We decided for Christmas to treat Oscar to one bigger present rather than lots of little ones as the house is becoming rather full! Having seen how much fun he had with the play kitchens at toddler group and his obsession with opening and closing cupboard doors and carrying round random household utensils we knew a play kitchen would be ideal!
So we set out to find one! We ideally wanted a wooden one so it would be a little more sturdy and hard wearing than the plastic ones, we hoped! I trawled ebay for something affordable and a little bit different but just couldn't see anything that really wowed us for the money we'd be spending! We had a budget of about £40-£50 and soon realised his wasn't actually much when looking for a wooden play kitchen!
We wanted something, fun, colourful, something a bit different and that was clearly Oscar's own kitchen! We don't ask for much hey!
Well here were some of our favourites that came up within budget:
Mamma kiddies wooden play kitchen £35 with accessories! This was local to Southampton pick up so no delivery costs and comes with 2 pots, knife, spoon and fork. It has nice rounded corners and metal sink as towel rack features.
This is the Plum Hendon blue wooden play kitchen! Gorgeous vivid colour, features removable sink (for cleaning after messy play) an opening/closing oven door for those baked goodies, printed hobs and turntable oven knobs. This came in at around £54.99 so just over budget but with free delivery included so not a bad price.
What we liked about these was the price, the colours and the fact that they looked a little bit different, had a little bit of character to them! I must admit they alllook lots of fun and there is a huge range of these things on ebay if you want to shop around. These were just some of our favourites.
So, which one did we get? None of these! After asking family and friends there was one play kitchen that just kept popping up into conversation and that was the Ikea Duktig Play kitchen.
Why? Quality, value for money, features and fun! These usually come in two pieces the base with the cupboards, sink and hob units then the top which features a microwave and hanging rack.
A total costing of £69 but until early January Ikea were offering the play kitchen for a total cost of £49! Perfect!
So what's so great about the Ikea Duktig? Well firstly Oscar has played with one at playgroup and loves it! So we knew it would be a big hit! He loves opening and closing the doors, putting bits in the sink and most of all playing with one of its unique features- the light up hob!
This is the only play kitchen we'd seen with a light up hob and it really does make the kitchen look like a real one! Ikea also sell lots of nice accessories to go with the Duktig play kitchen including metal pots and pans, utensils and fabric foods!
Now the Ikea play kitchen is not bright, or colourful and is actually very neutral looking. You've probably seen one at a local nursery, childminders or play group and they seem very popular. We decided we simply adored the design with its little extras and microwave on the top (additional play features for when Oscar gets older and taller!)
We drove down to Ikea, picked one up and on wandering through the children's department Oscar had a play through the tunnels, pop up house and of course the play kitchen confirming our choice was a good one :)
Hubby worked really hard constructing it and a few days before Christmas is was assembled and hidden under a duvet cover so Oscar couldn't see it.
However Mummy didn't want to stop there and of course being into my crafts I couldn't resist adding a bit of customisation to Oscar's kitchen! That was when I came across the term 'Ikea Duktig Hack' people 'hacking' their play kitchens and customising their designs! So much fun!!! I had a good browse of lots of customisations online and there are some really creative people out there! I must admit I'm not so great with wood, building and other fixtures so the prospect of me changing the kitchen too much was terrifying!
That's when I came across an Orla Kiely inspired hack. Simply a bit of Orla kiely wallpaper on a back board and some lighting and the play kitchen looked transformed and a little retro looking!
This was the one! So I started scouring the web for Orla Kiely scraps of wallpaper to use, at £50 a roll I couldn't justify buying one for the small amount we needed. No luck on ebay, even the end of rolls were going for about £15 excluding postage and I just couldn't afford it.
So I emailed and phoned Orla Kiely direct to see if I could obtain a sample to use. I never got an email back and had little time so I spoke to a customer representative at their store in London. She informed me that Harlequin who make the wallpaper only provide A4 samples, simply not big enough for my project :(
I even tired writing on their Facebook page wall but again no luck! So, as a last chance I contacted Harlequin the people that manufacture the wallpaper. Their enquiries team got straight back to me and offered 2 large sized samples, I was over the moon! Finally I was getting somewhere! Problem was there was no guarantee that the two samples would line up together, the samples department would just send two pieces they had. I said ok to this as they had kindly offered to do all this free of charge for me including delivering the samples and was hoping that the two pieces may match up. I didn't get my hopes up though and in the mean time started to research other options for customising Oscar's kitchen.
A couple of days later and the samples arrived in the post! I unravelled them from the roll with low expectations and to my delight laid them out on the floor! They matched up perfectly! :)
I was over the moon with the colours and pattern! Lovely retro print and just what a funky play kitchen needed!
Grandad popped down B&Q to get some hardboard, we then cut it to size, and used wallpaper glue to attach our trimmed wallpaper piece.
We left this a day to dry and then Grandad mounted the board onto the back of Oscar's play kitchen. We then nipped to Homebase to look for some battery operated LED lighting. We simply screwed these on to the kitchen above the sink and hob to give it that modern look.
So here it is :) we also managed to pick up a kettle from Sainsbury's for only £1.99 that lights up and whistles and fits nicely in the shelving alongside some wooden play food from Tesco.
This was the carousel play food set for £5 and included a milk cartoon, salt and pepper shakers, knife & fork, plate, sausage, bacon, egg, bread, lettuce and cheese slices!
Oscar was lucky enough to have been given a pop up toaster from his Auntie and Uncle for his 1st birthday so we also popped that on his play kitchen! It has a very cute smiley face and came with a plate, knife and a pot of strawberry jam!
So there is our little man's play kitchen! It is a big hit and a joy to see him playing with it! I've since added a chalkboard to the side for him to scribble on and we're really pleased with it :)
The Ikea play kitchen is really sturdy and can be mounted to the wall for extra security, it is lovely just as it is but we had lots of fun giving it a little extra character, so hope you've enjoyed this read.
The Ikea play kitchen is really sturdy and can be mounted to the wall for extra security, it is lovely just as it is but we had lots of fun giving it a little extra character, so hope you've enjoyed this read.
Want to say a special thanks to Grandad Smith for helping me with the wallpapering, hard board and lighting and for Daddy for constructing the kitchen but also Harlequin Wallpapers for providing a beautiful sample for us to use free of charge!
