I wanted to share my big Christmas project with all of you! As many of you know, I have always said that I love giving presents and I truly would rather give than receive. Knowing that I have nailed the perfect gift for someone brings me such joy! Growing up, I LOVED my play kitchen and I even still have some of my favorite play foods and accessories today. It was really important for me to give my niece, Stella, that same experience and I decided very early on that I wanted to make her one. Also, knowing my sisters style, I wanted to create something that would add style to her house and not be an eyesore. So without further ado, here is the play kitchen I made for Stella. I bought the Duktig IKEA kitchen on Craigslist for half the price and a $10 As Is IKEA cabinet that I cut doors to size to make a refrigerator. I updated the handles with real hardware, added shiplap to the sides of the kitchenette as well as adding a shaker style cabinet door and relocating the handle. With some spray paint I gave the simple sink a farmhouse style facelift as well as adding gold to the faucet and utensil hangers. The rest of the kitchenette is painted with chalk paint and sealed with wax to make it child safe. And I also when a little overboard by custom making the backsplash tiles out of linoleum floor tiles. And last but not least I strategically placed a gold coat hook on the side of the kitchenette for a hand made apron and oven mitt that I created from matching cloth napkin and placemat. I know, I know…My niece is spoiled, but I love her so much I just wanted to give her the best! And she loves it too!

I started with the “refrigerator.” First I decided on how tall I wanted each door to be to give it that traditional fridge look.

Next I had to drill new holes in the cabinet doors for the IKEA door hinges before I cut each door to size. Later I filled the old holes that came with the doors with spackle.

Time to cut the doors to size.

How the fridge looked after assembly. Later I added more shelves,

Cutting bass wood to size to create the shaker cabinet feel. I had to choose a thin wood so that the door would still open and close freely.

Stripping off the original finish on the countertop and microwave shelf which was some kind of super sturdy clear poly.

Pre-stain.

Two coats of Danish Oil in Medium Walnut followed by a coat of poly and quick brush of steel wool.

After gluing the bass wood to the kitchen cabinet door, I had to trim any overhang of wood on the edges. Because bass wood is so thin it became unreliable when I cut, cracking and splitting in places I didn’t want. I had to get crafty and came up with a technique using spackle to fill the areas that were affected. It took 2-3 coats of spackle and sanding to get it to look seamless.

I painted the bottom of the kitchenette grey and painted the inside of the oven black and the inside of the cabinet white. I made sure to leave a little edge of grey on the bottom of the cabinet lip so that you wouldn’t see black or white paint under the doors.

Taking marble linoleum floor tiles and cutting them into 2×4″ tiles and then attaching them to a thin piece of plywood that would then become the backsplash of the kitchenette. Later I grouted the tiles with spackle, mainly because it’s all I had, and I also thought the real grout would make the board too heavy.

The finished product!

Did I mention that my niece loves it?!