Project Pinterest Play Kitchen

This was the kitchen the girls have been using for the last 3 years. A co-worker kindly gave it to me before Joan was born and it's gotten lots of use. 

It was time for an upgrade, though.

We cashed it in for this little beauty.

I saw these adorable play kitchens repurposed from old night stands and entertainment centers floating around Pinterest and I decided the girls needed one. So one day while I was browsing our local discount store, Dirt Cheap, I found these two bathroom storage cabinets that I knew would be perfect for the job (except that some pieces were missing or damaged... it's cool, though, we made it work). I thought the 2-door cabinet would be deep enough for both a stove and a sink, but it was thinner than I realized. So we had to order a 2-cube organizer from Target to have room for a sink. 

Once the pieces were put together, Jude drilled new holes for the hinges so that the oven door would open correctly and he added new hardware (we splurged for something nice and modern).

Then he finally put that wedding registry gift to use (the unopened jigsaw), and created a hole for the sink and plopped down a silver bowl.

And remember that poker chip? We fit it into the base of the P-trap, drilled a hole through it, screwed the P-trap back on and made it into a faucet. I hope I won't be missing that poker chip. It's worth 30 minutes of free babysitting from the babysitting coop I'm in. The way I figure it, this kitchen better occupy my girls for at least 30 minutes, so it should all even out.


Then we got to painting. We used paint we already had from our kitchen island and their school desk. Jude did an excellent job with the microwave, stovetop, and oven.

I love that the cabinet already had a shelf that we use to separate fridge from freezer.

I painted a green tote that we already had white and sewed the curtains and dishtowel.

I only painted the important part of the tote. It was a bit tedious.

We drilled a dowel rod that we already had in from the sides and hung a curtain that hides the sink bowl and their pantry items.

Jude's designing some kitchen art to hang above the stove and sink, but I couldn't wait to post these pictures any longer, so I'll show you that when it's done.

The girls love it and look adorable playing house. But seeing all of their cheap plastic food and plates next to this new modern kitchen really makes me want to run out and buy all new wooden play food and pots. But I won't. Not now anyways.

It was fun working on this with Jude and we completed it fairly inexpensively, at least for what this would cost if sold in stores.  Here's the run-down:
Dirt Cheap fridge: $13
Dirt Cheap oven/microwave: $12
Target 2-cube organizer: $20
Faucet knobs: $5
Cup hooks:$1
Stovetop knobs: $2 (I bought plain wooden ones and painted them white)
P-trap faucet: $6
Fabric: $5
Fridge/Microwave/Drawer/Oven hardware: $13 (we could have made this less, but we couldn't help ourselves)
Sink Bowl:$3
Total: $80 (plus some tax which I didn't include to make it sound cheaper...)

Now I just need to get Jude on board with the next Project Pinterest, a bookshelf from this pallet I found on the side of the road.