We are continually blown away by the creativity and ingenuity of our readers, and the recent run of homemade toy kitchens we've featured here is a case in point. Virginia wrote in to share pictures of the kitchen she built for her daughter. She loved the look of vintage plywood kitchens but could never find one in decent shape, so she designed her own using materials from, you guessed it, Ikea. The total cost of this endeavor: under fifty bucks! Interested in trying your own hand at this? Virginia was kind enough to give us step-by-step instructions...
How To: Build a Play Kitchen from Ikea Components
Virginia's directions for building your own Ikea-based toy kitchen:
I took a RAST table and built off of that. First I added a sheet of 1/4 inch birch ply to make a back. Then I used the scraps to divide the shelf inside into 2 halves. I used another scrap to make a door and 2 to trim out the place where the knobs would go and for the "kickplate". I spent 10 bucks on the wood (I asked if they had any scraps they could sell in lieu of a large sheet). They did the cuts for free.
To assemble it, I used wood glue and screws. I added ATTEST knobs to the front and PANNA coasters for burners. I cut a hole in the top and used an old bowl I had lying around for a sink. For the shelf to store dishes, I found a small GRUNDTAL shelf in the bathroom section. I cut another piece of scrap wood to make the shelf more suitable for storing items.
A few GRUNDTAL "S" hooks are perfect for hanging pots and pans. The spoons, etc are stored in a FNISS pen/pencil holder. It was all a little low, so I bought NUMERAR legs to bring it up to play height. I had planned to add a handle for the door and a tile backsplash, but I ended up leaving it as is.
Thanks so much for sharing this inspiring project, Virginia!
Edited to add: Virginia took the time to draw up the following schematic and dimensions, for those who are interested in making this kitchen. Thanks again, Virginia!
Comments (19)
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Such creativity with a wonderful result! Thanks for sharing!
view anniemal's profile
Hooray for DIY. My husband, king of DIY, will love these plans for when we have our future daughter. (way future). Most things really can be so simple to make. If one has the time.
view Sherriest's profile
That's amazing! I am always impressed at what people can build, think of the money you save!
view Tabitha (From Single to Married)'s profile
This is so brilliant! I love it... all my kids would totally die for this!
view se7en's profile
This is absolutely wonderful, we bought all the core pieces to start this project. Just wondering however what the dimensions are for the kick plate, back and the door. Thanks we are so excited and hope it turns out similar.
view j-oose's profile
this is amazing. EVERY child should have a play kitchen!
view Aaron's profile
This is great. I too am wondering the measurements on the door and backspash.
view bellabertelli's profile
Hi all. Virginia emailed us the drawing and measurements she used to make this project. I've added it to the original post above. Hope this helps!
view TammyE's profile
Wow, this blows me away. I want one, and we don't even have kids yet!
view als1's profile
This is such a great kitchen! We are big fans of Ikea and have "hacked" several pieces of furniture to fit our home's needs. You should think about submitting this project to http://ikeahacker.blogspot.com/! :-)
view karenjh's profile
Given the size and shape of the shelf storing the dishes, I think it might be the GRUNDTAL towel rail rather than the shelf that is linked in the article.
view jbouldin's profile
Hi there! I just picked up the pieces to make this kitchen for christmas and I got a great piece of wood as well in Ikea's "as is" section. I was really hoping the Virginia also had the measurement for those two pieces inside the base. The piece that devides the base in half and the piece that provides a shelf there. Thank you so much!
view czja00's profile
Gorgeous hack. I'm in the middle of building the kitchen now. Only one discrepancy, I think: the ply seems to be 3/4 or 1/2 inch, not 1/4 inch. In the pictures it looks as thick as the boards of the RAST table. Thanks for including the plans.
view titosan's profile
We love this kitchen. So creative. Just wondering where you were able to get the wood cut. We've had problems getting cuts at Lowe's and Home Depot. Also, how did you attach the shelving and divider that you added inside the RAST table?
view snowshack's profile
I made one of these! It was hard work but fun, and my daughter adores it. (My sister-in-law featured it on her blog here: http://www.lifeisafeast.com/2009/08/rubys-kitchen.html) THANK YOU VIRGINIA for such a great idea!
view mamadururu's profile
Where are the plastic pots, dishes, and utensils from?
view Lsmama08's profile
I just finished making this and have a few hints for anyone who is thinking of this project. First of all, it was pretty easy and I have NO skills!
I used 3/4" wood and not 1/4", thanks to one of the comments above. I used the IKEA Koncis roasting dish for the sink which worked fine except it has handles and made it tricky when cutting out the hole for the sink. Would recommend using a round bowl with a lip or square cake pan.
If you are going to make a sink, before you put the Rast table together cut out your hole for the sink. If you are planning to paint, cut the hole before you paint also. I used a jig saw to cut the hole. Keep in mind how long the screws are for the table assembly when cutting your sink hole as well.
As used in another play kitchen (Savannah's I think) I used the Rigel Hook as a faucet and it was perfect (and only $.99).
For the oven door I mounted two 1 1/2" cabinet hinges to the bottom of the door and used an attest handle for the oven door handle.
To answer a previous comment, the plastic pots and pans look like Green Toys, Amazon has them and I've seen them in some toy stores.
http://www.amazon.com/Green-Toys-Cookware-Dining-Set/dp/B0015466LM
This was a very clever idea, thanks to Virginia! My daughter who is two absolutely loves this kitchen. We are gladly getting rid of the giant plastic toy kitchen we had before in favor of this one.
view suzrunnr's profile
I registered this site JUST to say how great this project is. My husband and I have never built anything in our lives but this looks like something we can do. I can't afford to buy the expensive ones but this one looks so much better than those! And I'll love telling my daughter mommy and daddy made this for her! Thank you so much!
view SxyMamaChamp's profile
Thank you so much to Virginia for her great inspiration of building this kitchen. We followed your instructions almost to the letter and it turned out darling!
A few notes:
- We went with 3/4 inch think particle board. In the cutting and screwing there were some splits and of course it doesn't look as good as solid wood. Not sure what the cost difference is but for the effort involved, one might want to consider upgrading to solid pine.
- Someone suggested drilling the hole for the sink before assembling the main RAST cabinet. We actually found it easier to drill the hole after assembling the cabinet, but before putting on the back wood piece.
- Instead of a cabinet in the front, we mounted a hinge on the bottom of the piece, added a long handle and made it an oven under the "stove".
- For the bowl we used a 3/4 quart stainless steel mixing bowl from a restaurant supply store. It has the perfect lip and is 7 inches across. We paid $1.75 for one.
- Lastly, not including the time to buy the Ikea and hardware store pieces this project probably took us 5 hours. Certainly you don't need much experience but it would be exceedinly difficult without a "real" saw to cut out the kitchen sink and handiness with a power drill.
view sachikomegan's profile