You know those times in your day that are just a little more difficult than all the rest? And… you can predict it…because it happens every day?

One of those times for me is around 6pm when I start preparing dinner. My generally well behaved and independent 2 year old becomes clingy and bored. Unfortunately, my 30 week pregnant body has a difficult time carrying him around the kitchen while I try to cook.

So I thought…..what if I get him a play kitchen, so that he could cook while I cook? Well I immediately started looking for play kitchens on facebook marketplace and craigslist, until I found a gender neutral kid kraft kitchen in pretty good shape for $10.

Not bad for $10, but now I had another obstacle. We have a pretty small living area and I have never wanted my house to be overrun with kids toys. I thought….If I’m going to have this kitchen out in our common space, It would be really great if it worked with the rest of my space. So I decided to make-over the kitchen…..and I AM SO GLAD I DID!

I decided I would use leftover paint from my own Kitchen Makeover I did last summer. I did wonder if I should leave the buttons and appliances the way they were, but they were not in the best shape. Plus, I really wanted to recreate the green cabinets with gold hardware in my updated kitchen, so I decided to paint them!

I’m not the best at documenting every step, but I will share the pictures I have. I took apart the entire kitchen and cleaned the surfaces.

Using a spray gun, I used leftover primer and sprayed one coat on each side. The pieces dried really quickly and I wasn’t concerned with it being too perfect, so I did ALL of the painting in one day. I made sure there was a great coat of green paint on every surface.

I decided to update the counter top with some marble contact paper I found at Walmart, for just under $6. I used a hair dryer to help around the curved edges.

I might be a tiny bit jealous of my sons marble counters….if only I had marble in my kitchen…;-)

I spray painted the handles gold and spent a couple of hours putting the kitchen back together.

Here are some shots of my son’s new kitchen! I absolutely love it and he does too! Including all of the accessories I spent about $30 total!

The tiny cactus plant and kitchen towel are from the Dollar Tree!

I found this trivet to use as a stove burner at Walmart for under $5. We drilled some holes and used epoxy to glue the trivet into the counter.

The wooden utensils are from the Dollar Tree. We cut them down to be more child sized, and drilled new holes for hanging. 

I found the metal bowl, pot, and measuring spoons all at a local thrift store. They were perfect in size and price for this budget kitchen!

I only bought one set of food. I was specifically looking for something cute, and that had every food group. This Melissa and Doug set of food was perfect!

Here is a side by side of the kitchens in my house 🙂

He loves it!

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