Prepare to Be F*cking Amazed by How Parents Customize Their Kids' Basic Ikea Play Kitchens

You might not have the budget to gut and renovate your own kitchen, but if you have a home-improvement itch that needs scratching, might we suggest you scale down a wee bit and purchase yourself an Ikea play kitchen?

First off, the plain plywood Duktig kids' kitchen is rife with potential. It only costs $99 — far less than the fancy toy kitchens with all the battery-operated bells and whistles — and is easy enough to construct. Plus, in true Ikea fashion, it's got a minimalist profile that serves as a blank canvas for whatever level of DIYing you can handle.

And thanks to Instagram, there's plenty of inspiration for this now-popular Ikea hack — whether you opt to spend one late night slapping a coat of paint and a wrapping paper backsplash on your newly assembled kitchen or you decide to spend weeks sourcing just the right subway tile, adding a faux-marble countertop, and updating all the cabinet pulls to a very on-trend rose gold copper.

Read on to see just a handful of ways you can customize this basic play kitchen set. Fair warning: you might end up creating something that's nicer than the room where you do your actual cooking.