(Photo: www.ohdeedoh.com)

From all of the things you can buy for your favorite girl or boy, why a play kitchen?

First and foremost, it creates interactive play. It encourages imagination. It allows your child to role play and cook like Mom or Dad. This is a great way to play with your child, and a great way for your child to play with friends. And if you choose, you can turn kitchen play into a learning opportunity. Play food can be used to teach about different foods and nutrition. Also social skills can be practiced with serving food and play eating together. What sort of play kitchen do you want? Children’s kitchens range from very small toy kitchens to very large and feature full. You can find a single unit kids kitchen, which include many appliances, to multi-piece kitchen play sets with individual appliances. Choosing a play kitchen set depends on the age of the child, your budget and your setting. It also depends on your personal philosophy. Where is that play kitchen made? Is it eco-friendly and made with sustainable manufacturing and fair business practices.

Ikea-based toy kitchen. Photos: Ohdeedoh.com

Ohdeedoh highlighted a great play kitchen project made from a $15 bedside table from IKEA and related parts. The hardest part of projects like this is cutting a round hole, which requires a bit more toolage than the rest. Then again, I never knew you could get jigsaws so cheaply – Black & Decker isn’t the best toolmaker out there, but this $30 model gets high marks from consumers. (You’ll need a drill too for a starter hole, but most families have that already!)

What kinds of play kitchens are available?

Single Unit Kitchens – These play kitchens include many appliances such as a stove, oven, microwave and sink in one unit. These units have a “front” and “back”, so that they can be placed against a wall. Typically this style of toy kitchen is either a “assembly-required” wooden kitchen or it is made from molded plastic. A typical large, self-assemble wooden kitchen measures about four feet long, four feet tall, and about two feet deep.

Island Play Kitchen – These are stand-alone pretend kitchens. Children can play on all sides of these kitchens. Island play kitchens also feature various combinations of sink, stove, ovens and microwaves. Toddler kitchens are typically this style.

Complete Kitchen Play Sets – We are talking about a multi-appliance set here. There are separate toy stoves, toy refrigerators, toy microwaves, toy sinks, and toy dishwashers.

Table Top Toy Kitchens – These are small, typically “two burner” stoves, that are designed with portability in mind. These pretend kitchens can be moved from room to room and be used on a table, shelf or even the floor.

Natural wooden kitchens – These kitchens are made from solid wood and not particle board. Many of the “assembly-required” are made from laminated particle board and are still considered wood by the manufacturer. The natural wooden kitchens are typically made from spruce, pine or cedar. Many of these designs are more abstract in nature. That is they do not offer realistic detail; however, there is no mistaking that these are play kitchens. They usually combine a sink and stove and have moving parts. It is just that the details are left to the child’s imagination.

Canopy of Curtains

Held to the side with fabric ties, pleated floor-length drapes create a canopy effect in the master bedroom.

Short Shutters

Turn-of-the-century furnishings include painted half shutters across the bottom of the windows and a swag of striped fabric across the top.

Consider Curtain Lining

Line curtains with thick, dark fabric to cut down on glare in naturally bright rooms. Lining also helps protect drapes from dust and color fading.

Unifying Design

Yellow and blue toile covers French doors in the dining room and windows in the kitchen, unifying the two separate spaces.

Lace Garland

Instead of full window treatments, string a lace border along kitchen windows. It will let more light into a dark room and add vintage charm.

Vintage Shutters

Vintage louvered shutters replace curtains or blinds, making the window a focal point in the red-and-white dining room.

Bay Window

Red print fabric hangs artfully in front of this kitchen’s small bay window.

Double Treatment

Sometimes two window treatments are better than one. A swag of red-and-white gingham hangs over white hinged Colonial shutters.

Single Pattern

In this small guest room, a single, blue-and-white pattern covers the walls and a traditional valance, as well as accenting pleated shades.

Contemporary Villa Design by M Architects
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This home design architecture concept based on surrounding landscape, which is disused limestone quarry .With T-shaped architecture structure, this house design is exciting. The upstairs floor growth form conjunction axis of house structure, provide intuitive bedroom modern design with fireplace inside and comfortable bathroom interior design, also small nice balcony for landscape capture. In fact, [...]

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Color decorating ideas, to me, are just that: ideas to be played with. Through experimentation you will soon learn that, yes you can use deep plum on one wall and a deep pink on the other three walls, with a terracotta carpet to finish. With white for the ceiling, coving, fitted furniture and door, the [...]

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Modern And Comfortable Interior Design, black and white decorating.

A big and all white kitchen, the island of the kitchen can also be  used as a dining table

A simple black and white dining room with contemporary style.

Contemporary white kitchen

Minimalist living room design

A modern dining room decorating with Gray and white

In this Chrysalis Award winning kitchen remodel, KitchenMagic, a custom refacing and cabinetry company, designed a room that made a smart use of space that is not only functional, but livable.

All the custom cabinetry allows for perfect storage solutions, which is essential to the functionality of a kitchen.

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A new kitchen from Alessi, Original, plain,  and beautiful. This unit will probably work best in an open plan room like the one in the photo because it shows off the shape and form of the unit to the maximum. Do you want to own a kitchen like this, with an arc-shaped cabinet? I think it is not gorgeous, keep low key is good. [Read more →]