So, a couple of months ago, my 3 year old was asking me when we get our play kitchen back. That is one of those moments when you take a deep breath and ask "What play kitchen?" knowing full well that you gave it to the thrift store last summer.
"The one we gave away - when do we get it back?"
Oh, great.
He bawled and bawled. Poor kid.
He said he needed it to make his invisible poisons. Yeah, I don't know either.
The kids had stopped playing with it, I swear! But really? He's only three. Maybe I gave it away a tad early...
Anyway, right after Christmas I kinda went *DOH*! I should have gotten him one for Christmas! Oh, man! That would have been a great idea.
So then the quest was on to get him one - inexpensively. And I wanted something smaller than the old one. Our playroom walls are slowly closing in. I also justified it by figuring that we can give it to my mom for her 'Grandma playroom' when the kids tire of it -and then they'll probably play with it more there anyway.
I looked up lots of ideas on flickr. And found this cool IKEA hack play kitchen. Loved it.
Simplified it.
Here it is:
(It's in our living room just for the photo shoot - so gray and cloudy today!)
We started with an IKEA Rast side table. It's unfinished (but smooth) wood. My mom gave me this old bowl she had and didn't need. A friend was kind enough to cut a hole for it to create a sink.
My husband quickly put the table together, installed a little backsplash, some knobs, and a pvc pipe faucet.
And I painted the burners and made a little curtain (on a tension rod). The other pots and things are behind there.
I bought the fabric from Randi*. It's perfect - matches the playroom, looks kitchen-y, but not too girly. I also made a little kitchen towel with it.
And the kids love it. (I LOVE IT, too!) It's quite small, but perfect when they're on their knees. The cute little pots and pans set and utensil set topped it all off. Because of course we got rid of all the plastic dishes and food along with the kitchen.
For now they're either cooking rubber snakes and Star Wars figures, or using their imagination. We may get some felt or wood food later (oh! Monkey's birthday is coming up...) but I'm not doing all that junky plastic again - it somehow multiplied and scattered over the whole house!
Overall, it was a fast, easy and inexpensive project - and I'm way happy with the results! **Edited to add - total cost was about $23 + fabric - see comments for details.**
*The fabric is Apples in Aqua from the Metro Market Collection by Robert Kaufman Fabrics