How to Make a DIY Play Kitchen Part 3: How to Make the Sink, Countertop and Stove

I know you all missed our DIY Play Kitchen goodness over Valentines Day. But we are almost done! Today we are going to learn how to install the countertop / stove area. that includes the sink, faucet, stove and countertop material.

(joining us late? That's ok. Get started with the first post here)

Things You'll Need:

• Countertop material (laminate, faux granite contact paper or paint)
• Stainless steel bowl
• Sink faucet
• Hole Saw
• Jig Saw
• Liquid Nails 
• Caulk
• Clamps or heavy objects
• 1 (6 count) package of 1.5 inch wood circles
• 3 large wood circles
• Wood discs
• 2 thin birch dowels
• Grey paint
• Glack paint
• Clear craft glue
• Multi-hook rack (I got mine at Dollar Tree)

Let's Get Started!


Countertop
If using laminate or contact paper, measure your work surface and cut your material to size.

Cut a hole for the sink (whether you do this before or after gluing down the material will be best decided by the kind of material you use. I cut mine out before.) and glue down your counter using liquid nails following the instructions on the package. Add backsplash edging if desired.

The cans are weighing it down while the glue sets. Liquid nails takes about 24 hours to set, so jump ahead and work on making your stove burners and knobs.

Stove Knobs
Bust out your bag of 6 small wood disks:

Cut two of the six discs in half:

Use wood glue to glue a half circle on top of one of the full circles. Repeat until you have four knobs.

Once the wood glue is set, paint the knobs black

Burners
Paint the large wood circles grey. I used these wood soccer ball plaques that I got on clearance and just flipped them over:

Cut your dowels into approximately 2 inch pieces and paint them black along with the knobs you just made above.

Once the paint is dry, glue the grey circles down to the stove area and then glue the dowels down on top with the craft glue.

You can glue down the knobs, or if you want them to turn, you can attach them with screws.

Let all that dry and then wait until tomorrow (gotta let the liquid nails set for 24 hours remember?)

Caulk
Caulk around the edges of the countertop material if you used laminate like I did. If you used contact paper or paint, skip this step.

(sorry...no pictures of this part.)

Faucet
Now that your liquid nails is cured, we can move on to drilling our holes for the faucet.

I used a real kitchen faucet that I got from free cycle so it had the hard ware sticking out from the bottom of it. I used a 1.25 inch hole saw to cut 3 holes. Then I dropped it in like a regular faucet and at attached it with the screws from underneath.

Sink and Hooks
Drop in the the bowl for the sink. I didn't glue mine down in case we decide to play with real water and then we can pick it up and dump it out. You can glue your down with liquid nails if you'd like.

Attach the bar with hooks above the sink and hang your utensils on it.


Sit back and enjoy your handiwork because you're almost done!

This post is part of a mini-series on how to make your own play kitchen from a re-purposed piece of furniture. The beginning of the series with photos of the finished play kitchen and links to all subsequent posts lives here.

How to Make a DIY Play Kitchen Part 2: How to Make the Refrigerator

So sorry for the delay in posting part two of the walk through on how to make your own play kitchen. Big, exciting projects got in the way. Big, exciting, I might get to be on TV kinds of projects! (But I think that's all I can share for now).

All that to say... it just gave you more time to catch up right? Everyone got their entertainment center picked out, primed and painted? Good!  Let's get cracking on the details!

(joining us late? That's ok. Get started with the first post here)

Things You'll Need:

• If you have a glass door: Primer (and brush or roller you can prime with)
• Painter's masking tape
• Magnetic Paint  (I used Martha Stewart's)
• A paint brush you can throw away
• A small paint scraper
• Paint in whatever color you'd like the fridge to be
• Bar Handle and hardware (I got mine for $4.98 from Home Depot)
• Drill
• Package of adhesive hooks (I got mine at Dollar Tree)
• 2 or 3 wire baskets (I got mine at Dollar Tree)
• Cute Letter Magnets (Tutorial for how I made mine is here)

Let's Get Started!

Prep
If you're following along with me and left off after the last post, you should have an entertainment center that is primed and painted but missing all of it's hardware. Before you move on to getting the fridge up and running, if yours has a glass door like mine did, you going to need to put primer on only one side of the glass and then re-install it in the door, primer side out. Go ahead and put the hinges back in and re-install the door as well, regardless of what it's made from.

Make it Magnetic!
Every great fridge is magnetic so that's how we are going to make it!

Go ahead and tape off the area you want to make magnetic. My fridge door had a recessed area and I decided to just paint that part with the magnetic paint.

Using the brush you don't mind throwing away, paint your first coat on the door. Warning: This stuff is thick and you'll probably see your brush strokes.

