Cardboard box or kitchen appliance?

It's been rainy and grey the last couple days here so we've been doing more indoor activities with my son.

And I finally made a low-budget version of something I've been wanting to make my son for a little while - a kitchen set.  Originally I wanted to make one out of a refurbished end table like I've seen out in blogland, but lack of tools and budgeting have held me back.

Instead, I just decided to repurpose a cardboard box.  This particular one was a diaper box, but as you can see it has been reincarnated as a hardcore stainless steel appliance.  It only took some silver spray paint, my hot glue gun, some painter's tape, and a little less than $20 in random "hardware."

A plastic valve, an elbow joint, and a little cap underneath became a faucet and a 15cm round baking pan became a sink.  Don't forget to wash your hands before you start cooking!

A pair of wooden cabinet knobs became the oven and stove dials.

A 6-inch burner pan and 3 jumbo craft sticks painted black for a burner.

Another cabinet door handle and a dishcloth for an over door handle and a dish towel.

And, for a little extra storage (because what chef doesn't need more storage), three cup hooks to hold a set of pots and pans.

Tip of the day: if you try this do not use clear packing tape - use painter's tape.  The spray paint will not adhere to the packing tape, but does adhere to the painter's tape.  Use a hot glue gun to seal the various parts to the frame where necessary and for added stability and extra masking tape across all the seams helps a lot too.  I know that typically you'd think that cardboard wouldn't hold up for long, but those diaper boxes are pretty sturdy.  I think we'll get plenty of use out of this one.

Not the clearest picture, but here's my little chef in action - baking an orange and an ear of corn for me. 

The plastic basket of fruits and veggies was $5 and the set of pots and pans were $12.88, both at Wal-mart.

I'll be linking this up at Met Monday and a bunch of other fun link parties...