abbyxmix

DIY play kitchen

Luka loves to pretend to cook. He carefully carries wooden blocks around on a spatula, asking “anyone care for eat?” Ivan had this great idea that I should turn Luka’s messy bookcase into a play kitchen.

It all started with the bookcase - we used an old wooden piece I painted years ago which has seen many lives, as everything from bedroom furniture to basement tool shed.

For the sink, I bought the cheapest kitchen faucet from Home Depot ($19), drilled a large hole, and screwed the faucet in. I seriously scored at Target with this shallow white wooden bowl which looks exactly like a sink and was easy to attach with a screw. ($20)

Next, the stove. The knob is a replacement faucet knob ($4) from home depot - this part is sort of a funny hack: the knob top is supposed to go on a standard faucet post, which is a  unique size and shape. However I found that an electrical end cap fit nicely into it. I then drilled a large hole in the bookcase top, sat the knob/cap combo inside and screwed a screw into the cap from the bottom, creating a freely spinning knob.  White paint and red marker took care of creating the burner, the heat levels and other little decorations.

Finally, the oven.  This piece was the most difficult to make. I cut a pine beam ($5 from home depot) into 4 pieces. I screwed a handle ($3 hd) onto one piece, and then glued them all onto a piece of plexiglass ($8, hd). I put the Oxford English Dictionary on top and let that sit overnight.  The next day I painted the wood white (to match the sink) and used some electrical tape to cover the edges and hide the glue which you could see through the plexi on the inside.  I was concerned about drilling and screwing into the plexi for the hinges, so I first tried gluing them.  That didn’t work. So I drilled tiny holes for tiny screws and attached the hinges onto the plexi and then onto the bookcase. Finally I glued on a few magnets we had lying around to keep the oven door closed.

Accessories: Wooden sandwich set, $5 from Target. $20 pan/pot set also from Target (it kind of makes me sad to think that people might actually use this set for real cooking, it is so flimsy, but it is perfect for play cooking.)  $4 red tray also from Target.

Total cost:
$40 at home depot
$50 at target

Approxmate total time:
2 hours Friday night
30 min Saturday night
1 hour Sunday night

Skill level:
Easy!

more photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/abbyalexandra/sets/72157614995812900/