Mud kitchen

I built a mud kitchen for my kids. It has a functional foot-pump-powered double sink, a pretend stove and oven, and some handy storage space. I had fun building it, and the kids seem to be having fun playing with it.

The whole thing cost about $300, and I probably spent 10-15 hours on it. I used pressure-treated wood, our old sink (I recently replaced the real kitchen sink), a leaky faucet bought on Facebook Marketplace, the Tye Works standard hand wash system foot pump, and a bunch of dishes bought at Goodwill. The stove burners are just painted on, and the knobs to control them are large plastic bottle caps.

The trickiest part was figuring out how to hook the foot pump up to the sink. It’s meant to be clipped to a bucket and includes a simple brass spout. I wound up removing the metal bucket clip and then clamping a piece of the faucet supply hose onto the brass spout. It’s not the prettiest, but it works.

There’s a big plastic storage container under the sinks. The pump pulls water from the container, and then it drains back in from the sink. We keep the lid on the container when it’s not in use to prevent mosquito breeding. My goal was to avoid running the hose or having the kids constantly asking for more water, and it seems to be working.

The below planning sketch is mostly accurate. I mounted the shelf supports horizontally instead of diagonally. I also had to tweak the door a bit, cutting the bottom front piece diagonally on the ends so that it could open all the way.

So far the kids have just “cooked” with water and bits of plants. I’m sure we’ll get some real mud cooking soon.

You can find the Tye Works standard hand wash system at https://tyeworks.com/products/standard-hand-wash-system-by-tye-works.