Ikea DIY Play Kitchen Makeover!

I am extremely excited to be sharing this DIY with all of you! I worked so hard on it, and I’m a very proud mama. Indie had a play kitchen that I accidentally broke. (Surprisingly not her… me!) So I decided to invest in the $89 Ikea Duktig kitchen as a replacement, giving it a complete overhaul to make it special, functional, and eye-catching in our house. Read on for a list of supplies, a written how-to guide, and of course detail shots of the finished product! The first thing I’ll say is that aside from these finished photos and the ability to screenshot what you’ll need, I urge you to check out my Instagram story highlight where I walk you through as much of this project as I possibly could on video. First, let’s start with a picture of what the Duktig kitchen looks like straight out of the box:

The first thing was to decide on an aesthetic, and to join the facebook group dedicated to this very craft (yes, it exists) to asks all of my questions as a novice DIY-er. Once I had all my supplies (which I’ll list at the end of this post with links to everything) I got to work. I unboxed the kitchen and used the instruction manual as a guide to put pieces into color coordinated piles. The bottom half of the kitchen would be a creamy neutral beige tone, the top half would be white (as well as the sink to create a farmhouse look) and the hardware (rod, hooks and faucet) would be matte black. I used painter’s tape to tape off a few sections to protect them from spray paint – the oven door, the microwave door, and the stove/cooktop as I painted the perimeter. PAINTING: I took all my pieces outside pile by pile and used a hand block sander to buff the wood pieces. Nothing crazy, just to give it a little grit for the paint to really adhere. Do not sand the plastic pieces, like the sink/faucet/etc. Spent all of 5 minutes on this part…. and based on how the paint job holds up, I guess we’ll know whether or not I should have taken it more seriously! Using plastic drop tarps, I began spraypainting. DO NOT USE PLASTIC DROP TARPS! I learned this the hard way because when I went to flip the pieces, they stuck. I quickly switched to a king size bed sheet and it worked like a charm for the following pieces. I also spraypainted the pots/pants/utensils to matte black to match.

The trick is to: Spray, wait an hour, spray again, wait an hour, seal. FLIP AND REPEAT. If you’re not in a time crunch, I highly suggest that after you seal you wait until the next day to begin the flip side. I really took my sweet time, and I’m glad I did. Once all the pieces were spraypainted their appropriate colors, I moved onto the real fun parts – the little details! BACKSPLASH: I had a very thin piece of plywood cut to size at Lowes to fit exactly inside the gap between the kitchen’s bottom half and top half. (Since you’ll ideally be hacking this project BEFORE putting the kitchen together, I’m here to let you know that the exact measurement you need to ask for is: 27 inches by 12 inches) I painted the back side of the plywood white, and left the side that would be tiled raw. I ordered some peel-and-stick subway tiles from Amazon (5 pack) and stuck them on, trimming the edges that hung over with an exacto knife. Better than scissors, trust me! Pro tip: I kept the remaining plywood since I paid for it anyway, and I used the remaining 2 tile sheets to make myself a little unboxing/detail shot “photo backdrop” to use in future social media posts… so if you’re a fellow blogger, having these extra materials might actually come in handy! This step is insanely easy and took all of 15 minutes. We’ll get to attaching it later on in this post. COUNTERTOP: My initial plan for the countertop was to use a wood stain for a butcher block look but I’m SO happy I went with contact paper for so many reasons! Contact paper comes in really cute prints – there’s faux wood, faux marble… but I fell for this really fun terrazzo print to add to the modern boho vibe that I was going for. I cut off just enough paper, leaving about 2 inches hanging off each side, and then I started the peel. It’s almost like you’re wrapping a gift – but you want to be super careful to smooth out any air bubbles. I used the edge of a credit card to get it really smooth. Go straight over the hole for the stove and sink – all the way to the other side of the wood. Tightly fold all four sides down – and when you get to the corners, I highly reccommend hitting them with the heat from a blowdryer for a few seconds to “melt” the paper just enough that it shrinks and molds down over the rounded corners instead of creating sharp edges. Once it’s secure, use your handy exacto knife to cut out the center portions of the sink/stovetop holes. Leave about an inch, making a slit on each of the four corners, and fold those corners down and inward. They don’t have to be fancy… They will be covered. And voila! Countertop finished! One note: Flip the plank over and puncture any areas where there are small holes for screws. This will help speed up the process later when you go to build the kitchen and put everything together.

