Play Kitchen DIY

It’s no secret we’re big fans of imaginative play here at Bitte. So when our social media gal told us she was remodeling an ikea play kitchen for her daughter’s first birthday, we asked her to share the details. Scroll down for DIY and before and after pictures!

My daughter, Layla, turns 1 later this month and I was struggling with what to get her. I wanted to make something special that I knew she would get good use out of for years to come. Googling “gift for a 1 year old” turns up a plethora of colorful plastic activity games. And while those certainly have their place in a pile of birthday gifts, it’s just not what I wanted to gift her.

I’m not much of a DIYer, but never fear, this one’s pretty easy! Inspired by one of my all time favorite kitchens, here’s how I did it. The idea of a play kitchen came to me one day while perusing Pinterest late one night. I finally settled on IKEA’s DUKTIG Play Kitchen. It was super basic, but I had seen plenty of DIYs online and knew I could make one too. On the shorter side (hello 16th percentile) she’s not quite tall enough to enjoy it yet, but I know it’s only a matter of months before she’s whipping me up some invisible blueberry muffins-- yum!-- and I know she’ll enjoy it for years to come.

What You’ll Need:

• IKEA Duktig Play Kitchen
• Marble Contact Paper
• Paint (we used Gina’s Eyes by Valspar)
• Gold Spray Paint
• Screw Driver
• White Foam Poster Board
• Drop cloth or other surface to paint on

What To Do:

The first thing I did was assemble the bottom part of the kitchen and painted it. Then I painted all the remaining pieces for the top hutch.

After having done this, I recommend painting all the pieces first before assembling.

Next, I covered the surface of the stove with duct tape and spray painted the edges, the hanging rod, the sink and all of the handles.

While everything was drying, I covered the counter top with the marble paper. The contact paper is pretty forgiving, so if you mess up you should be able to peel it back off and make adjustments.

If only remodeling an actual kitchen were as easy as rolling out some marple printed contact paper!

The final step was to place the poster board behind the kitchen as the backsplash. First I put it in place and traced along where I would cut it. Then I trimmed it, wrapped it in the marble contact paper and taped it to the back of the kitchen.

That’s it! Super easy.

We are going out of town for Layla’s birthday, so we gave it to her early and she loved it! She especially loved the pots and pans.

Pictured: Spoon and Fork Set, Cereal Bowl with Suction Foot, The Forest Feast Cookbook, Veggie Basket, Rylee and Cru Floral Bubble Onesie, Magnetic Fish

Other favorites: Toy Kitchen Utensil Set, Toy Cookware Set, Brushed Twill Apron w/ 3-piece Tool Set

You can follow Leslie and Layla’s adventures on Instagram here.