DIY kitchen set

One of my favorite toys when I was a little girl was my kitchen set. I played with it for a very long time. It was simple, not a lot of bells and whistles but it entertained my sisters and I for many years!

I've been looking for a solid wood, high quality kitchen set for my daughter. But, it's just not in the budget right now. Plus, she's only 15 months so I can't really justify spending that kind of money when she's just as entertained by a box and a spoon.

I have been collecting felt, cardboard and wooden fake food over the past few months and I wanted to store it in a fun way.

DING! That light bulb went off as I looked at a cardboard box I had laying in the garage. I decided I was going to transform it into a "pantry" cabinet. Tools needed: knife, scissors, packaging tape, yarn, wooden ball beads, paper towel roll and paint or markers for decorating.

This is what it started out as:

Its hard to tell but I cut across the box horizontally to form two doors. Then I taped the bottom panel to the bottom of the doors. 

So, with the bottom panel taped this is what it looks like on the inside.

I formed the shelf using a piece of cardboard taped to the middle. Without the "support beam" it wouldn't be strong enough to hold something. I just took a paper towel roll and cut three slits at the top and bottom. Then, folded the flaps back and taped to the bottom of the shelf and bottom of the box.


Next I made the little door handles

First, I poked a small hole in the door panel using a tooth pick and pushed a piece of string through the whole then tied a knot. Second,  I laced the wooden bead through and tied it off at the other end. Lastly, I taped the back knot to the box to keep it from wiggling around too much. Repeat on the other side, make sure you line up your holes.

Once you have your doors in place you are ready to decorate. We didn't have good paint on hand and I didn't really have time to get too fancy with it. I just used a flower sponge to stamp on some painted flowers. Then I put some little boxes inside and filled them and the shelves with our fake food. I added a felt cutting board and a bottle with colored water inside.

Here is a picture of her kitchen area all set up. It includes a pantry, mini kitchen from her Grandma and her baby waiting in its highchair to be fed. I placed the mini kitchen on a sturdy cardboard crate and covered it with a blanket. This way it is a more functional height and baby G likes to climb up there to look out the window or sit and feed her baby on there. :)

This took about an hour. It was so fun :) Cant wait to see what she thinks about it in the morning!!


What toys have you made using a box??