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13 March 2011

DIY | A Manly Play Kitchen

I believe toys shouldn't have gender roles. There's absolutely nothing wrong with boys playing with dolls or girls playing with legos. Did your husband change diapers, give bottles and  rock babies to sleep?? I know mine did! And can girls be architects when they grow up?? I know one of my good high school friends is an amazing one.


Imaginative play is one of the most stimulating types of play for children, and is essential for proper development. So some of the best toys you can get your toddler are ones that aren't limited to a specific use and allow them to create their own worlds.


This type of play is still a bit beyond Jarvis (some posts on types of developmental play in toddlers coming up soon!) but I like to be proactive. I've come across all sorts of DIY play kitchens on ohdeedoh, and wanted to make one of our own! We found an old entertainment center on a yardsale page and got right to work! 


Although this was primarily my project, hubby helped out quite a bit with some of the woodworking! Thanks, hubby!


AFTER:
Sink, stove, fridge/freezer on the left and oven to the right, pantry around on the left side.



BEFORE:
missing the doors and shelves (sorry, bad iphone picture)                  


 painting the magnetic layers on the doors and then the chalkboard paint
(the smaller door was on the entertainment center to begin with, the longer door we cut from plywood to fit)
(sorry, bad iphone picture)



Added a hardy board backing to the whole thing, wood glued the shelves in, the 'countertop' is covered and ready for painting
(Do you like how we turned our front mud-room into a paint booth??? It's too cold to paint in the garage!)

Blue finished, painted the countertop and backsplash, then covered in a poly layer for protection. (sorry, bad iphone picture!)


And onto the details.... It cost us about $150, which ended up being more because I decided to outfit it with some cute acessories. The basic entertainment center, paint, trim, and necessary accessories ran about $80, then the cute orange accents and other add ons cost a bit more! But it is still well under the $300- $500 you would pay for most wooden kitchens of this size! One of our good friends made a trip to Ikea in Minneapolis (8 hours away!) and took my list of supplies with them, THANKS VanDycks!!

The burners are silicone coasters from Ikea and the knobs are pulls from Ikea as well. The orange spoon rest is from a local kitchen store. The pots and pans sets and all the metal tools are from a Target Christmas sale set. We added wooden trim along the painted counter to simulate a backsplash.

Towel rack and hooks from Ikea.



Freezer and refigerator are all stocked! Both the doors are magnetic chalkboards. The hinges are reused from the original center and the pull handles are from Ikea.


The oven door was original to the center, although we added a new hinge at the bottom. Hubby cut a hole in the center and we added a piece of plexiglass. The handle and baking set are from Ikea, the towel from a local kitchen store. We have plans to add an 'oven rack' but are having trouble finding a metal rack thin enough... I will update once we figure that out!



The towel rack along the front is Ikea and the towels and measuring cups are from a local kitchen store. I have not be able to find a basket to fit this bottom shelf, so I have plans to make a fabric one myself, I'll update when I get it done!


The faucet is a garage hook from Ikea and the knobs are from there too. The sink is a little metal bowl that removes so he can play with water for real. The utensil holder we already had and the orange utensils are from a local kitchen store.


The side shelves we turned into a pantry. It's somewhat bare right now, but thanks to a great-grandma, there are some wooden pantry boxes headed this way. I also have two small wire baskets in the mail for pantry storage. The broom is from Hobby Lobby.



So that's about it!! We are super proud of it and hope that Jarvis enjoys it for many years to come.



****UPDATE****

Forgot to add this adorable picture of the bit helping daddy work!


23 comments:

shawna [of styleberryBLOG] said...

this is absolutely AMAZING!!!!!!!

Kandi said...

this is SOOOOOOO adorable!!!

Jodi Rykse said...

Oh my word, this is AWESOME! You are so creative!

Bran said...

I LOOOVE all the details!!!

Shoot, *I* wanna play with it! ;o)

Ma Bacon said...

This is an AWESOME idea for those ugly entertainment centers! You did a beautiful job!

Tsu Dho Nimh said...

That is a really great kitchen.

"having trouble finding a metal rack thin enough"

Look at cooling racks for baked goods, or maybe really small BBQ grills.

Joey said...

Awesome! We use to have that entertainment center. Now I wish I would of kept it!

Unknown said...

this is awesome. we have an old tv cabinet we will probably be done with soon....great repurposing idea:))

Tori @ FIToriBLOG.com said...

I LOVE IT!!!! and, i have been slacking on blog reading and I love your blog design! gorgeous!!

The Clawson Club said...

loooove it! i have seen one of these made before and i really want my husband to make one for our kids!

crazy for chocolate said...

I love it!! Saw an entertainment center at Goodwill the other day. Going back to check it out. I want something like that for our play room so the grandbabies can enjoy it!

Sheena said...

Love it! You did an awesome job.

April said...

Love this!! I've seen so many girly ones-this is great!

Lacey said...

Wow. That looks amazing!!

Anonymous said...

i love that this is for your son! i plan on making one for my son and had only seen them made for little girls! thanks

Anonymous said...

I'm doing this for my two sons, with the exact same entertainment center i hope you don't mind me coping a few thing.

Fru Forstad said...

I so love this kitchen! I'm really bumped that I can't find tha kind of cabinet anywhere near me.
I have blogged about your amazing kitchen and lent at picture, if that is not ok, please let me know, and I'll remove it rigtig away.

Merry Christmas from Denmark, Europe

Mrs Suburb http://fruforstad.blogspot.com/2011/12/legekkken.html

Carissa B said...

Thanks for sharing! I love your play kitchen. It was definitely an inspiration as I was researching what I wanted to do when we started on making one for our son this Christmas.

I also featured your project on my blog today among a short list of inspirational play kitchens. Come check out the post and grab a featured button if you'd like: http://www.creativecarissa.com/2011/12/im-dreaming-of-diy-play-kitchen.html

rachlej said...

This is fabulous!

Addiesue, Stained Glass Addie on Etsy said...

You two did a wonderful job and what a very creative way to recycle!

Anonymous said...

This is so creative!! THX for sharing the details, as my mind would blow a fuse if I tried to figure it all out. As for the oven rack, have to tried a wire cooling rack? I know they come in a variety of sizes. Just a thought...

Jenny Meier said...

My husband loves it and says he is going to build one!!

Anonymous said...

Ohh WOW! This is amazing!!! My youngest son is fifteen months old and i can already tell that he will be a little foodie and love to cook and bake like me(mom) ;) he loves for me to tote him around and about the kitchen.. I can't thank you enough for posting this "manly" play kitchen, i will do my best to duplicate yours!