Once the first coat of magnetic paint is dry, you'll want to apply a second coat. This is where that small paint scraper comes in. To help smooth out the ridges from the brush strokes, I applied the second coat with a scraper (think like you're spackling the door...but with magnetic paint instead of spackle).Peel off the masking tape while the paint is still wet.

Once the second coat of magnetic paint is dry, paint your fridge in whatever color you'd like it to end up. I chose white, but you could do a "stainless steel" look, too.

Hardware
Get out your drill and install the new handle. My new handle used two screws (instead of just the one that the center came with) so I re-used the first hole and only needed to drill one hole.

Inside
Now we need to hang the baskets we're going to use inside the door.  I got a package of 9 adhesive hooks and two wire baskets from the Dollar Tree. Make sure you follow the instructions on the package for the hooks for cure time to make the bond as strong as possible.

Extras
That's it for the main part of the fridge!  Now, of course you can accessorize. On the outside, I used the Alphabet Magnets I made when I wrote this tutorial.

On the inside, I started to put empty food packaging like Annie's Mac and Cheese or cracker boxes since I don't have any normal play food made quite yet.

Join us next time for how to install a countertop, sink and stove!

This post is part of a mini-series on how to make your own play kitchen from a re-purposed piece of furniture. The beginning of the series with photos of the finished play kitchen and links to all subsequent posts lives here.

How to Make a DIY Play Kitchen Part 1: Selection and Prep of a Great Entertainment Center

I was so excited to show you my DIY play kitchen earlier this week.  A project like this can feel pretty overwhelming if re-doing furniture is not something you already have as a part of your crafting repertoire so I'm planning to break down the process for you so you can follow along and end up with your own fabulous play kitchen as well.

Why make your own play kitchen?
In addition to saving money (brand new play kitchens start around $100, nice ones start at $200) making your own play kitchen allows you ultimate customization. Want a bright pink play kitchen with zebra stripe curtains?

Made by Denise at Stiches and Nails

You can do that! Got a little boy who needs something a little more manly?

Made by Britt from Britt and Her boys

You can do that, too!

One of the other reasons we chose to make our own play kitchen was control over the materials. Common play kitchen materials like particle board, normal paint and plastic all off-gas and release small amounts of toxins into the air in your home. Because I'm the one that made it, I know what went into making it and I don't have to expose my kid to toxic materials (even in small quantities).

Before you start shopping...
Before you start looking for an entertainment center, I would take a look at kitchens others have made. You can image search on Google for "DIY Play Kitchen" or check out some things on Pinterest. I conveniently have a pinboard with lots of great examples of play kitchens call "Play Kitchen Palooza" that you can look at as well.

Once you've seen some ideas, evaluate your space. Is your play kitchen going to have to fit in a particular spot? If your available space is small, you may need to look at a more compact solution out of a dresser. If you have more space, an entertainment center style kitchen might work for you.

Start Shopping

Once you've got an idea of what you're looking for, start shopping. Great places to look are Craigslist, thrift stores, or you may even be able to score something for free on Freecycle.

Don't just look at your local thrift store; get to know the "rules" that will help you save more. Goodwill has one color tag that is 50% off each week. Salvation Army gives you 50% off items that have been in the store for a certain amount of time. If you have a Goodwill Outlet near you, you can get even better prices. If you head to a thirft store, ask an employee if they have discounts on certain items or certain days when they have sales.

Things to look for
Regardless of which style of play kitchen you're planning on, you want to make sure the part that will be the "work surface" will be a good height for the kiddo you're making it for. If you're making a play kitchen for an 18 month old, you'll need a "countertop" lower than if you're making it for your 6 year old.

You also want to purchase something solid. Anything kids are playing with will take some abuse. Don't start with something broken or wobbly...it's not going to get any better and could be a safety hazard.

Materials are important, too, especially if you're planning on painting it. Laminate furniture, for example, is a little trickier to paint than something made of real wood. (if you end up buying something made with laminate, check out Lindsay's great tutorial for how to paint it)

Keep an eye out for details you can work with. For example, part of why I loved the entertainment center I picked was because I liked the layout.

(sorry the background photo is blurry....I took it straight from the craigslist listing)

The work station part was a good height. There was a cabinet I could transform into a fridge on the side and the detailing on the cabinets below was perfect for transforming into an oven.

Before you paint and prime
Once you've got your base piece of furniture home, you need to make a few decisions before you can jump into painting

Step 1: Remove anything that can be removed
Remove all hardware, doors, shelves, etc. I highly recommend putting hardware in baggies and labeling them (lower cabinets, side cabinet, etc) to make it easier to put everything back together later.

Step 2: Decide what you will do for your countertop
Are you going to just paint your counters or are you installing some kind of countertop material? If you're going to paint it, you will want to cut holes for your sink (and faucet if necessary) before the next step. That means you'll need to buy a "sink" first so you can cut the hole to fit. I used a stainless steel bowl with a bit of a rim. I've also seen kitchens with round or square cake pans.

