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If you’re looking for our original play sink running water hack, you can find it here.
We loved our Functional Play Kitchen 1.0, and used it happily. However over time the silicone seals did become weak and I had to replace them (our kitchen has been through a lot with 3 rambunctious little ones though).
I was inspired by @the_tradissori_mami on Instagram who upgraded her Ikea kitchen to have a real drain. I knew I needed to do this as well. I initially thought that I would just use a larger funnel to accommodate the drain.
However once I got searching for the perfect drain, I found a solution even better. An RV drain and a screw on drain pipe. So perfect!
Here’s how simple it is:
Tools and Supplies Needed
You have two options for cutting the hole in your sink.
Option one: use a power drill with a 2” hole saw (such as this one)
Option two: use a handheld jigsaw (this is the option I used—if you don’t have a jigsaw, you very well may know someone who does)
You will also need a 1” drill bit to cut a hole in the back of the play kitchen (to drain below)
Materials Needed
How to Install RV Sink and Drain
If you use option one, the 2” hole saw, use that now to drill a hole in the middle of your sink.
If you are using a jigsaw, you’ll first need to trace a cutting line. Included with the drain is a paper gasket. I traced this as centered as I could on the bottom of the drain (upside down) using a sharpie.
Since I already had holes in my sink, I picked one and stuck my saw blade into it. If you need a hole, you can simply drill one with any drill bit large enough to stick your saw blade into.
Then I put the whole thing on the ground (for maximum stability, since the sink is so lightweight— a vise would also work well) and slowly cut my hole.
After that I simply put my drain in, with rubber gasket beneath the sink. At this time, my heart sank because when I hand tightened the drain it had such a large gap between it and the bottom of the sink. I thought for sure it would leak, or not drain well at all.
But I persevered and it turned out okay. I found that I had fully installed the sink, I could put my hand on top of the drain and twisted the tap from below. This resulted in a very tight, near drain.
If you haven’t already, now would be the time to cut the hole in the back of the kitchen. I cut mine just above the top shelf (I rested my drill upside down on the shelf and tried to keep it level). Pipe your drain pipe through that hole and into the wash basin waiting beneath the kitchen and…
Ta-dah! Honestly that is it!