Seventeen month old Judah (or JuJu as he is sometimes called) loves to play in our play cupcake kitchen when he comes to visit us.  He doesn’t have a play kitchen at home, so I decided to surprise him with his own one.

My mother-in-law a’H was fond of repurposing cast-off items, so she would have just loved this new, but old kitchen.  When we cleaned out my in-laws’ home several years ago, my sister-in-law begged me to take home Mom’s lightweight aluminum pots.  I had them in storage in a box in my basement since then.  They were perfect for use in this play kitchen.  Mom would kvell (Yiddish for feel proud)!

I found an old nightstand on the curb near Kaitlyn’s apartment two months ago and brought it home.  Kaitlyn showed me some adorable furniture to play kitchen adaptations on Pinterest that I used as inspiration for this upcycled nightstand castoff to vintage play kitchen redo.

Here is what the original nightstand looked like:

 

I taped the outer part of the cabinet door and first painted the interior black to resemble an oven:

I chose a restoration blue color spray paint and painted the shell.

I had Aaron attach a piece of wood to the back of the nightstand to resemble a backsplash and painted all the vertical surfaces blue.  I painted the top surface chalkboard black for a sink and cooktop area.

I repainted the oven silver to resemble an art-deco stainless steel look.

I visited my hardware cabinet and local dollar store for accessories to stock the kitchen.

I found some old plastic foosball table feet that I sprayed silver and had Aaron attached with long screws.  They even turn!

Aaron screwed a large screw into place to hold the kitchen timer.  The timer hooks on and off in case JuJu wants to use his timer for something else.

I used an old hose spray nozzle for the faucet that I sprayed silver and attached with  heavy duty contractors’ adhesive.  I bought a silver toilet paper holder that I separated into two pieces.  Aaron attached those with screws for the faucet handles.

Aaron drilled holes into a small dog water dish and secured them with screws.

I bought a plastic shower organizer, sprayed it silver and secured it with heavy duty contractors’ adhesive to the backsplash.

I glued an old chalkboard to the backsplash and glued an alarm clock to the chalkboard.

 

I glued a touch LED light from the dollar store to the inside of the oven for light inside the oven.

 

I glued an oven thermometer to the inside of the kitchen door.

I fashioned cooktop grates out of craft sticks secured to CD’s covered with upside down plant saucers.  Aaron secured the grates with long screws so that they spin.

For a little extra fun, I glued an old unbreakable mirror to the outside of the oven door.

I bought and repurposed lots of accessories and kitchen gadgets including: a hand broom and dustpan, tongs, strainer, oven mitt, ladle, plastic food, squeegee, plastic cups and martini glasses and even a plastic vase with a flower fashioned from a bottle stopper.

 

 

Juju just adores this new kitchen.  He has been perfecting his chicken soup and I am loving it!