IKEA Play Kitchen Hack (With a Shiplap backsplash)

By Joan
November 21, 2019
No Comments

Welcome back. Today I’m working on modifying this Duktig Play Kitchen from IKEA.

I found my Duktig from the thrift store for $15. Perfect for my grandson for Christmas, who is getting close to 2 and loves helping Mommy in the kitchen. It was in great shape and wooden, one of the must haves for the parents.

I told the parents (son #2 and wife) I had gotten the kitchen because I didn’t want them to buy one too, and what do you know…they asked me if I was going to give it a makeover. They hadn’t even seen it and they asked me if I was going to change it.

Well, I wasn’t planning on it but then I google “IKEA Play Kitchen hack” and what do you know, it’s a thing. A ton of people have made over their play kitchens. So now I had to as well.

Gather Your Supplies

And now for a few supplies…I already had silver spray paint, black chalk paint, clear wax, builders adhesive, plywood backing board, wood flooring for the shiplap and packing tape on hand but I still needed to purchase gray spray paint, a stick on push light and marble contact paper.

Play Kitchen Back Splash

Take the top part of the kitchen off of the bottom. There are screws on the sides.

Cut a piece of 1/4″ scrap plywood to be used as the backsplash. Use a pencil to mark the outside edge, where you’ll be cutting, and also mark all along the inside of the cabinet.

I’m using a few pieces of old flooring as my backsplash. The flooring is lined up against the line I made that marks the inside of the cabinet.

This is tongue and groove flooring but I’m not fitting the tongue and grooves tight, I want the final product to look more like shiplap. Stagger the seams just like you would for flooring.

Attach with builders adhesive.

Before letting my backsplash dry, just wanted to make sure it still fits and it didn’t need any additional trimming.

Once the builders adhesive is dry, sand and paint the backsplash. Set aside to dry.

Take off the doors and unscrew the hardware.

Since this wood is very sleek, use sandpaper to rough up the surface and get it ready for spray paint.

Tape off any areas you don’t want sprayed.

To give the play kitchen the appearance of stainless steel appliances, use a silver spray paint on both doors. I’m treating these as an oven and a microwave. I did spray paint both sides but that is up to you.

I’m using black chalk paint followed by a coat of clear wax on all the handles and the faucet. The handles and faucet start out silver but I’m painting them black to give a contrast to the silver “appliances”.

Cover the Duktig Counter top

Cut a piece of the marble contact paper leaving ample room to fold over and secure to the bottom.

Center the contact paper and smooth it over top of your counter top as you slowly pull away the backing, smoothing out bubbles as you go.

On the underside of the counter top, carefully wrap the marble paper around the wooden top clipping corners as necessary and tucking the contact paper into the groove on the right (above).

My contact paper wasn’t really contact paper, but semi-adhesive shelf liner. While the paper was tacky, I used clear packing tape to tape down the edges on the underside of the counter top to reinforce the sticky.

Any rough edges around the sink or the stovetop will be covered when those are reinserted.

Poke holes thru the contact paper for the screws to hold the faucet and reattach.

Reinsert the stove and sink.

Sand, Tape and Spray Paint

Get top and bottom ready for spray painting, taping off any areas you don’t want sprayed and sanding any areas you are spraying.

Reattach all doors and hardware and the top of the kitchen to the bottom.

Attach the backsplash to the play kitchen. I’m using my heavy duty staple gun but small brads will work just as well.

I searched Home Depot for something I could use for my oven knobs. All the knobs and drawer pulls were way too large and stuck out way too far, nothing in plumbing either. I did eventually find these anti-skid pads near the hardware aisle. Perfect!

A little white paint and the anti-skid pads are now officially oven knobs.

Center and predrill your oven knobs.

You can use the wood screws the knobs came with to attach. Screw the screws in just shy of being super tight and the knobs will be able to turn.

Touch up the silver screws with black paint so they disappear.

Center your stick on light and you’re ready to accessorize.

By the way, my kitchen, being second hand, did not come with the hooks for the bar. I’m using some shower hooks I found at a thrift store a few years ago. You would have seen them first on my piggy pork bbq sign.