play kitchen

in my last blog post, i mentioned that we made a christmas gift for our little girl. we made her a little play kitchen!

over the summer, i decided that our little girl needed to have a play kitchen. after researching wooden kitchens online (expensive!), and coming across several cabinets turned into play kitchens on the internet, i was inspired to create a kitchen for her.

we found the perfect cabinet at a used furniture store in september. it was exactly what i had in mind and it cost $43. over the last week, jeremy and i transformed it into a little kitchen and it's just perfect for her.

here's a before picture:

jeremy used our jigsaw to make a circle in the top to hold the "sink" (an old metal dog food dish that we had in our basement). we attached the sink with caulk. i bought two small wooden plaques and a package of wooden toy wheels at the craft store and painted them red for the burners and oven and sink knobs. i drilled holes into the cabinet and installed them. the knobs really turn, which makes them extra fun. i was stumped for a bit about how to make a faucet, until i came across a metal drawer pull at the local hardware store that looks very much like a faucet. it fits in perfectly.

and that is our daughter's kitchen. i love that it is simple, leaves a lot up to the imagination, is wood instead of plastic, has a lot of character, and doesn't take up a lot of space in our house.

cabinet: $43
sink: free
wooden plaques for the burners:  $1.58
package of wooden wheels: $3
caulk: $5
paint: free (already had it)
drawer pull for faucet: $3.50

total cost: about $56.50

to go along with this gift, we also invested in some wooden pots, pans, and plates and some wooden pretend jars of condiments. i started making felt food in the summer, so by the time we gave her this gift, i had made quite a collection. i will have to take a photo of all of the food (there's a lot!), but she has a chicken, baked potato, lots of fruits and veggies including an amazing banana, an ice cream cone with four different flavors of ice cream, an assortment of breakfast foods, a s'more, a donut, and a pop tart (organic and sweetened with honey, of course - haha!), some sandwich fixings, and a few more things i am sure i'm forgetting. her food is in wooden crates that fit inside of the cupboards (we already had the wooden crates).

of course, at the last minute, i decided that she really needed an apron to wear while she cooks, so i sewed one (i just made it up and it turned out to be really cute). i used fabric i had in my stash. i also made a little felt potholder and two napkins. we couldn't wait to give her the kitchen (and we've also been trying to spread her gifts out a bit), so we set up the kitchen so it was all ready for her when she got up from her nap on sunday.

all set up for her to see when she got up from her nap.

and her little table set... (sorry about the lighting, it was getting dark outside)

i brought her downstairs and she was SO excited. it made this mama and daddy very happy to see such a happy girl! she has hardly stopped cooking since. what fun!

our happy little cook!