Materials: Apa storage box, Tag handles, Duktig mini-kitchen
Description: My boyfriend's sister and I wanted to give her 2-year-old daughter the Duktig mini-kitchen as a birthday gift, but we were unimpressed by a few things:
1) It's boring. Adults might like the minimalist, white and natural wood look, but no little kid is getting psyched over that.
2) No fridge. Where do you store all your play food?
3) The oven has a shelf in it instead of an oven rack. Not very realistic.
We fixed these issues pretty simply, basically by painting the hell out of it. As for the missing fridge, we used an Apa storage box on its side, spray painted metallic silver on the outside and painted white on the inside. We attached hinges to keep the door on, and used Tag handles in two different sizes to act as freezer and fridge handles. I used my Cameo cutting machine to design and cut out a Frigidaire-style label with her name on it for the front of the fridge, just to make it that more awesome. The stove situation was solved by painting the shelf grey and drawing a grid on it with a Sharpie.
My niece loved the finished product and it was definitely the highlight of her birthday.
~ Adrienne, New Hampshire
I LOVE the fridge! I just HAVE to copy that great idea as we have the same problems of missing storage space for the "food"!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
Very well done! Lucky kid.
ReplyDeleteThe fridge opens to the wrong side though...
It will teach Laila good kitchen design!! LOL
DeleteBut otherwise it's a really fab fridge, and the first one I've ever seen in these play kitchens.
Not if they move it to the other side of the stove/sink.
DeleteAbsolutely fabulous! Just sad my little girl is already 6, she would have loved it.
ReplyDeleteWell done, thanks for sharing
So cool :-))
ReplyDeleteVery cute. The fridge open to the same side as the one in our kitchen.
ReplyDeleteMost fridges have the option to open on both sides - you choose where to attach the handles and hinges.
ReplyDeleteBut I think it's really cute!
Love the fridge! Very creative.
ReplyDeleteFor us, this has not been necessary (so far:)). We've been adding supplies to our Duktig kitchen (for about 2 years?) and I'm amazed that with all we now have, it all still fits well and organized in the original kitchen. (We use the right door as fridge.) But I love your fridge hack and will keep it in mind if we ever need to add on to ours.
For us, the purple and pink would be over the top (definitely not the colors our girls would want ;)), but you did a wonderful job with it and it turned out great. So glad the little girl in your lives is having fun! Well done!
wow! A uber cool gift for a birthday. Liked the color combination of the counter top.
ReplyDeleteIt looks lovely, but for me one of the main pluses of the Duktig is its neutral look. I really don't need any more pink for our girl then she's alreay overexposed to. And girls do like neutral too, in my experience at least.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, it does look nice and it is a nice coloring hack.
That's awesome! I agree that, while I really like the white and wood look it comes in (being that my kitchen is exactly that), I would struggle to get my little girl excited about it! We're looking at getting the Duktig kitchen for her and the addition of the fridge has sealed the deal!
ReplyDeleteReally? My little girls love their Duktig kitchen and were super excited to receive it. Just goes to show how different we all are as people. :)
DeleteVery well done. One minor detail though: if you spend so much time on a paint job (and a good one), please get a ruler to draw lines. The fridge/freezer line distorts the nice effect.
ReplyDeleteI might update that fridge/freezer line soon, although I think the reason I free-handed it was because I didn't have a straight edge on hand that was short enough to fit in that space. The raised frame around the edges also adds a bit of distortion, I think.
DeleteAwesome!!How did you punt shelves in the fridge? I want to copy your idea!!
ReplyDeleteI love it! I would love to see some photos from inside the fridge and of the oven rack. These would be the perfect additions to our Duktig kitchen.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea! My SON loves his IKEA kitchen (we didn't repaint ours). The fridge is a fantastic idea, absolutely love it! How did you put shelves in it?
ReplyDeleteI have been up all night search for exactly what you have created. What a great idea! I agree the refridgerator is a key feature. I too am interested in how you put the shelves in. And what sequence/method you used for painting it. I am not handy at all but really would like to spruce the kitchen up a bit and add a fridge.
ReplyDeleteCan you tell me how tall the counter is? We have a pink retro kitchen and its now way too short. I am looking at getting her something that fits her better
ReplyDeleteIt's about 23 inches at the highest point, but it can be adjusted a few inches down into two other positions. We bought this for our son and purchased an Akurum cabinet frame(birch) that was 15x39 and two seperate Harlig (white) doors that were 15x15 and 15x24 for the fridge freezer part. A couple of Rationell(white) shelves and we had ourselves a fridege/freezer for about 60 bucks. (Canadian). My next projet is another Akurum 15x30 cabinet im going to turn into an upper storage cubby and lower washing machine.
DeleteThis sounds like a fabulous idea for the fridge. Planning a trip to Ikea this weekend so I really appreciate the info. Did you use anything for the top of the cabinet since it is a base cabinet?
DeleteShelves? What did you use inside the frig?
ReplyDeleteI'm going to use this idea for a fridge too but I am putting shelves/containers in the fridge. My 18 month old is going to love this in our new place. I guess it's a "half-birthday" gift :) Maybe she will find it set up after her shots on her 18 month visit to the doctor :)
ReplyDelete