Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

| By | | 112 Comments

A Cute Play Kitchen With Light-Up Burners

Clara has had her play kitchen for over a year and a half and she still plays with it nearly everyday, which is practically a toy miracle considering how quickly other items are dismissed. So play kitchens have a special place in our hearts. And this one is extra special because, well, Casey and Phil had a ton of fun making their own – and brought lots of new ideas to the table. They don’t have a blog, but they outlined their process here for you guys:

Much like you guys, my husband Phil and I decided to build our daughter Zoey a play kitchen for Christmas. I sketched it out to mimic our kitchen cabinets, and I knew she’d love a pretty realistic looking stove in a fun color. Luckily my husband is a fantastic carpenter, so we built the whole thing from scratch using scrap lumber from from our whole-house renovation and butcher block left over from our previous house’s kitchen renovation.

Casey After

All said and done we spent an embarrassing amount of time on this, but I think the end result was worth all the work!

Casey Matching Kitchen Cabs

The cabinet building was pretty straightforward- we built basic cabinet boxes, added the face frames, then added the extra paneled detail on the sides. Phil build the doors separately and we attached them after everything was painted. The stove was a little (okay, a lot) trickier. We build it in 2 major parts- the lower half (the painted part) is all one unit, and the upper half (the stainless part) is the other half.

Casey Wallpaper Detail

Phil loved the idea of dimmable “burners” so that was definitely our biggest expense in the whole project – but he was right that it takes the whole thing to the next level. Zoey loves them! For the top half we sandwiched the LED lighting in between 2 layers of wood to hold it in place. We used a 6″ hole saw to create the 2 openings where the coiled LED lighting shines through. We wrapped the top part in stainless contact paper, covered the lighting with a piece of tinted plexiglass, then we put the whole thing on top of the lower half.

Casey Lighting

And I know people love a good resource list, so here’s where we got things:

  • Cabinets- made from scrap wood from other projects
  • Countertops- leftover from previous kitchen (lumber liquidators)
  • Sink – Amazon
  • Faucet – Amazon
  • Cabinet knobs – Target
  • Paint color on cabinets – Benjamin Moore’s Super White
  • Paint color on stove – Benjamin Moore’s Meadowlands Green
  • Handle on stove – Ikea
  • Knobs on stove – Amazon
  • Timer – Anthropologie
  • “Stainless steel” contact paper – Home Depot
  • Oven rack – Dollar Store
  • Flexible LED neon – Del Lighting
  • Dimmers – Amazon
  • Plexiglass for stovetop – eBay
  • Wallpaper on interior cabinet – leftover from Zoey’s nursery, Wallpaper Direct

Hope you enjoy! -Casey

Casey Zooey Playing

Isn’t it awesome? Zoey is one lucky kid to have such resourceful and creative parents who have so much fun building things for her. Thanks for sharing your creation with us, Casey and Phil!

Comments

  6. Henna // HENNA BLOSSOM blog says

    OMGosh! I am in love with this kitchen! So fun. Seriously, I love kiddie play kitchens, I think they’re as much fun for the parents as they are for the kids, ha.

    I found our son’s kitchen on craigslist (original 60s era play kitchen) and it’s been so much fun stocking it. If you wanna check that out: http://hennablossom.com/?p=2430 (so cute). :)

    Nice job on Zoey’s kitchen! I know Mateo’s is always where all the kiddies want to be. It’s totally worth spending “an embarrassing amount of time” on, ha. :)

    Reply

  12. Emma says

    Um…can Casey and Phil either a) adopt me; or b) design my kitchen? That is the most amazing play kitchen ever! The led lights are mind blowing. Mind.blown.

    Reply

  18. lesismore says

    kinda puts my $10 garage sale kitchen to shame. but one of the knobs costs more than that, so…

    pretty cool lighting feature, i will admit, just a little too expensive for me.

    Reply

  19. Michelle says

    That is really incredible! I’ve got a soft spot for these, as my dad built one for my sister and I back in the day! Such a great way to play using imagination!

    Reply

  20. Bethany says

    I want this for myself, and I’m 27 with no kids. The burners are awesome, I’m storing this idea away for potential future kids one day. Such an amazing job!

    Reply

  26. Melanie says

    That is so adorable! I love all of the little details – the led lightning, the timer & the wallpaper in the cabinets! So cute. They did an awesome job.

    Reply

  27. Brenda says

    Wow, those light coils are amazing! Is it weird that I really wish I could make some fake dinner on that stovetop?

    Reply

  33. Erin says

    I too, have just a teeny obsession with play kitchens (no, I don’t spend HOURS perusing them on Pinterest and searching Craigslist! Not every day anyway..) But this one. THIS one. This one tops them all. This is better than my actual kitchen! Absolutely love it. Bravo to Casey and Phil!

    Reply

  35. Jackie says

    Hi,
    What’s the total cost of this project(excluding the materials they didn’t have to purchase and already had on hand)?

    Thanks!
    Jackie

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Hope they drop in with that! I’d guess it wasn’t super cheap, but couldn’t be close to those $500 Pottery Barn kitchens (even the discounted ones at the outlet are $250)!

      xo
      s

    • Amelia R. says

      I took a minute to add it up, based on the links they provided (so, not counting lumber, hinges, paint, butcher block, or wallpaper they already had on hand) and came up with $146 for the listed supplies.

  37. Karen says

    Uhhhh, [shuffling feet in embarrassment], I just scrolled down looking through the photos first, and was thinking, “holy cow, I ADORE that oven, what a cool kitchen.” Yeah. I. Thought. It. Was. Real.

    Reply

  39. janice says

    Completely cool and so totally awesome!! Thanks for sharing this – even if I can’t go that elaborate, I may be able to try something else. I think my grandson would love it! (yes, boys can have a kitchen!)

    Reply

  40. Betty says

    WOW the little girl in me is so sincerely jealous…I would have spent hours enjoying that..what a treat..great parents..what fun!

    Reply

  41. Betsy says

    Holy moly, this is awesome!!! I wish they sold them, you just can’t get the dimmable lighting option with other toy kitchens. Just awesome!

    Reply

  44. Kristin says

    Love! We happen to be in the middle of building one of these ourselves (as in I literally just opened the box from Amazon containing the faucet and sink) and I’m eyeing the oven knobs they used but the link doesn’t work :( Any help much appreciated!

    Reply

Stuff We Love

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *