Kitchenette from TV stand

Making a kitchenette from an old TV stand

My sister sent me a pinterest link (athomewithashley) and a ad on craigslist for an old TV stand, and asked if I would make this for my niece. How could I say no? Here's the inspiration and the TV stand.

 

 

1. This TV stand was on a swivel. So the first thing I did was take that off and kept the extra board (I later used this as a shelf and divider for the oven/cabinet separation). I also took off the very top shelf which would be used as the back counter/ back splash board.

 2. I wanted to add some extra counter space, so I decided to cut one side off so it could hinge down and either be used as backsplash or counter space. You can see in the picture below that one side is missing and the board is leaning up against the main piece.

 3. I then measured the height I wanted the divider to be and the width I wanted the shelf to be- so I could cut the extra board in 2. (It was almost cut directly in half but it was more important that I had the right height of the divider, and the leftover would be the width of the shelf).

4. To install the divider, I didn't have a good way to do it without placing screws directly into the top counter piece. If you have a krig jig you could probably bury the screws, but I just nailed directly from the top piece into the divider standing verticle. I flipped it over and did the same on the under side. I later puddied the screws to make them blend in (These holes were eventually hidden by the stove top circles and knobs).

5. I then painted the whole thing white. Lots and lots of coats of white.

(Here you can see my screw holes to hold the divider up... I had to do multiple coats of puddy and I didn't paint that area until it was finished.)

6. My sister bought all the supplies for this project, and we were trying to keep most of the products cheap so it didn't add up to being a lot (I'll later tally up the totals). She thought we could use this Tupperware as the sink. The size was good, but I thought the white plastic looked too cheap. I attempted to paint it, but knew the paint would likely not stay well. In the end, I tossed the Tupperware idea. I had an extra dog food bowl that we never used- it was stainless steel and the same size! I used that instead. You can't beat free!

I used my jigsaw to cut a circular hole so the bowl could sit inside the countertop/cabinet.
Tip: Find a bowl that has a lip at the top so it can rest on the countertop. Then use the bottom of the bowl to draw your circle on the countertop. Then cut around your outline. The bottom of the bowl should sit in the countertop, while the lip stays on top and holds the bowl on the countertop.

7. Next I installed the hinged countertop/ backsplash (on the right in the picture below). I struggled with this installation, and if you can think of a better way- go for it! I got a large hinge (sorry no picture) that when it folded backwards, it stopped at a 90 degree angle. This then acted as a hinge and a support for the countertop. However, the hinge isn't supposed to work this way- so in order to make it flush, I had to cut a small square on the bottom of the board to allow the hinge to actually sit inside of it.

(I didn't take an actual picture of what the hinge looked like, sorry)

                                                                          

 This is what it looked like open and closed! I wasn't concerned with the hinge being visible because I knew the tile would cover up the front side.

8. Next was cutting the tile. My sister bought laminate tile in 12 x 12 sheets. So I had to cut them down into 4 x 3 subway looking tiles. I measured it out on the backside of the tile and used Fiskars heavy-duty detail knife to cut the tile (make sure you have a lot of extra blades!) 

 After doing the initial cut, I had to bend the tile at the crease, and do a second (quick) cut to make sure I cut thoroughly through the laminate (for a smooth cut).

 

9. After I cut all the pieces, I sanded the edges down real quick to smooth out the edges

 

10. Then it was time to adhere it to the board! This board was the very top board that I took off the original TV stand that is going to be the very back counter. I hadn't adhered it yet because I thought it might be easier to apply the tile on the board first without it being attached.

 

 I'm a bit OCD so I wanted to have lines as guides to make sure I was putting the tiles on straight. I measured out 3 inches from the bottom and used a chalk line to make a straight line. I did that on repeat until the hole board was outlined.

 

The laminate tile does have a sticky back, but I didn't trust this glue to be the only thing adhering the tile to the board. I used cement glue and applied a thin layer on all the tiles before sticking it onto the board. I placed them in a subway tile layout. This cement glue worked well because it took 15 minutes for it to completely set, so it allowed me to push some of the tiles around after I adhered it on if I didn't like the way it looked. 

