Kitchen Tutorial: Part 1 (Supplies, Pointers, and the Sink)

AKA How to Make a Kitchen from Scratch

Or at least that is what it felt like when I made this:

And since I have a few people asking how to make it (Cami and Lisa!), I’m gonna try to tell you how to do it.

First of all, I want to give some credit where credit is due. I got the idea from Parents Magazine (you need a subscription to see the article online…boooo!) but I heard Family Fun had something similar. I found it here, if you want to make theirs. ‘Cause after reading my instructions, you’ll be confused and go there anyway, right? Just thought I’d save you some time. I didn't do their plans because I already had plenty of cardboard boxes in my home and I didn't want to by the "right" ones to do what they outlined. And everyone who needs a kiddie kitchen has diaper boxes around, right?

Plus, I think this project is big enough to post a tutorial on each part of the process. So this installment will have the supplies list, some basic pointers, and instructions on making the sink.

One thing I did learn was that Huggies changed the size of the #4 diaper boxes on me, so I had one box that was big and one that was about an inch smaller in each dimension. So, I can’t give you exact measurements for this tutorial in case you have a smaller box than me (which is likely). I don’t even know if they make mixing bowls small enough to use for a sink in the smaller boxes, so just eyeball it with me. Have I lost you yet? Probably….

Supplies:

• 2 or 3 diaper boxes (I used Huggies size 4 from Costco, the rectangle size)
• Colored contact paper (I used white, but you can go plaid or whatever floats your boat. Just remember that if you have patterned paper, you’ll want to match up the pattern on the box and other layers so that the seams don’t show. So never mind, go white. Save yourself some aspirin.)
• Clear contact paper
• Mixing bowl with lip (I got the smallest metal one they had at Walmart for $5)
• 12 inches of rope or string
• Recyclable items around your house (bottle lids, bubble bottles, stickers, cloth napkin)
• Dowel sticks (or a stack of popsicle sticks glued together)
• Hot glue gun and hot glue
• Razor blade pocket knife (cut away from yourself, people. I am not gonna drive you to the ER!)
• Scissors
• Ruler or square ruler (the kind you use in woodworking; I used a clear sewing ruler for my cutting mat and it was perfect)
• Pencil or pen
  

*Note: Because I measured funny on my own box, I needed two other diaper boxes to provide enough cardboard for the shelves and the inner wall. If you have the same problem but only had 2 boxes available, just find cardboard somewhere and use it. Even a cereal box would be okay, but a little flimsy.

To Cover The Kitchen:

Step 1: Cut off the open flaps on one of the used diaper boxes so that one long end of the box is permanently open. This is the bottom of your kitchen and it really helps to have it open while you work.

Step 2: Cover the rest of the box with contact paper. I let some contact paper hang over the bottom so I could wrap it around the raw edges of the cardboard so my daughter wouldn’t get cardboard cuts. Those things hurt! I also recommend doing this twice so that the box printing doesn’t show through. I really didn’t want an upside-down “Huggies” showing through the first layer of contact paper!

To Make The Sink:

Step 1: Trace the mixing bowl on top of the box to one side (the other side will be your stove/oven). DO NOT CUT THIS CIRCLE OUT! You’ll want the sink hole to be smaller than your bowl so that the lip of the bowl will sit on the cardboard. I almost made that mistake and was really glad I caught myself.

Go back around the circle you just traced and draw a new circle inside it so that the space between the circles is roughly the size of the lip of your bowl. Now, cut the smaller of the two circles out with a razor blade.

Step 2: Put your bowl in the hole you just cut. Tada! You have a sink! If you want, when the whole kitchen is done, glue the sink down using some hot glue. I chose not to, and it was helpful to have the sink removable while I worked on the fridge/freezer, but my daughter has figured out how to remove the bowl, so it will need to be glued eventually.

Now, onto the Fridge and Freezer!