I know, I know. It’s been a whole year since I began working on my Ikea Duktig hack and I promised I would show you what I did but this year has just been so busy! I am here now mainly because if you plan on surprising a little one with this gift for Christmas you need to start now…
With a baby, a 1 year old and a business I did about 20 minutes work on this every evening for a few weeks to be sure it would be ready for Christmas. I wanted it built and sitting in the garage well before Santa and the reindeers were geared up on Christmas Eve so I wouldn’t be stressed!
So this is what I did: I bought the Duktig new from Ikea so I was working on this as an unbuilt piece but I have chatted to some who hacked theirs after they built it so either can be done but some elements may be easier from flat pack.
1) Work out what needs painted, what needs sprayed, what needs wrapped and what is fine left as it is. I decided to do our mini kitchen with a grey base and a white upper so I didn’t need to touch the door of the microwave. TOP TIP: Crown paint ‘Milk White’ is exactly the same colour as the white elements of the Duktig (well, it was in 2018, fingers crossed it hasn't changed!). I purchased this on a discount day and got a massive tin for about £9. I wanted the grey to match our sideboard (aka the holder of all toys and plastic crap) so I had to use Farrow & Ball ‘Plummett’. I would have a screw loose if I spent £50 on a tin of paint for a kids play kitchen so I bought a sample pot and used every last drop to be sure the colour matched as the Duktig sits beside the sideboard in the snug area of our kitchen.
2) The worktop. You could easily paint this or leave it as it is but I thought paint might chip off this surface as it would be a well used area so I opted to cover this with a plastic wrap. I ordered a marble effect sticky back plastic from eBay for about £3 and it was perfect! I thought this would be a really difficult part of my little project but it turned out to be one of the quickest and easiest. NB: I imagine this would be a little more difficult if your Duktig is already built.
3) Spray the tap, pole, hooks, hob surround, feet and sink. I used Rustoleum Metallic Chrome for “everything but the kitchen sink” (lol?) and used Rustoleum White Gloss Finish for the sink to give that ceramic look. I think I did this part first as I knew it would be easy and kinda fun - and it was. There was me, out in the garage spray painting like Bart Simpson… the results were really good, just remember to do light coats of spray paint and to spray items at different angles to ensure full coverage.
4) Paint everything else. This 100% took the longest time and is where my 20 minutes a night came into play. I used a mini roller for most of the painting and a small paintbrush for tiny edges. Very thin coats are a must - your first coat will look like a disaster but don’t panic! This will then dry and leave a nice matt coat for the next few layers to build on. I did 3 layers on my doors & other areas along the front and 2 coats on the sides to save my mini sample pot and because the sides wouldn’t really be seen where we planned to put the kitchen on completion.
5) Construction. My husband and I built the kitchen in about an hour. It was really fun to see it all come together but I did notice one little bar across the top of the doors that I missed and kept white instead of painting grey so I painted this after it was built.
6) Extras. I filled in the original handle holes with filler before painting as I wanted to add chrome cup handles (bought from eBay). You could simply spray the original bar handles chrome to give a nice effect or do what I did to make it a little different. I also made a herringbone splash back to prevent food/toys falling down the back of the kitchen when it was in situ. The little baskets below the unit are great for putting all the toy food, these are the ‘Byholma’ baskets from Ikea.
7) Fin. And it’s done. This kitchen is still used everyday by John and now that Emily is up and walking she loves playing with it too… here’s hoping they’ll learn a thing or two and can help me cook Christmas dinner for my whole family this year (16 of us) …I won’t hold my breath, I’m more likely to get a wooden sandwich with a side of playdoh.
Kerry x