Remember how we DIYed Clara a play kitchen last Christmas? It was a huge hit—still one of the few toys she plays with every day—so we decided to expand it. More kitchen = more fun.
What was missing from her setup? A refrigerator. Fortunately, we’d saved an extra cabinet from a remodel that had been waiting in the basement for just such a project. It came from the Habitat for Humanity Restore and had been sitting around for nearly a year, ready to be fridge-ified.
The cabinet had a few issues: recessed sides, no shelves, and doors that needed work. The first step was simple—remove the doors and add shelves. I used a single 10″ wide pine board from Home Depot and cut three shelves to fit the cabinet, attaching them with screws through the sides. For Clara’s play style, wider shelves spaced about 7″ apart worked best to accommodate taller items she likes to store.
Next, I covered the recessed portions on each side so the cabinet would read as a flat box and conceal the screw heads. I cut plywood panels on the table saw, glued them in place, and clamped them while they dried. The plywood cost about $8 total for both sides and the top panel.
After the glue dried and the panels were secure, I lightly sanded the doors and cabinet face—just like we do when prepping real kitchen cabinets. To make the front magnetic like a real fridge, we applied three coats of magnetic primer. We’ve used the same can on other projects and found multiple thin coats give the best hold. Remember to shake the can well so the magnetic particles stay suspended.
With the magnetic primer on the doors and regular primer on the rest of the cabinet, it was time to paint. We kept the exterior white to match Clara’s existing kitchen and painted the interior a light blue (leftover Sylvan Mist by Benjamin Moore) for a “cool” feeling. The exterior was painted in a semi-gloss white (Decorators White by Benjamin Moore). The white frame took one coat over primer, while the doors needed three coats to cover the dark magnetic primer.
I reattached the doors with new hinges and added matching pulls to coordinate with the rest of the play kitchen. The hinges and pulls were purchased from Home Depot for just over $17 in total.
We briefly considered adding a logo to the fridge front to make it read less like a cabinet and more like an appliance. Sherry found scrapbook stickers that resembled stainless steel, and we debated names—“Cool” versus “Chilly.” In the end, the clean look won out, and we left the front unadorned so Clara wouldn’t peel anything off in seconds.
The finished fridge sat next to Clara’s original play kitchen and looked ready for Christmas morning. Of course a fridge needs play food, and most of what we used was already on hand from last year—Melissa & Doug sets we’d bought at a discount. We also added a few DIY items and small extras to flesh out the pretend pantry.
Small additions included tiny Ben & Jerry’s cartons (emptied, after a taste test), wooden eggs and crates from Michael’s, and little Chinese takeout containers. Sherry even found a thrift-store rolling cart for $5 that’s perfect for holding produce and pantry items while doubling as a mobile grocery cart.
Here’s a simple budget breakdown for the fridge and cart:
- Cabinet – already owned (approx. $15 originally)
- Wood for shelves & sides – $14
- Primer & paint – already owned
- New hinges from Home Depot – $5.25
- 7″ hardware handles from Home Depot – $12
- Unused stickers – $5 (with 50% coupon)
- Thrift store cart – $5
- Wooden eggs, crates & takeout containers – $6 (with 50% coupon)
- Tiny Ben & Jerry’s cartons – $2.50
- Other play food – already owned (about $30 originally)
- Total: $50.75 (roughly $95 if you didn’t already have the cabinet and play food)
Under $51 for a fridge and a rolling cart felt like a great value, especially compared to the original play kitchen cost. The magnetic doors are a favorite feature—we can already picture Clara hanging her drawings and making little lists in her own handwriting.
We’ll share photos and video of Clara opening her gift soon. For anyone working on last-minute projects: are you making anything special for the holidays? Are your kids obsessed with play food too? We’re finding that play fruits and veggies are usually life-size, while pantry items are often smaller—an amusing inconsistency between toy sets.
Psst—there’s a short video of Clara playing with her kitchen available on our site.