Play Kitchen?

$20

Dollhouse?

$10

Aching wrists and wonky cuts?

Priceless.

I promised some friends plans for BOTH a wooden play kitchen and a wooden dollhouse for (approximately) $30, TOTAL.

I wanted to wait and post these plans AFTER we had completed them, but since many of you want these done in time for Christmas, here they are.

OK, here goes! These toys are SIMPLE in design, to maximize your wood. You can decorate to your heart’s content after construction, and I will give some suggestions at the end.

Materials
- 1 sheet 4’x8’ ¼” pine plywood
- 1 sheet 4’x8’ ½” OR ¾” pine plywood- obviously the ¾” will make stronger toys, but if you have ½” lying around, or you need to save an extra few bucks, well, ½” is fine
- Screws and drill, circular saw, radial saw for trimming if necessary
- 4 hinges of your choice
- Optional: 1 plastic or st st bowl for sink
- Optional: 1 tension rod and 1 ‘curtain’ for under sink area
- Optional: jig saw if you want to set-in your sink
- Optional: faucet for sink
- Optional: 12’ of furring strips (these are cheaper 1x2s, or use regular 1x2s) these will greatly stabilize the kitchen, but you can skip these if you want, or add them later if you decide you need them- I highly recommend using them
- Optional: countersink drill bit, pine buttons, wood glue, veneer edging, iron

I assume the builder has some knowledge. This isn’t a beginner project; if you’ve never built anything, do some reading on the net and make some practice projects to get the idea before jumping in. Read ALL directions b4 beginning. These plans are my intellectual property and if you want to use them to build goods for selling, please contact me FIRST, diegopress@yahoo.com, thanks!!!

NOTE THAT THE SPACE BETWEEN SHELVES ON THE BASE AND HUTCH ARE NOT DETERMINED IN THESE PLANS- SPACE THEM AS YOU WISH. Don’t freak out if your cuts are off. Just make sure the thing overall is symmetrical. That’s why I don’t give finished dimensions, either. Your plywood thickness will determine them.

Main Construction Diagram for kitchen:

Main Construction Diagram for dollhouse:

Cutting diagram 1, for thicker plywood:
Wherever you buy your plywood, Home Depot, Lowe's, and many smaller hardware stores, they will cut your sheet for you into these first strips, then they will cut the strips into the lengths in diagram 2.

1st strip 11”
2nd strip 12”
3rd strip 12”
Remaining wood will be a 12 5/8” strip
***Each cut is a 1/8” loss, remember!!! That is why your remaining strip, after the first 3 cuts, is only 12 5/8” wide, not 13” wide.


Cutting diagram 2:

For the 11” strip-# 1, 11x34 #2, 11x34 #6, 11x21
For the 12” strip- 5 pieces (a,b,c,d,e) each 18” long, your scrap will be used to cut #12, later
Next 12” strip- 2 pieces (f,g) 18” long, #8&9 1 piece 18” long, oven door 18” long (that’s 4 pieces total each 18” long), #10 11”, #11 11” (these 2 will need to be trimmed by you later), remaining scrap will be for microwave door
Last strip- #3 12x36, #4&5 12x34”, #7 11x21
***************SAVE ALL SCRAPS***********************
• Note that your last strip is 12 5/8” wide. MOST but not ALL big stores will trim these pieces down for you to the needed width, but not ALL will do it, so be prepared to trim some of the pieces down to the proper width with your circular saw!

Cutting diagram 3:

• Make these cuts with a circular saw or a table saw if, lucky you, you have one; most stores will NOT cut these smaller pieces for you.
• Piece #12, microwave partition, should be cut to size AFTER construction of the hutch area, so you can fit it precisely

Start screwing the pieces together according to the construction diagrams. NOTE CAREFULLY THE PLACEMENT OF THE 1x2s IN THE FOLLOWING PHOTO, they are highlighted in green. You can sit the shelves on top of the 1x2s (bottom shelf of Kitchen, bottom shelf of hutch, bottom shelf of dollhouse, OR you can trim these shelves 1” in width so shelf and top of 1x2 are even, resulting in a more professional appearance:

1x2 under kitchen “counter” is set in, level with sides.

*** You can also skip piece #3 (kitchen counter) and use a piece of real countertop, or a solid board, if you wish.
***Screw faucet to countertop and cut out hole for sink bowl before beginning, if you want one. If you have no jig saw, a stainless steel brownie pan (8x8 or 9x9) can be glued or velcroed onto the countertop.

Dollhouse- if you have a jig saw, you cut doors and windows into the pieces before you begin. Use scraps to make room dividers, if desired. Construct house bottom and 1st floor, and walls, then decide how you will do the roof peak:

Obviously, if you don't have the tools to make a nice mitered roof peak, use a belt sander to get the angle you want and then butt the pieces.

You can make the roof as steep or un-steep as you wish; you may trim roof if overhang is to long.

Next, sit roof on house and sand the wall pieces to the proper angle. NOW screw top floor on below this angle, and then screw roof to house:

MAKE SURE YOUR TOP FLOOR SCREWS AND ROOF SCREWS AREN’T GOING TO RUN INTO EACH OTHER!!!

After the house and kitchen are COMPLETE, TRACE ONTO ¼” PLYWOOD. Cut. Use screws or finish nails to secure well to backs.

Use directions for your type of hinges to secure oven and microwave doors. Use scraps for handles, or grab a couple from the store. Use paint, wood scraps, or yogurt container lids sprayed black, for burners. Paint windows on oven and microwave doors, or use a jigsaw to cut. Add plexiglass if desired, but this adds a lot to the cost; plexiglass is weirdly expensive.

Finish raw plywood edges with iron-on edging, if desired. It’s not necessary at all, just looks spiffy.

Paint or stain, then oil or seal.

I recommend milk paint or an oil sealer, like the one from www.willowtoys.com. I am going to paint mine white with milk paint, then decorate with Pennsylvania Dutch designs (just google that), because that’s how my grandparents used to decorate the doll furniture they made my cousins and me when we were little! See examples of this in the book Prayer for a Child. SO CUTE! “Bless my little painted chair…”

PLEASE send me pictures if you make these. Good luck!!!! And enjoy.

Of course, if you find any errors in these plans, please leave a comment.