If you're going to install some kind of countertop material like I did, I would wait on cutting your holes until the countertop is installed (please note: you will see a sink hole in my priming pictures because I cut my hole first and shouldn't have...it definitely made things harder for me).

Step 2.5: Cut the hole for your sink
Remember: only do this if you are going to paint your countertop rather than install a countertop material.

Once you have the bowl or pan you'll use for your sink, flip it over and trace an outline with a pen. Then use your jigsaw to cut just inside the traced line so that you leave enough for the rim of your bowl or pan to catch on.

Step 3: Sand your piece
It is especially important to sand if there are rough spots, flaking paint or if you are using laminate furniture (see laminate furniture painting tips here). If you aren't facing any of the above situations, a quick once over with your hand sander will help the primer stick.

Step 4: Wipe it down
Once you're done sanding, wipe down the surface to remove any dust and dirt.

Paint and Primer
I mentioned earlier that materials were a big deal for us so we chose zero VOC paint and primer (not sure about the VOC thing? Read a quick primer on why VOCs are bad). We had some eggshell semi-gloss Freshaire paint (a zero VOC paint that's available in a variety of colors) leftover from painting the baseboards in our house. We also chose the "Clean Start" zero VOC primer from Kilz. It cost a little more than regular primer but I have a ton leftover and I'm sure I'll put it to good use! Both of these products are available at Home Depot.

You may be wondering if you really need to use primer. In an answer: yes. I hate additional steps as much as the next girl and am frequently known to skip priming if I can help it. Painting furniture (especially furniture that's going to get a lot of use) is one key time that you want to use primer. So suck it up, buy a can of primer and make sure you don't skip this critical step!

It's important that you're painting somewhere that's at least 50 degrees so that the paint and primer set up properly. It's the middle of winter, so I laid out a tarp in my living room and painted inside. That's another bonus of no VOC paint....there are no harmful fumes so you can paint inside. Winning!

I used a foam roller to do one coat of primer on all surfaces. I came back and added a coat of paint another night. I only needed one coat of paint since my primer was white and I didn't have to worry about show-through. If you are using a color, you may need to do a second coat of paint.

That's it for now! Come back in a few days so learn how to gussy up the fridge. Or better yet, subscribe by e-mail so that the new posts land directly in your inbox.

This post is part of a mini-series on how to make your own play kitchen from a re-purposed piece of furniture. The beginning of the series with photos of the finished play kitchen and links to all subsequent posts lives here.

DIY Play Kitchen Reveal!

I have been dreaming this up since November and I am so excited to show you what I think is the biggest and coolest thing I have made. Prehaps ever. May I present to you my...

DIY Play Kitchen!

I wanted to make my own play kitchen for three reasons:

1. I needed to save money (brand new play kitchens start at $100)
2. I wanted control over what it was made of so I could use healthier materials
3. I needed something that wasn't girly

How did I do?
The total cost of my play kitchen was $55.56
Here is the break down of where the money went:

Some of these things I could have admittedly done for less money if I had waited out Freecycle a little longer or had lived in an area where I could cruise town on trash day to pick up some furniture "roadkill."

Want to see more pictures?

Can't get enough? You can also watch a video tour of the kitchen:

If you have been thinking about making a DIY play kitchen of your very own, I will be doing a series over the next couple weeks breaking down each step for you. It will not be an all-out tutorial BUT I promise to try and show you the details of how I made this and hopefully inspire you to strike out on your own to try making your own play kitchen.

How I Did It:
Pin this post to come back and check on later or subscribe by e-mail to get each step sent directly to your inbox. I will link up the individual parts as a post how I did them to the bottom of this post

Pin It

Topics in This Series

Part 1: Selection and Prep of a Great Entertainment Center

Part 2: How to Make the Refrigerator

Part 3: Countertop, Sink and Stove

How to: Undersink and Oven (coming soon)

I hope to see you back here soon!

I am linking this post up to the following parties:

* Made by You Mondays at Skip to My Lou * Monday Link Party at Craft-o-Maniac * A Pinteresting Party at Tutu's and Tea Parties * Make it Monday at Brassy Apple * My Homemade Year at Blissful and Domestic * Craft Monkey'n Mondays at Craft Monkey * More the Merrier Monday at DIY Home Sweet Home * It's Party Time at So Very Cheri * Making Monday Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T. * Metamorphosis Mondays at Between Naps on the Porch * Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative * Made With Love at Sew Chatty * Get Your Craft on at Today's Creative * Time to Shine Party at A Diamond in the Stuff * Ta-Da Tuesday at Mommy by Day Crafter by Night * Inspiration Board at Carolyn's Homework * Wicked Awesome Wednesday at Hand Man Crafty Woman * Whatever Goes Wednesday on Someday Crafts * Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Design * Lil Luna Link Party at Lil Luna *