DIY Play Kitchen

LM had been enjoying playing with the play Kitchen in his creche, and for Christmas I wanted to get him one, or make him one.

The one I loved was this wooden ikea kitchen.

But space and money said no. So I decided to try make one.

I had seen a load of amazing DIY play kitchens on various blogs and Pinterest and wanted to attempt my own.
Some amazing DIY Play Kitchens I came accross:

from my favourite http://www.younghouselove.com/



Fun itchen Ideas: the-new-home-ec Blog



As you can see some absolutely amazing ones, better than real kitchens, but again money and space (and time and skill!).

So I looked at what we had. When we moved into our new house we decided to open up the kitchen and the next room (a small 2^nd living room) into one large family room come kitchen. So that we could eat, cook, socialise while LM could play away, and down the line do homework, read, listen & play music, relax. So we lined one wall of the family room with IKEA children's STUVA units, as seen below.



  

Our Ikea STUVA units

So my plan was to use some desktop space we already had in our family/play room (rearrange toys and put kitchen where penguin is above).

So my ingredients:

IKEA SAMLA lid for box as base for hob, Small Ridged Knobs (Maplins Store), 4 normal CDs/DVDs, hot glue + hot glue gun, super glue, lid from pesto jar (any nice looking lid works- but make sure it has the safety pop feature- so makes a nice click when pressed), velcro strips.

The idea is that the jar lid is the ON/OFF button and the temperature is then controlled by the knob, which clicks at 6 points. Each CD is a different hob.

My hubby kindly drilled a hole in the plastic lid to fit the knob.

I used a hot glue gun to glue the jar lid and knob on, and super glue to glue the 4 CDs on so they look like a hob. I put a bit too much super glue on, and was a bit smudged around 2 of CDs but I'm not a pefectionist, so looks ok to me...

The control knob clicks in 6 differnt positions, so I added numbered stickers 1-6, so LM can get to know his numbers. I then added an Ikea shelf we had bought ages ago but never found a home for, a plant, a mini retro petrol pump radio, some plastic hooks to hang up utencils. Very happywith results, and LM and friends enjoying making mamas and dadas endless cups of tea, eggs and pancakes.
I also added a blown up printout of a photo of our back garden, and made a foam frame- to make it more personal for LM.

Anyone else made any interesting DIY kitchens??