Would prefer to see a video/photo tour of our play kitchen?

Or check out my “play kitchen” highlight on Instagram!

yes, yes.

i jumped on the bandwagon for moms-who-makeover-the-ikea-play-kitchen.

and honestly, it was such a fun project.

my mom was so good at prioritizing play for us three girls. and really all I can remember in my childhood is playing. so I love doing the same for KK. and - thanks to my fond, fond memories - I wanted KK to have a play kitchen.

she’s 18-months, and getting really good at independent play. we have so much play built into our daily rhythm and, I swear, the more we practice independently playing, the better she gets. and based on some of her recent favorite things and favorite activities, we decided now was the perfect time to introduce a play kitchen, knowing it’d grow with her and future siblings.

and like the rest of my home, I love to incorporate pieces that encourage play into our main rooms. but because I like to incorporate pieces into our main area, I also love to get pieces that are cohesive with my decor scheme. and while I love love love the ikea duktig kitchen as a base, I knew I wanted to make some tweaks to it - some tweaks to have it fit the colors of my home better and some tweaks to encourage more imaginative play.

we all have our parts of motherhood that are our absolute favorite. encouraging play and cooking dinner are mine… and a play kitchen is the loveliest mash-up of both.

here’s what I did!

painted the kitchen white

part of the ikea play kitchen is wood. before assembling the play kitchen, i painted the unfinished wood pieces with this white chalk paint kit.
I had also intended to paint the already-white pieces of the play kitchen as well so that all the pieces would match perfectly, but I was pleasantly surprised to find the chalk-painted pieces matched the already-white pieces well enough. and that was good enough for me! I’m the Queen of Good is Better Than Perfect.
however! I did not paint the countertop part of the kitchen or the sink. more on that next.

applied butcher block contact paper to the countertop

this video helped me tremendously! otherwise I had no idea how to apply contact paper to those pesky rounded edges of the ikea play kitchen countertop.
once I had covered the whole countertop, I flipped it over and used my X-acto knife to cut through the sink and stove areas.

assembled the play kitchen

thanks, brett!
at this point I checked for any areas that could use more paint.

changed out the hardware

I personally used the J version of these handles as a nod to my love for blue and white, but there are lots of fun options out there. I had read in this 13 Ways to Hack a Duktig Kitchen to make sure the updated hardware has a hole to hole measurement of 128mm apart.
and again, this hardware technically doesn’t match the sink fixture, but to me it matched well enough. so I kept the sink as-is, and figured if I ever felt so compelled, I could change it up later.

added subway tile backsplash

Brett got a piece of MDF (or something?) cut to size at Home Depot, I applied this subway tile backsplash to the piece of MDF, and he drilled the MDF piece into the back of the play kitchen.

added a phone

like every other toddler, KK lovessssssss the phone. so naturally we had to mount this phone to the right hand side of her play kitchen. and I love that it adds another element of play to her kitchen.

added a mailbox

below the phone, we mounted this mailbox. KK lovesssss opening and closing things, and taking things in and out. but as she grows older, we love that this mailbox will provide additional play opportunities.
did you catch that? on the right hand side of the play kitchen, we mounted the phone on top and the mailbox below that. more on what we put on the left hand side in a second.
and I tucked these felt envelopes into the mailbox. but really this mailbox could also be used as a pretend trash can, etc. options are endless!
when KK becomes more into dramatic play, Mr. Valentine mayyy bring her this mailbag.

hung a hook

on that left side of the play kitchen, we hung two 3m hooks for future pretend play. here we added this play oven mitt (in white to match the kitchen), and I’m hoping to add an apron to her Mr. Valentine basket or her Easter Basket.

added cookware, didn’t add play food (yet)

and we added:
like the rest of her toys, we intend to do a toy rotation of her play food. we’ll set out a 2-3 food/cooking toys at a time, and have the rest put away. that way when I set out, say, a coffee maker or pretend pasta, it’s new and exciting and not overwhelming (and easy to keep contained).
here is our list of monthly play themes where I list which food/cooking toys I set out each month.

the end!

have I mentioned how much I love dreaming of and creating play invitations for KK? it all started when I was healing from our pregnancy loss. and while the past teacher in me squeals with joy, I accredit it all to how amazing my mom was at encouraging play when we were little.

so that said, I loved giving this play kitchen a make-over. I’m so excited for all the pretend play it inspires.

Would prefer to see a video/photo tour of our play kitchen? See this reel! Or check out my “play kitchen” highlight on Instagram!

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