Before & After: Crazy Beautiful Toy Kitchen

by jennae · 40 comments

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I like to think of myself as pretty crafty. I often see items in a store and think of a way (or find a tutorial) so I can make it myself. But no way in the world am I THIS crafty. I know the entertainment center above doesn’t look like much. And in its original state, it wasn’t much. Just a $30 thrift store find. But the enterprising grandparents who found it had much grander plans for it.

I usually post the “after” picture first, with a before picture later. This time, though, I want you to really appreciate how far this piece has come. I’ve seen a fair share of entertainment centers-turned-kitchens, but this one from Giggleberry Creations is by far the best.

Gorgeous! Those grandparents though of absolutely everything, from a window with a beautiful outdoor view to a refrigerator complete with shelves and baskets. Isn’t this about a zillion times better than a cheap plastic kitchen? I’d say so! You could just add some eco-friendly pretend “food” from Plan Toys, Green Toys, or Melissa & Doug and your kid would be ready to go! (aff)

Read the details at Giggleberry Creations.

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{ 35 comments… read them below or add one }

Lynn December 15, 2010 at 6:16 pm

I agree 100%, when I first saw this one I just melted. Not only is it better than the plastic ones, but it’s so much better than the wood ones that you buy that are SO expensive. I could kick myself that we got rid of our entertainment center years ago!

While this is entirely a different thing, I think you’ll love these little play kitchens (miniature) that are made from Olive Oil cans. I can’t find them online right now, but I think they are imported from Switzerland. They had them for sale in a little shop in Seattle, but never have seen them elsewhere. http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m180/lhc_2006/miniaturekitchen.jpg

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jennae December 15, 2010 at 6:46 pm

Lynn, I’ve actually seen those somewhere too, but I can’t remember where. They are adorable!

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Kathleen December 15, 2010 at 6:32 pm

Wow, that is just amazing! I have intentions of doing something like that sometime, though we’ll see if I go through with it!
Kathleen recently posted { Wordless Wednesday- Great Wolf Lodge }

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jennae December 15, 2010 at 6:47 pm

I am INCREDIBLY tempted to go thrifting to find an entertainment center, but we’d have no place to put it :(

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Lori Z. December 15, 2010 at 7:10 pm

It looks amazing and I love how detail oriented the makers were. I prefer the wood kitchens to plastic–though the plastic one we rescued from a thrift store required no work and we can pass it on too…
Lori Z. recently posted { The Last Time I Buy Discount Chanukah Candles }

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Melissa December 16, 2010 at 11:07 am

WOW! That is insane. I’ve never seen something like this before. What creative grandparents! LOVE IT!! I love the window too….I love everything!
Melissa recently posted { Living La Vie – A Design and Lifestyle Blog }

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Meg T December 16, 2010 at 4:56 pm

I love seeing how creative some people are. This is AMAZING!!!

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Mastercraft Kitchens December 16, 2010 at 8:56 pm

What a great idea and what a wonderful transformation of an old TV cabinet!

Well done grandparents.

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Laura Lambie December 13, 2011 at 3:03 am

wow, who would have thought. I could have never imagined making something like that

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squidelus December 13, 2011 at 10:06 am

No longer just a plaything… heirloom! Total win.

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jennae December 13, 2011 at 12:31 pm

You’re right on the money. I couldn’t wait to get rid of the plastic play kitchen that my daughter had when she was a toddler, but something like this could stay in the family and be passed down from generation to generation!

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Donne Cosenza December 14, 2011 at 6:40 am

Great idea for a post.Thank you!

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Mary December 14, 2011 at 4:47 pm

This is super cute and kids love to have their own kitchen to play with.
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Nikki December 15, 2011 at 12:32 am

This is simply amazing! I want to make one for my daughters. My only question is what did they make the microwave and stove top out of, they are so life like!! I just love this!

