This is a post about a project that I tackled 2 Christmases ago. My daughter was almost 2 and she really wanted a play kitchen! I absolutely could not justify spending $200 for a plastic play kitchen from the store. I really wanted it to be cute but also be more gender neutral.
I went to the Restore in my town to see what they had. I was so lucky and found almost everything I needed! They had an awesome microwave cart, cabinet pulls, and an old faucet!


Excuse the photography! I did this before I even thought I would do a blog!
Then I went to Home Depot and got some Zinsser primer and some Behr pure white paint. I had to do 2 layers of primer and 2 layers of paint to be able to hide the laminate wood texture.
Then I screwed the doors back on. I cut a square hole in the top where I put a square cake pan that I got from Dollar Tree. I got some fabric that I hemmed and stapled to the back side of the front trim piece of wood. I drilled a hole and added the faucet. The last thing I added were some pieces of vinyl to create a stove and oven affect. Below is a picture from 18 months ago before I was 100% finished. I had to hide it in my garage so my daughter wouldn’t find it before Christmas morning!

Here is the “kitchen” corner that is now in my daughter’s room. It has been well played with in the 18 months so there are a few nicks and scratches, but I am really pleased with how it has held up!


Here you can see the fine details I cut into vinyl and added some cabinet knobs. I spent about $15 at Restore for the cabinet, knobs, and faucet. I spent $3 at Joann for fabric and $30 for paint. For a total of about $50, it was a great deal!
Click the download button below to get the PNG file to cut the stove pattern that I used! For personal use only, please!
I am sorry I don’t have a ton of pictures, but I hope that there are enough details that you can make a play kitchen for the little girl in your life!