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01 June 2010

Maren's Kitchen

Last Christmas we decided to make Maren a little kitchen of her own. I had seen a few ideas here and there (I'm sure you have, too!), so I can't take complete credit for what we came up with.

We found this little footed nightstand on Craigslist for $15. Here's the best before picture I have. We had already sanded the top, but you can see how the piece looked in it's original form.

And, the completed kitchen:
We used wood craft circles and a square dowel for the burners. We painted wood nobs found in the craft store for the black nobs. The sink is a square cake pan and the faucet came from a salvage yard. Brett cut shelves to fit where the drawers had been, and cut and routered the back splash from a piece of shelving we had on hand. Hinges and handle for the oven came from Lowe's.

The inside of the oven is spray-painted shiny silver, and we have since added chains to both sides of the oven door to make it more sturdy. I made the little curtain rod with leftover fabric from M's nursery, and it's hanging on a small tension rod.

We estimate having spent close to $60 total, but definitely could have done the project for cheaper. Since this was a gift for our only child, we did splurge on a few things. (Namely the faucet...it cost $20, but we loved the size and the 'realness' it brought to the project! We also splurged on the handle for the oven door, and again, just loved the size and look of the one we chose.)

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26 comments:

  1. This is maybe the cutest little kitchen I have ever seen! I LOVE everything about it! The shiny red, the pull down oven, the curtain, the real faucet! You guys did an awesome job and this will surely last your little one a long time! I love it! Saw you at Today's Creative Blog.

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  2. Forgot to mention that I'm now following your blog! I love all of your projects!

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  3. Wow, that's amazing how it turned out! :)

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  4. Hey Kate, I'd like to feature your kitchen in my weekly "Future Project Friday" if that's ok with you. I'm actually not going to post it until Saturday, though because I have an exciting makeover to share tomorrow.

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  5. Coming over from the CSI PRoject to tell you that this is adorable, Thanks for linking up!

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  6. I absolutely LOVE this little kitchen, and am going to keep this idea for when I (hopefully) have kids. I would have been so excited to have something like this when I was little.

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  7. This is so stinking cute! I have a play stove fettish. :)

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  8. This is so adorbale! Wonderful job. :)

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  9. This is the cutest transformation I've ever seen!!!! I want to make one and I only have boys!!! They can "cook", right??!!

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  10. Looks great! Love the extras you used!

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  11. This is absolutely darling! I love it! The red...the skirt...everything!

    I WANT ONE!

    Enjoy!
    Cathy

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  12. I love this--it turned out beautifully!

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  13. Just curious how many hours you estimate this project took you.

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  14. A little kitchen is exactly what is on my list for Xmas for my daughter...you have now inspired me too do it myself. Yours turned out SOOO cute

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  15. We just made one of these for our granddaughter who lives with us. She just turned 2 and loves it. The one thing that we did with ours was to make a little higher back on it and spray painted it with chalkboard paint so that it does double duty for her as a chalkboard as well.

    This is a great project for someone that doesn't do a lot of woodworking and very rewarding.

    I suggest everyone try it.

    We too picked up our nightstand from craigslist for $20.

    For the gal with the boys, you definitely can make one of these for them and get them little chef hats. Just look at all those chefs on the food network.... :) They will love it too.....

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  16. I wish I had seen this before I went out and bought one for my grandson, it is beyond cute.

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  17. Thanks so much for all your kind words!

    Leah~I would guess it took us about 10 hours to complete the kitchen. We did sand the entire nightstand down before we painted, which took lots of time.

    Yanet~We have lots of little boys over who enjoy the kitchen! I'm sure you could even find a more sleek nightstand and finish it in a more modern style for your boys!

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  18. Hi- just found you :) cute blog. I have 3 boys and we made a toy kitchen w/ a $6 nightstand a while ago...and my friend just made a really cute one out of cardboard- that is the same red as yours- for her little boy :) Kitchens are for boys and girls- love to see everyone's cute versions- thanks for sharing!
    here is the link to mine :)
    http://mygratitudeattitudes.blogspot.com/2010/03/diy-play-kitchen-from-nightstand.html

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  19. I am ever AMAZED at people's cleverness when they're taking a bare-bones vision out of their head and making it a reality!! VERY cute!!

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  20. This is one of the very cutest "kitchens" I have seen. What a lucky little person.

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  21. ahhhh this is so cute! I love it. I have to try this! This would be perfect for my little girl!

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  22. I just picked up a night stand to do this with today. I love how yours turned out! Stay tuned for mine!

    Taylor
    www.maryjanesandgaloshes.com

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  23. My Daddy made one for me in about 1939...out of a wooden box. Can't remember what the top was like but I sure cooked a lot of dolly meals on it!

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  24. that is just awesome!

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  25. Hi, I love this DIY! I was just wondering what paint you used to get the high gloss red look? I am starting a similar project and would like to have the same finish.
    Thanks

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