So, I have owned the Sears Kenmore Kitchen for 1:6 scale fashion dolls for years.  I bought it when it first came out for the Christmas season of whatever that year was.  It was a MUST-have.  Why?  I think it was a must-have because so many collectors wanted it.  lol  Truthfully, in the early days of my doll collecting, I was eyeball deep in the hype and craziness that often caused collectors to buy at ridiculous prices in order to “complete the series”.  (insert major eye roll here)  Yes, I got caught up in it and rode that wave for several years.  I did finally come to my one sixth senses (I’m so punny.), and now I collect only what I dearly love and can actually afford.  Gasp!  I know…crazy, ain’t it?  But, I digress.  Back to the kitchen…I bought the Kenmore Kitchen.  I had it out of the box and set up haphazardly on a shelf in a doll room that was visited once in a great while when I needed to find something that I knew was in the room or if I needed to open the door and toss something inside to “put away later”.  When we moved out of that house two and a half years ago, the kitchen pieces were packed up and have remained that way until a few weeks ago.

I unpacked the Kenmore Kitchen because I have a husband who willingly (sort of) builds me room boxes when I firmly impress upon him my urgent need for them.  I recently impressed upon him that I NEED a room box for an OSS kitchen.  I need an OSS kitchen because I have somehow gotten addicted to vintage doll refrigerators, and DASHA (the OSS diva) was in need of a kitchen because her human feels the need to humiliate her whenever possible.  It’s really the only way to keep a vinyl diva in line.  Wearing an apron and stirring cake batter keep her humble.

Sleeping with one eye open is a small price to pay, I say.  You can see my vintage pink fridge in this photo, and in a later photo, you’ll see a glimpse of my most recent acquisition…a battered, vintage fridge in turquoise and silver with pale yellow cabinets above.

Hubby received the room box order and measurements, and I asked for kitchen photos from the fabulous members of Doll Divas.  I wanted ideas and inspiration, and I certainly got both!  Wow…there are some amazing 1:6 scale kitchens out there!  A vision of the OSS kitchen took form, and I began arranging the kitchen pieces to see how everything was going to fit.  Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech!!  Whoa, Nelly!  Wait a minute…there are cabinets above the sink.  What?  I don’t want a cabinet above the sink.  I want to be able to look out at an idyllic ocean view or mountain meadow whilst washing dishes.  I don’t want to stare at cabinet doors!  And wait…there’s another problem.  It’s not just that a cabinet is above the sink.  An even worse infraction is that the cabinet is as deep as the counter top.  All of the upper cabinets in a human kitchen are half as deep as the base cabinets.  Why are the upper cabinets in the Sears Kenmore Kitchen as deep as base cabinets?  The cabinet door above the sink would be smashing my… I mean DASHA’s face.  Her beautiful nose would be putting nose prints on the glass, and her peppermint scented breath would be steaming up said glass!  This cannot be allowed to stand.  Something must be done!  But what?  How can I remove the cabinet from the sink base?  Back to Doll Divas I went!  One suggestion appealed greatly to me, and so, I enlisted hubby once again, to his delight.  Well…sort of.

It worked like a charm!  Slick as a greased pig on the 4th of July!  Tools required:  safety goggles, a metal spackling blade or putty knife, a propane torch or heat gun, and a steady hand.

Hubby asks that  you ignore the mess on his work bench.  Thank you very much.  He also says that you’ll want to use a blade as wide as the area you are cutting.  We used a 3 inch spackling blade.  I know they come in assorted sizes, so use the one that is closest in width to the cut you are going to make.  It isn’t a requirement, but it makes it easier if you only have to cut once rather than several times.  You’ll get a straighter separation.

Step 1:  mark on the back side of the rigid plastic where you will want to cut  (you can eyeball it as I usually do if you are good at that sort of thing)

Step 2:  put on your safety glasses/goggles and, using the propane torch, heat the metal spackling blade near the edge on both sides for a total of about 12 seconds (6 seconds per side)

Step 3:  position the blade directly over the line you’ve drawn and press the blade straight down

It really does cut through the plastic almost like butter.  It’s amazing!  There was no splitting or cracking or breaking of the plastic.  What you will be left with is a blade with some melted plastic residue and some rough edges on the  plastic, but the edges can easily be sanded smooth with a fine grit sandpaper if necessary.  We will be lowering the back-splash on the sink base, so we didn’t sand the top edge.  We’ll do that later when we install the window sill and the window with the idyllic view.  And here is the unit post-surgery:

Ta-daaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!  Houston, we have separation!  I can’t wait to find more things to alter with this method.  Hubby is thrilled.  Sort of.