Y’all, I have been DIY-ing to share with you the play kitchen and market that my husband and I made from an old entertainment center and a fishing rod and reel holder! It was a lot of hard work, but in the end, it was way cheaper than buying a play kitchen from the toy store. Another bonus was that I was able to design it so that it would look good in my living room since we don’t have a play room or space for a kitchen in the kids’ rooms. I could not be more in love with how it turned out!
The key to making your own play kitchen is to have a good vision to see what could-be with a little TLC. I found the old entertainment center at our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore (my favorite place for finds like this) for just $10… but my friend still had to talk me into buying it because I couldn’t quite see the vision yet! Buuuut… It was 50% off that day and so I had to just try and see! I was willing to lose the $10 if I completely made it look horrible (extra storage in the carport). The top wasn’t in the best condition, but I could find something to cover it up.
The rod and reel holder was found on a local Craig’s List – type Facebook page. I just randomly saw it and said, “That would make a GREAT market!” (There’s that vision I was talking about). I talked the guy down from $30 to $15! I’d like to say I have great negotiating skills, but I think he was just ready to get rid of it.
We already had some old fence panels lying around (we had to replace a few on our fence that our dogs CHEWED through… I have a few neurotic dogs) and bam! Free counter top!
MAKING THE SINK:
We used a stainless steel mixing bowl for the sink. I was originally going to use a dog bowl, but they were actually more expensive than the mixing bowls at Wal-Mart… I went with the cheaper and it’s actually deeper… $8 there. I bought the faucet at the Habitat store as well. It was $12, which was more than I wanted to spend, but it wasn’t used like the rest of them were and had a good shape to it.
ADDING EMBELLISHMENTS:
I bought knobs for the stove and handles for the front sliding doors from the clearance section at Hobby Lobby and painted the burners on (and lightly sanded the burners to make it look more rustic).
I also bought a few baskets from Joann’s Fabrics that were 60% off, plus I had a 25% off in-store coupon! I got my tiny market basket and my large play food storage basket for $15 total.
I used an old piece of scrap wood for the shelf and decorated it with things all around my house. The shelf brackets were purchased from Hobby Lobby when they were on sale for 50% off! The window was an old find that I’ve had for months and I had no idea what to do with it until this project came along. I have seen similar windows like this at local antique stores and my favorite Habitat store always has these lying around too!
My 6, 4 and 1 year olds ALL love their play kitchen! We made this a group gift because we know all of them would enjoy this. It has been the toy that has been most played with at my house since Christmas!
Below are pictures and links to the play kitchen items we purchased! Enjoy!
Each of the kids got to open 3 gifts as well (just like Jesus got 3 gifts from the wise men). Lena (age 1) got pots and pans because she likes to bang Mommy’s a lot.
James (age 6) got a cash register that has a working calculator because he loves learning how to count money (we played “store” a lot even before Christmas).
Leyson (age 4) got “Peel ‘N’ Play” fruit and vegetables since he loooves to cook.
