Play Kitchen

Scarlett loves to pretend she is big. She loves to cook and clean and take care of her baby doll. Lately her favorite thing has been play kitchens. We have a friend with a pool and whenever we go over there to swim, Scar always stays inside and gets busy in their little kitchen. She even loves pictures of play kitchens. When I was researching what to get for her, she would frantically grab at the computer screen begging to play with them. We were just going to buy the IKEA kitchen, but then I found these plans by Ana White, the same site I found the headboard, and I couldn't resist. I would have DIED for a kitchen like this as a little girl. It has been a fun little project, but most importantly, she absolutely loves it. I can't wait till Scarlett and her little sister can play with it together.

I have decided that God doesn't want me to get big-headed over projects, so He makes it as humbling of an experience as possible. I was about to list the problems I ran into with this thing, but there are so many that it would take too much time, so just know that there was definitely weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth. Before beginning, I did a lot of research and pulled together my favorite elements from other homemade play kitchens. One of my favorite things is the apron sink. Most kitchens just insert a steel mixing bowl, but I love how this sink turned out. I put so much time into that silly little white box. I also love the bead board backing. It up ended being cheaper than a sheet of plywood, so that was a major score. I bought almost all of the accessories online, and didn't pay a dime for shipping. Picking out the cutest, least expensive accessories with no shipping was the most time consuming part. I don't really want to know how many hours I spent doing that, but it paid off because every element is exactly what I wanted. 

If you want to make one yourself, this is the price breakdown including tax. I already had the white paint and finishing coat on hand. It took four coats of paint and three coats of finish, by the way (she says bitterly). I also already had the nails, wood glue, screws, and tools I needed so that is not in the total.

Wood: $41.98 (Lowes - their wood is pennies cheaper per piece than Home depot)

Bead board: $8.34 (Lowes)

Plexiglass: $2.00 (scrap at Lowes)

Faucet: $18.58 (Amazon - this was a bit of a splurge, the cheapest one I could find was 13, but it was ugly, so I spent the extra five bucks. Ebay had cheap ones, but the shipping made it cost more.)

Hinges/magnet-catches: $12.06 (Home Depot)

Handles: $8.04 (ebay)

Stove knobs: $8.58 (Sears - Use the grey inserts that come with it. You can screw a bolt in nice and snug and then it can just spin in the hole without coming off!)

Stove top: $6.19 (Hobby Lobby - the top is wooden flowers I painted black and the bottom is just wooden circles. Each piece was only $0.75)

Paint/paint supplies: $33.90

Grand Total: $137.67

My goal was to only spend 100 bucks, the same amount as we would have spent on the IKEA kitchen, but I had a few set-backs/mistakes and had to buy extra paint and supplies. Oh well, it is way better and bigger than the IKEA one, so there. We also had a tender mercy with the cost. Jordan had a $25 gift card to Home Depot, and then Rent.com sent us a $100 gift card for finding our apartment through them, so we paid $12.67 out of pocket for this little gem. I am really happy with how it turned out and I can't wait to get on my knees with two little girls and play house.