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Fiona Cooper (@nlpmum) December 15, 2011 at 2:35 pm

That’s amazing – well impressed – want to make one now…. even though I don’t have kids that age any more ;-)
Fiona Cooper (@nlpmum) recently posted { Christmas Games }

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Katy December 16, 2011 at 7:29 am

No Possible Way!!!! This is amazing. It’s the best make-over I’ve seen. Great Job!!

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Jennifer December 18, 2011 at 9:37 pm

WOW!

The only, absolutely only bad thing about this is that I bet it’s really heavy!
What a fantastic toy!

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Deb Cooper-Asberry December 19, 2011 at 7:55 am

This is adorable! Reminds me of the little wooden kitchens we had back when I was in kindergarten. Great re-use idea and so much detail… Love it!

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cathy December 19, 2011 at 9:55 am

I love this idea I cant believe how cute it is.
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Rachel December 19, 2011 at 10:50 am

Yes, I saw this one too. There’s also an unbelievable one on Instructables.com, made by a mom with no experience woodworking.

The easiest way to find the instructions for this is to do a search for “toy kitchens” under Google images. Then when you click on the picture, there will be a link to the website.
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Jen December 20, 2011 at 1:42 am

Omg that is Sokol awesome!

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Cee@SmookieStyle December 20, 2011 at 7:48 pm

This is just incredible – I’m kinda sad about our play kitchen now!! Not that I have room for one of this magnitude – but the organizational opportunities are endless!!
Thanks for posting this!

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Amalie December 21, 2011 at 12:50 am

Love it!!! Oh thanks for posting.

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sweetsugarbelle January 2, 2012 at 4:01 pm

absolutely love this. Hope to do something similar in the coming year!
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Kristyn Prout January 11, 2012 at 3:25 am

My son and I love, love ,love this kitchen!!! He is almost 7 and for Christmas three years ago all he wanted was his own kitchen. He has now requested an awesome one like this, and I wish I was a little girl again. Hahaha

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Alicia January 11, 2012 at 5:43 pm

what a transformation!

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Lynne Knowlton March 31, 2012 at 8:38 am

What an adorable idea, and beautiful !!!! I just love it. So cool to repurpose old things and create funky new life to them. Inspiring!
Lynne *_*.

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Kare April 27, 2012 at 10:30 am

That is SO Cute! It looks like a pie tin sink and wouldn’t it be cool if the “burners” were magnetic?
I live next door to a Goodwill (yes, be a little jealous lol), but the furniture there is ridiculously high! $30 per solid-but-scratched endtable, $10 per used lamp/$5 shade, $45 for a chipped/scratched corkboard-based computer desk…Those prices and this inspiration make you really rethink throwing anything out…ever. Thanks to the internet, all we have to do is plug in the name of an item and ask what to do with it. We don’t even have to be the creative ones. I love te internet :-P and I love your blog. Thank you!

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Trina May 19, 2012 at 10:04 pm

So incredibly sweet, as well as ingenious. The best part for me, though, is the love that went into it. I still have the handmade things my Mom and Grandma made for me.
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LarsLove June 26, 2012 at 2:58 pm

We couldn’t help but add this to our weekly segment. We have been waiting for an idea like this to come up. Check it out…http://www.larslovedesign.com/2012/06/26/weekly-craft-round-up-week-2/
LarsLove recently posted { Weekly Craft Round Up: Week 2 }

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Kimmy July 8, 2012 at 12:56 pm

This is amazing. We’ve been planning on doing this for our daughters birthday. Where did they find the mini sink?

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Corrina August 9, 2012 at 10:34 am

looks like a standard metal mixing bowl to me :)

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Corrina August 9, 2012 at 10:33 am

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!!!!

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Melissa August 29, 2012 at 10:39 pm

This is great! I just wish I was that creative.

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Victoria October 13, 2012 at 2:48 pm

I love this! I used to have an entertainment center exactly like that too! I bet you can find them a lot more cheaply these days because everyone is moving to flat screens and they are too wide for the older units. Craigslist or Goodwill probably has a lot of them!
Victoria recently posted { Lord’s Prayer Ring – $20.00 }

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