale to sell our unwanted treasures. After we'd packed up, we wondered around and with my beady eyes, I managed to spot this little gem, which I bargained the guy down to £3 for!
As there was no time like the present, we nipped over to the nearest DIY store and bought some white paint, a row of hooks and some knobs.
The next step was to sand it all over to remove the top layer of the black paint and smooth any sharp edges. Then to start on the many coats of white paint (four in total) I needed to cover the black.
Next I measured out and drew four circles on the top of the cupboard to make four cooker rings. These were painted black with a silver ring around the outside of them.
The door was removed, a plastic plate used to draw around and my husband cut out that shape from the door. I sanded the edges, painted both sides of the door, and then used masking tape to edge a piece of perspex we had lying around, and superglued it onto the inside of the door.
Finally my husband drilled five holes along the front to attach the knobs that I had painted silver, and screwed the hook unit onto the side of the cupboard.
Cost:
- table – £3
- paint – £8
- knobs – £4
- hooks – £4
- Total = £19
I bought the saucepans & utensils for £14.
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Love it! Very clever. Xx I bet your so pleased with it.
I really am! Normally something goes wrong when we make something, but this all came together really well.
this is so clever and cool. i want one please!!!
You've already got one under the stairs!
Such a clever idea! Hope he loves it x
He really does, I give him real ingredients and he spends ages making risotto or pasta! 😉
Love it! It looks so much better than shop brought because it was homemade!
I think it's so adaptable to whatever needs you have, very chuffed with it.
Absolutely love this! Looks as though it will last a lot longer than the one luka has. Super idea, very clever lady! XxX
Thank you kindly! And I suppose the best bit is that if it breaks or needs touching up I won't complain because I did it myself.
That is brilliant and it looks really professional!
Thank you, it's the perfectionist teacher in me!
You made that yourself!!!! Its brilliant!
I did indeed. Well not the base unit but everything else, yes.
Fab bit of DIY there missus! Loved seeing the pics of him playing with it too. Good work!
Thank you, he has such great fun making 'dinner' for us. Wonder if he'll be a chef like his uncle?
Oh my goodness! That is amazing. Better than any shop bought ones. Well done. X
Thank you! I initially wished I'd had space for a sink as well, but he just goes and uses the downstairs toilet sink instead! Much more fun that a pretend one!
100% and totally amazing. LOVE IT!!!
Magg
Thank you muchly 🙂
That is ace! So pleased you did a tutorial, I wanted to see how you made it. Now I need to get round to making one. Might do it as a Xmas present.
Compared to how much they can cost in the shops, it's a pretty good bargain I think. And it would be big enough for your twins to share because they could stand either side? Let me know if you do make one?
You are, without doubt the heroin of all Mummy's right now. Well me anyway. I always wanted a wooden kitchen for K'Boo. I almost bought one. My friend with a bigger kitchen than myself invested in the ELC many years ago and I have always admired it and wished I'd bought it. Instead I let HD buy a Dusney one that she rarely plays with, as it's far from realistic, that her Canadian cousin also has. I wanted to rebel and go buy one anyway, but she's very tall and at 5 1/2 would not get much use out of it now. I may just go gind a unit bug enough to fo this though and feel so very proud of my efforts.
I LOVE it Missus Boy's Mummy – miss our chats (been so very busy these last months).
This is the good thing about making one yourself, you can just buy a unit the right height. Thanks for your kind words.
Miss our chats too.
That is genius!
I wish I had the ability to make something half as good as that
It's easy as pie. My presentational standards normally leave a lot to be desired but when you're just painting something white and shoving some black circles on it's easy? You could cut them out of adhesive plastic instead and stick them on?
This is fantastic and something I could actually do! Love it and pinned it.
I know you will have hours of great play and great memories with it!! Good job!
Thank you for pinning it. It's such an easy thing to make and so much better than the shop bought ones.
I love this, what a great idea!
Thank you, I'm really pleased with how it turned out.
Love it! I know what you mean about most of those play kitchens being HUGE (or nasty & plasticy).
The best bit about this one is that two children can work on opposite sides and not get in each others' way.
I absolutely love this! What kind of black/ silver paint did you use?
The black was actualy one I had lying around and turns out to be a chalkboard paint, the silver was one of those plasti-cote ones. You could equally use black card laminated and stuck down.
OMG that's GENIUS! Thanks so much for sharing on Magpie Monday.
Love the sound of Ikea Hackers!
It isn't it, a brilliant site with loads of fantastic ideas.
Brilliant! These things are so expensive here.
Well get making one then missy!
Brilliant, well done it's great. Love to give this a go x
Thank you so much 🙂
Wow, that looks fantastic! You've done such a good job, I bet your little boy loves it too, I know mine would!
He adores it and was playing on it with his 6 yr old cousin tonight.
That is Fab. I remember making one from cardboard boxes as a child, but this is so much better . I will know what to do with an old bedside table here now, I have been looking for a play kitchen for the little tree hut in the toddler ride on play area!
That would be perfect, they'd love it!
Brilliant, just brilliant!
Thank you, from the queen of upcycling I am very chuffed with that comment!
Lol well at least I'm queen of something!
I absolutely love this! Such a great idea and looks so much nicer and more realistic than one bought from a shop. I might have to try this sometime, my little boy would spend hours 'cooking'!
Thank you. I've got a photo of my 6 year old nephew and The Boy playing with it the other day, one on one side, one on the other and both playing co-operatively. The Boy loves cooking, especially as we use real ingredients.
How cool is that. x
Thank you, I'm really chuffed with it.
😀 woah. That is pretty impressive. I remember buying a plastic kitchen from elc for Edith when she was two. It was way pricey but back then I never thought beyond what I saw in a brochure. NOW I try to be more savvy! But, I don't think I could ever match your kitchen 😀
Thanks for linking up to Pinaddicts too x
this is totally amazing!!!!!!!!! you clever thing you!!! Thanks So much for linking up too – i'm going to tweet all about it! xxx
You inspired me to make my own!
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151264465231265.517689.627911264&type=1&l=9d4a074c1b
I'm doing this too! – for my little boy age 2 1/2. I couldn't find a kitchen or cooker for his size that isn't *pink* (and that I could afford), so I rescued an abandoned bedside cupboard and did it for less than £25 all in! And he loves it already (even though it was supposed to be for Christmas – so my parents are making extra stuff like an apron and double oven glove to go with it). We've got pans and utensils from ELC for my oldrr kids to give him too
I love this! Its just fab! x
This is a fantastic idea we got the boys a small plastic one for Christmas that cost more than this idea and is nowhere near as good
This looks fantastic, it has turned out so well. You've inspired me to make one and see if I can paint it the same colour as the "big kitchen". Not sure it will stop my boy from emptying out the kitchen cupboards though
Thanks so much for your comment, I hope that your 'kitchen' works out well. If I can do it, anyone can.
I'm making my own play kitchen for my son, I have some door knobs for the taps and some old oven knobs, how would you suggest I screw them in so they can turn?
I'm sorry, I don't really know. Maybe speak to someone in an ironmongery/hardware shop?
Love it, thanks for sharing!