 For the pieces I cut to fit on the ends- I usually used them as the starting piece for the next row, so I didn't waste any! And yes, my dog was very helpful...

Here's a picture with the finished board put in place.

Then I kept going! Putting tile on the side back splashes.

Yay, the tile is finished! On to the next. (I adhered the back piece with a L bracket and screwed directly into the backboard and underneath the countertop).

11. Next I painted the doors. I used a green/blue color because I did love the color from the inspiration pinterest post. The black was chalkboard paint. I accidently painted both doors the same- but my sister wanted a differentiation between the oven door and the cabinet door (I totally agreed). You'll see it in a later picture.

In this picture you can see the knobs my sister bought- 2 for the stovetops, 1 for the oven. She also bought a basket which I painted to match the doors. I then painted the two stovetop circles black.

 12. Next was to adhere the basket and doors. For the basket, I just placed a screw through the mesh in the basket into the back counter (through the tile and all).

The doors ended up being a little trickier. I knew I wanted the cabinet door to open to the side and the oven door to open down. The cabinet door was easy- just used a simple hinge on the outer edge of the cabinet and the inside of the door.

The tricky part was the oven door. As you can see, this TV stand had a gap on the bottom of the cabinet which made me unable to place a hinge on the inside of the door and the outside/bottom of the cabinet (that would normally be how you'd adhere this hinge, and how the inspiration pinterest post did it). So I got a hinge that was a little elevated and placed it on the inside-bottom of the cabinet and the inside-bottom of the door. I needed the elevated hinge because it gave the oven door the right height it needed to keep an even gap on both sides.

The only problem with adhering the hinge this way- the door didn't want to stay shut, gravity wanted to pull it down (you can see the 5lb weight resting against the door to keep it closed). I tried adhering side arms as support, but nothing was working the way I wanted it to. Thankfully my genius mother thought of using a magnet! (seems so obvious now!)

 I tried a magnet from a craft store (right), but it wasn't strong enough. So I bought a strong cabinet magnet (left). (sorry for the blurry picture)

It worked! (See, no more weight holding the door shut?)

 13. I then glued down the stovetop circles and the knobs (there was still a little bump where my center screws stood for the divider- so I strategically placed the right circle stovetop and the far right knob to cover those screws).

14. I then drilled holes and attached the handles for the door.

15. Then I attached brackets on each side wall (4 for each shelf) to hold the shelves. The one shelf (on the right) I made from the extra board from the swivel piece the TV stand was on (see above for more detail). I wanted the oven shelf to be more like an oven rack. I had left over wire closet organizers, so I cut one down to fit the space of the oven shelf. It was already white- so it matched perfect! I used brackets as supports so the shelves could be removable if my sister wanted (especially so the oven rack could come in and out- like a real oven rack).

16. Next, I took a piece of cardboard and cut it to cover the back of the shelves. I had old boxes from our hardwood floor installation that were already white and large enough- so it worked perfectly. I didn't have any tacks, So I just screwed the cardboard back on.

 17. Last thing to adhere was the faucet! I bought one off amazon- it was the cheapest one I could find, so it was a real faucet (likely for an RV or some other small space). Since it was real, it had real plastic piping. Thankfully, my strong husband hand sawed the plastic off so it could sit flat on the counter. I used the cement glue to adhere it to the counter. And viola! It's finished and ready to be enjoyed.

 

 

Supplies and cost estimates:

 

TV stand- off craigslist- $3

Paint- already had so - FREE

Faucet- off amazon- $15
Cabinet handles- Home depot- $2 each (so $4 total)
Tile- Home depot- $1 each (used 5, so $5 total)
Bowl- already had so- FREE
Cement Glue- Home depot - $2
Cardboard circle stovetop - $.50
Knobs- Amazon- $10
Basket- $3
Hinges/brackets- already had most, bought large one at Home depot- $2
Cabinet Magnet- Amazon- $5
Oven rack- made from wire shelf organizer- already had- FREE
Total: $49.50

Tools I used and already had: drill, screws, sander, sandpaper, paint brushes, jigsaw, Fiskars heavy duty detail knife

Here's one from Toys R Us that's plastic, not as cute, and more expensive! I think, it was totally worth it :)