Monet-at-Giverny Play Kitchen

Materials: Akurum Cabinet, Magasin Dish Drainer, Baskets (possibly Branas) Duktig Play Sets, Non-Ikea parts: an old entertainment center and an old table which we disassembled for wood and parts, some brass fittings from a reuse center, paper 'tiles' created on Photoshop with a disk from the Rijksmuseum

Description: My daughter and I wanted to make my granddaughter a play kitchen similar to those posted here before. Then, we saw a picture of Monet's Kitchen at Giverny and decided to build the Monet Play Kitchen of our dreams. My granddaughter would have been as happy with something simpler, but building this was tremendous fun for my daughter and I.

We began with 2 Akurum cabinets from the As Is section. We used one on its side as the base for the range and sink. The second, which looks upright but is actually an over-the-refrigerator cabinet on it's side, became the refrigerator, with metal in/out trays for shelves.

We used wood from the entertainment center and some other scraps to form the interior section (stove basket shelves and under the sink). We had a plywood back cut to size at a hardware store. The feet on the refrigerator are cut down from the entertainment center. We added molding on the door and a handle from the reuse center.


I cut down a Magasin Dish Drainer and painted it white for above the sink. We spray painted several Duktig sets with copper paint for the batterie de cuisine. And we used Ikea baskets (I can't find the exact model) as the drawers.

The delft 'tile' backsplash is paper. The images of tiles are from a book and cd called 'Traditional Dutch Tiles Design, available from Amazon. We printed them out on 8 1/2 x 11 sheets and glued them to the plywood backing with Mod Podge.

The gold legs supporting the top piece are from a broken old table.

The 'country sink' is a salad bowl.

We bought some brass findings from a reuse center.

And we painted everything.

There are more details at my blog: Part 1 and 2.

~ Caro Style, Near Boston