The Play Kitchen "After" Photos

Back in November I shared a "before" picture for a project we planned.  

We started with this old entertainment center:

And then I shared a couple of "during" pictures...

...and then I promptly forgot to ever post any "after" pictures.  Bad mama!

Super Short version:  

Here is the finished play kitchen we made for the two youngest...

...and they love it!

So, in summary...."before" and "after"....and I'm so glad we did this:

Longer Version

(Make that...the MUCH Longer Version)

I am going to "throw the doors open", and give more details about how we made the kitchen, and outfitted it.

After looking at approximately 1,000 DIY play kitchens on the internet to get ideas, we decided on this white/gray/black color scheme.  

Jas cut a piece of plywood to fit over the shelves on the left, to act as a fridge door.  It would be neat if you painted the fridge door with magnetic paint, so you could hang magnets on the door, like a real fridge.  It would ALSO be real neat if your magnetic paint wasn't three years old, and still actually worked like it was supposed to.  

I'm not bitter about that.

Moving on....

We may keep some rather unorthodox stuff in our fridge.  You mean, not everyone keeps their cutlery in the fridge???  I can't imagine why not!

I spent longer than I would have imagined picking food out.  Given that our family has been on the GAPS diet/protocol for most of the past 3 years...I wasn't about to go pick up just any old fake food assortment.  They mainly have total junk in them...stuff we don't eat.  (I know, I know...I am just as weird in "Play", as I am in real life.)

Here is what we ended up with:

Resources:

Learning Resources New Sprouts Dinner Basket

Learning Resources Fresh Picked Fruit and Veggie Tote

Elisabeth got the (wooden) eggs from Hobby Lobby and painted them differently, so they look like the multi-colored eggs we get from our girls.

Most play dish sets have only 2 or 4 place settings, but I wanted more than that, so all of our kiddos could play together at the same time. We already had a set of these cute cups from a previous trip to Ikea...so I was thrilled to find this whole set on amazon:

Ikea 36-piece Dinnerware Set, Assorted Colors

Now, on to the cooking and sink area.

Jas had the idea that the babies deserved a gas range like we have.  So easy to accomplish with a little bit of paint!  And Jas used little wooden knobs (that he painted black) to serve as the controls for the stovetop:

And for the oven....

...Jas converted the door from opening with hinges on the left side, to opening with hinges along the bottom...like a real oven door.

I had an old cooling rack that had one broken foot, and Jason cut the rack down to size to fit in the oven opening, so the oven has two racks.

This bakeware was purchased at Dollar Tree for....surprise, $1 each.

To outfit the rest of the kitchen supplies, I used a combination of Dollar Tree and amazon.


It was easy to find the spoons/spatula/whisk/etc. at Dollar Tree.  But I really wanted authentic-looking, but mini, pots and pans, so decided to go with a Melissa and Doug set for those (LaoLao and Papa actually purchased these for the babies as part of their Christmas present):

Melissa & Doug 8-Piece Stainless Steel Pots and Pans Playset for Kids

We also purchased a couple of pot holders at Dollar Tree, along with a Salt and Pepper set.  I covered the inside of the S&P shakers with glue and then sprinkled real salt and pepper in there to coat the sides with the real thing.  And the sink bowl is simply a small silver mixing bowl that we also found at Dollar Tree, that Jas sunk into a hole he cut in the "counter."

The faucet was the last thing we bought for the kitchen.  We had been looking/thinking for weeks about what to do for the kitchen faucet.  Some people cut theirs out of wood.  We ended up just buying the very cheapest set we could find at Lowe's, and I love that it is so authentic (and Jas was happy to not have to make one. more. thing.)

We have hooks on either side of the kitchen to hang accessories.  On the right side is the shopping bag that came with the fruit and veggie set:

And on the left side hangs a sweet little (hand-me-down) apron:

So where do the babies eat their culinary creations?  Well, truth be told, all over the house...but sometimes they eat right here, where it actually makes sense:

We have had this table/chairs forEVER...in fact, I painted it back when we only had one baby.

I asked Abigail to come over and sit down and look nice for me, so I could take a picture.

Why did I ask her to "look nice"?

Because otherwise, I knew, she might do something strange.  Like...try to scoop her eyeball out with a spoon.

When we have friends over and they see the kitchen, Jas likes to joke: "Why buy it for $30, when you can make it yourself for $100?"

It really wasn't that much.  I don't think.

I am so happy that Jas took my dream and ran with it.  We had the fun of actually making it, and the ability to put our own stamp on it, choosing everything just like we wanted.  And bonus...the babies love it!