Kids Outdoor Mud Kitchen

Mud Kitchens seem to be all the rage at the moment so we thought why not show you how you can make your own. We used Decking for ours but you could use any timber you like. Just remember to protect it from the elements.

Here is the step by step video:

Materials Used:

• Decking
• Treated CLS Timber
• Screws
• Garden Paint
• Hooks

Tools Used:

• Handsaw
• Jigsaw
• Drill
• Paint Brush

• Sand Paper

The first step is to cut the pieces for the main framework. I used decking boards and treated cls timber for this as the mud kitchen will live outside. I started by cutting 2 pieces of cls to 50cm in length and another 2 pieces to 100cm in length. the shorter pieces will be the front legs and the longer pieces will form the back legs.

Next, I cut 4 decking boards to 50cm long. These will be used to join the front and back legs together. 1 Piece sits flush at the top of the front leg and is secured in place with screws. The other is slightly raised from the bottom of the legs and joined, again, with screws.

I repeated this step to give me 2 side frames that can be joined together to form the main frame to the mud kitchen. To join them together I cut another 4 pieces of decking to 90cm long. These were used in a similar way to the side pieces. They get attached with screws and join the side frames together. Again, the top pieces sit flush with the front leg and the bottoms pieces sit slightly up from the bottom.

With the frame done, it's time to work on the worktop. I first added a couple more pieces of cls timber between the front and back rails to offer up some support for where the washing-up bowl will sit. This got secured in place with screws.

I then cut the decking to 90cm long to form the worktop itself. The back piece to the worktop needed a notch cutting out in the corners so it could fit around the back legs. I did this with a handsaw.

There also needed to be some cutouts for where the washing-up bowl would later sit. So I sat the bowl on top and traced around it to give me a guideline. I made sure to cut inside the guideline with the jigsaw so the rim of the bowl would sit on the ledge. Those pieces could then be fixed in place with screws. Double checking that the bowl actually fits before I secure them all down.

At this point, I also opted to add a couple of pieces of decking to the top of the back legs along with a top shelf too. This will give us somewhere to hang utensils later.

I decided to add some storage to the bottom of the mud kitchen. I used off cuts of decking for this. I cut the pieces so they would fit between the front and back rails and then secured them in place with screws. This will be a really handy shelf for storing outdoor toys.

I then sanded all the edges and corners smooth, making sure there weren't any sharp bits left.

To decorate the worktop of the mud kitchen I painted 4 circles to act as a hob. I used garden paint for this so it will last out in the elements.

For the knobs to the hob, I first cut some wooden dowel to length. I then drilled a pilot hole in the centre and added a screw. I chucked up the screw in my drill and span it while holding sandpaper against the edge. This quickly rounded over the edges making it look like a cooker knob. I painted it while in the drill too. They then got attached to the front of the mud kitchen.

The last thing to add was the hooks. They simply screwed into the top pieces of decking. They're great for hanging up kitchen utensils.

Here is the mud kitchen finished. You can really tweak this design to make it your own. The basic construction is easily adaptable and sizes can be changed to suit your needs.

We really hope you like it!