• 

OVEN/MICROWAVE DOORS: I used rattan (otherwise known as ‘cane webbing’) to fill in the plexiglass, which I feel adds a little flair to the aesthetic and matches a lot of our baskets and Indie’s rattan doll stroller. Big fans of basket weave in this house! I ordered 2 feet and have a nice amount left over, so any ideas for another small DIY with cane webbing… send them my way! I cut the two pieces to size with about an inch hanging over each side and then I used gorilla glue to adhere. I did this at about 10pm, used some heavy trays and books to press down on the glued corners, and went to bed. The next morning they were super secure and ready to rock! I think the key to much of this project is to not jump the gun and to wait it out. Lots of letting things sit overnight to cure. This isn’t an overnight project but I promise it won’t take up all of your days, either. BUILDING: I put my husband Stephen to work for this part! He built the entire kitchen by the instruction manual with the exception of the backsplash, the sink, and the hardware. To secure the backsplash, I used the gorilla glue along all four sides and laid it down flat on the ground overnight (on a sheet). This likely would have been fine, but we wound up using screws/power drill later in the week to really make sure it was secure. The sink drops in, which is easy enough, but in true Liz fashion I wanted to up the ante and create an “under-mounted” look. I used the gorilla glue for this as well, and it stayed beautifully for about 48 hours before it came crashing down – and that’s where the power drill came in. My father came by and helped me screw the sink so it was secure. My recommendation is to know how to use a power drill if you’re doing this… or to just drop the sink in the way it’s supposed to! I have to say, though. The under-mounted look is REALLY chic. HARDWARE & EXTRAS: I bought some standard wooden knobs and used my gorilla glue to secure them to the kitchen just beneath the stovetop. They’re not “working” knobs they’re purely just for show. I did this while the kitchen was laying flat on the ground and once again I left it overnight to cure. For the handles, initially I was going to use matte black hardware but I wound up swapping for wooden ones to match the knobs. The handles need to be 5 inches hole-to-hole. Any handle should work. I’m glad I ultimately went with wood, because I’m actually collaborating with a company out of Australia called Petit Abode who has created a beautiful wooden stovetop to fit the Ikea Duktig kitchen perfectly – and they were kind enough to send one my way! I wanted to get this post up ASAP and it’s coming from the literal other side of the globe, but I’ll be sure to photograph that stovetop for Instagram as soon as I receive this product. I will not be sad about parting ways with the Duktig’s original stove for this one – it is so gorgeous!!! Wait ’til you all see it! I added two extras that enhance this kitchen – the first is a “puck light” which is a battery operated touch activated circular nightlight that is adhesive and sticks to anything. I put it inside the microwave (pictured below). The second is a matte black command hook for hanging an apron, a potholder, etc. And that’s all, folks! After touching up a few paint chips that happened during the building process and giving this bad boy a second really good coat of sealant once it was all put together, it was a wrap! It looks gorgeous, and totally blends in with the decor in our house. This project was so much fun for me, and there are so many ways that you can do this that are easier and cheaper, or even more elaborate than the enhancements I chose! At the very bottom of this post, I’ve provided you all with an itemized list of what I purchased/used as well as links to the products. I put about $200 into this but I also didn’t have many of the things I needed and I splurged on items like backsplash and cane webbing. Still, at $289 all in, this kitchen looks to be on-par with the $500-$700 kitchens you see coming out of Pottery Barn Kids! Check out the list and you’ll see that if you actively try to budget this (which is SO doable) you can come out having spent much less, for the same look! Enjoy the photos, follow along on instagram for the highlight tutorial in stories, and feel free to ask any questions that I may not have covered here!

SUPPLIES & LINKS: Kitchen – Ikea Duktig – $89 Pots/Pants – Ikea Duktig – $9.99 Plywood – $15 Peel & Stick tiles – $30 on amazon. 5 pack but you only need 3. Can also find a cheaper alternative but this is the kind I was adamant about having. Matte black paint – $6 (1 can only) Smokey Beige Paint – (3 cans @ $4 each) $12.00 Satin white paint – (3 cans @ $6 each) – $18.00 Sealant – (2 cans @ $8 each) – $16 Energizer puck light – $8.98 Sanding blocks (2 @ $5 each) – $10 Wooden knobs (4) – $3.96 Wooden handles (10 pack) – $14 from Amazon Scotch masking painter’s tape – $7.98 Gorilla glue – $4.98 Plastic dropcloths – $5.00 but unnecessary b/c sheet worked better Contact paper for countertop $7 Cane webbing via Etsy “Seatweaving.com” – 2 feet for $30. Command hook – $6.00 at Target