I built an outdoor play kitchen for our little girls with a simple IKEA hack! It took me less than an hour to put the mud kitchen together, so our two happy girls could dive right into playtime while I added some fun accessories to the kitchen. Here’s my complete guide to building your own IKEA hack outdoor play kitchen.

Introduction to our outdoor play kitchen

Our two little girls love playing outside in the sandbox and on the terrace, so this year I decided they needed an outdoor mud kitchen. I wanted a play kitchen that I can leave outside even during the harsh Danish winters, and that’s perfect for playing with sand, water, flowers, and leaves.

You can build beautiful play kitchens using pallets or leftover wood, but this time I wanted to keep it super simple. With two eager girls waiting, I simply chose to use wooden crates from IKEA. I already had two crates in the basement that I had been using for storage, but I needed four, so lucky for me, we live very close to IKEA! Thirty minutes and two ice creams later, I had everything I needed to get started.

The outdoor play kitchen is made up of four wooden IKEA crates screwed together, with one end of the “countertop” replaced by a plastic box that serves as a sink. The sink has a reversible lid that resembles a grill and a stove. Plus, there’s a real water “faucet” on a shelf and small hooks to hang utensils.

The girls absolutely love their outdoor play kitchen and have already spent countless hours making us flower dishes, mud pies, and sand cakes!

Materials and equipment for the outdoor kitchen

Building a play kitchen with an IKEA hack this way requires some materials and tools.

Materials

• 4 x IKEA KNAGGLIG crates, 46 x 31 x 25 cm (18 x 12¼ x 9¾ inches)
• 1 x IKEA TROFAST box, 42 x 30 x 10 cm (16½ x 11¾ x 4 inches)
• 1 x IKEA TROFAST låg, 40 x 28 cm (15¾ x 11 inches)
• 1 x IKEA SMYCKA leaf garland
• 1 x water dispenser, approx. 3,75 L (1 gallon)
• 6 x right angle screws (for hooks)
• 2 x wooden battens, approx. 48-49 cm long (18.9 to 19.3 inches)
• Stainless steel screws (short and medium)
• 6 flat brackets
• 2 small angle brackets
• Black and silver permanent vinyl, plus transfer sheets (for grill and stovetop stickers)

Tools

• Saw
• Sandpaper
• Star head screwdriver
• Flathead screwdriver
• Cutting machine (e.g. Cricut) or utility knife (for cutting grill and stove stickers)

Outdoor play kitchen in less than 1 hour

The best part about this outdoor play kitchen is that the frame takes less than an hour to assemble! However, you will need a bit more time if you want to create a shelf for the water dispenser and make grill and stove stickers.

How to assemble the outdoor play kitchen

1. Screw all four sides together on two of the IKEA KNAGGLIG crates, leaving out the bottom.
2. Turn the crates upside down and place them side by side where the play kitchen will go. Lay the bottoms on top of each crate.
3. Screw three sides together on the remaining two crates (two short sides and one long side), again leaving out the bottoms.
4. Place these crates on top of the first two. Place a bottom on top of one of the top crates and place the IKEA TROFAST crate on the other as the sink.

6. Carefully break off the top two boards of the last bottom with a flat screwdriver. Cut off the remaining pieces for the backrest.
7. Screw the pieces you just cut off to the back of the kitchen, just below where the back panel will sit.
8. Secure the back panels to the back of the kitchen using flat brackets. Optionally, you can also add a bracket across the back panels to hold them together.

NOTE: If you want to cut a hole for the faucet, do this before attaching the back panels.

A faucet with real water

Having access to REAL water in a play kitchen is a fantastic feature, so I decided to add a faucet to the mud kitchen. Last year I bought a cheap water dispenser that the girls have been using to play with outside, and it fit the new outdoor play kitchen perfectly. I built a small shelf using two pieces of wood I had lying around and some leftovers from the IKEA crate. I cut a hole in the back panel so the faucet could peek out over the sink.

How to build a shelf for the water dispenser

1. Cut a hole in the bottom board of the back panel before securing it to the kitchen, so the faucet can reach the sink.
2. Take one of the boards you removed from the IKEA KNAGGLIG crate’s bottom. Cut it to length so it can be screwed to the back of the kitchen just below the back panel at the sink. Use short screws so they don’t poke through the front.
3. Cut the battens to the right height and attach them to the board with angle brackets.
4. Cut the remaining bottom board to length so it can serve as a shelf. Let it rest on the board you secured to the back of the kitchen and screw it to the battens from above.

Hooks for utensils

The girls have a collection of utensils they use in the sandbox, and they need a place to hang them in their new play kitchen. I bought some right angle screws from a hardware store and screwed them into the back panel by hand so the utensils can hang there.

Grill and stove top stickers

You can buy a lid for the IKEA TROFAST crate used as a sink, and I decided to use this lid as a removable and reversible grill and stove top.

I have a Cricut Maker cutting machine that can cut vinyl, so I designed a grill and stove on my laptop and cut it using my machine. I used black and silver permanent vinyl that can withstand sun, rain, and mud.

If you don’t have a cutting machine, you can draw with a marker or paint with durable paint instead. Alternatively, you can cut the design in vinyl by hand using a utility knife.

How do you like our new outdoor play kitchen? 😉 Let me know in the comments!