Out of all the Christmas gifts I made this year, this one was by far my favorite! (Although I should note that Seth actually did much of the work - I only did some of it.)
I had had the idea several months ago to find an old cabinet and turn it into a kitchen set for the kids, an idea that I thought was pretty original. After stumbling across someone's blog a while back, I discovered it wasn't such a unique idea after all, but that was probably actually a good thing, since I was able to find lots of good ideas on how to do it! We ended up making it out of a used nightstand, and I didn't find one that fit my requirements (solid wood, in good shape so I wouldn't have to paint it) until the Sunday before Christmas. We borrowed a lot of ideas from this homemade kitchen set.
This is the original nightstand, after we had taken off one of the drawer handles.
Seth's dad builds a lot of things, so we borrowed his tools, and he helped Seth with the structural stuff. Seth removed the drawers, took the back off, cut a hole in the top for the sink, and they added braces to hold up the plywood shelves they cut to fit.
We glued the shelves and sink (an 8x8 metal baking pan) in place.
We screwed in the faucet (a wooden letter J) and the knobs (drawer pulls), and glued on the burners (CDs with strips of wood). We had saved one the drawer fronts, which became the oven door, and we added a hook to one side. I had originally planned to add a little curtain to the bottom shelf, but we decided that we liked the look of just the baskets. We also added a cookie cooling rack for the oven rack.
The kids have been having lots of fun with this, although it's already had its share of mishaps (the oven door was broken off, and the top has gotten banged up). I was hoping it would be a little longer before it began to show signs of wear, but that's kids for you! =)
When all was said and done, it cost a bit more than I was hoping (probably around $50), but it was still much cheaper than buying a wooden kitchen set!
I had had the idea several months ago to find an old cabinet and turn it into a kitchen set for the kids, an idea that I thought was pretty original. After stumbling across someone's blog a while back, I discovered it wasn't such a unique idea after all, but that was probably actually a good thing, since I was able to find lots of good ideas on how to do it! We ended up making it out of a used nightstand, and I didn't find one that fit my requirements (solid wood, in good shape so I wouldn't have to paint it) until the Sunday before Christmas. We borrowed a lot of ideas from this homemade kitchen set.
This is the original nightstand, after we had taken off one of the drawer handles.
Seth's dad builds a lot of things, so we borrowed his tools, and he helped Seth with the structural stuff. Seth removed the drawers, took the back off, cut a hole in the top for the sink, and they added braces to hold up the plywood shelves they cut to fit.
We glued the shelves and sink (an 8x8 metal baking pan) in place.
We screwed in the faucet (a wooden letter J) and the knobs (drawer pulls), and glued on the burners (CDs with strips of wood). We had saved one the drawer fronts, which became the oven door, and we added a hook to one side. I had originally planned to add a little curtain to the bottom shelf, but we decided that we liked the look of just the baskets. We also added a cookie cooling rack for the oven rack.
The kids have been having lots of fun with this, although it's already had its share of mishaps (the oven door was broken off, and the top has gotten banged up). I was hoping it would be a little longer before it began to show signs of wear, but that's kids for you! =)When all was said and done, it cost a bit more than I was hoping (probably around $50), but it was still much cheaper than buying a wooden kitchen set!
