How to add running water to your KidKraft kitchen
Do you remember the toy sink with circulating water that was one of the “must-have” toys for Christmas 2017? I wanted to buy one for my son, but they were sold out EVERYWHERE. Not to mention, we already had a toy kitchen and my husband hates toy clutter. So, I just thought I should try to add water to the set we already had. I purchased Enzo’s kitchen second hand for $25, so I wasn’t too worried about ruining it. As luck would have it, I figured out a pretty simple way to have water circulating through it.
A fair warning, you will have to drill holes in your kitchen, you will most likely develop water damage, your child is likely to dump water on the floor, and this probably voids any warranty you may have.
If you are still with me, grab your allen key set and let’s pretend we’re plumbers!
**This is a project that is best done sans child, just since there are drills and hot glue involved. If you can’t wait until nap time, use common sense precautions...keep your hot glue gun out of reach without the cord dangling low enough for tiny hands to grab! Keep your drill out of reach as well!!!
1. Using an allen key, unscrew the faucet mount from the top of the kitchen. Slide out the sink.
2. Next, drill a hole in between the screw holes from the faucet mount on the top of the counter behind the sink bowl. The hole needs to be at least as wide as the hose you will use to run the water. It should be as directly under the faucet as you can get.
3. Remove the faucet from the silver mount. You will not use the screw to put this back together, so I would recommend throwing it out or putting it in your pickle jar full of extra screws. I widened the opening of the faucet on both ends, again trying to match the width of the hosing. Go SLOWLY and gently!
4. Take a length of hose a bit longer than you think you need (just in case!) and run it through the faucet starting at the base. If it is a tight fit, you can grease it with some cooking spray. Push the hose until it reaches the mouth. Next, run the hose through the opening in the mount. Affix the faucet into the mount with a bit of hot glue.
5. Feed the hose through the hole you made on the countertop between the mount screw holes. You can now reattach the mount.
6. You should have a long enough hose to reach the bottom of the cabinet below the sink, with maybe a bit of excess. Trim your hose if needed and then attach the hose to the pump. (I used something like this pump.) The power cord of the pump can be fed out of the back opening of the cabinet. Find an empty container for your water reservoir. I used an empty fruit salad container because it was the biggest I had available that would fit in the cabinet. The pump can be placed into the water container. Fill with water. (Don’t run the pump without water, it will break!)
7. Take your sink bowl and drill a series of holes in the base. This just needs to allow the water through so the water can circulate. Take a funnel and hot glue it to the underside of the sink. Optional: attach a hose to the funnel. I added this after running it for a while because I found it stopped the noise of a constant trickle.
8. Drop the sink back into the counter, making sure the funnel or hose is going into the reservoir. Plug it in and test! OMG you are totally a plumber!!!
Don’t forget to dump the water after each use! Dry the surfaces of the kitchen as soon as your tiny chef is finished playing to minimize damage. Enjoy the ten minutes of facebooking or actually dishes that this allows you!










