Wooden chest from Russia

Furniture and Household Accessories

Among collectors there are three types of furniture designed and built in Canada worth pursuing.

• The painted furniture of Quebec - armoires, beds, tables and chairs depicting carving or overlay methods.
• Furnishings produced in Upper Canada. Although often rustic, it was on a par with the best work of English or New England cabinetmakers. Connoisseurs prize desks, chests of drawers and parlour items from that period.
• The folk furniture of the Canadian Prairies. Also designed and made to meet everyday needs, these highly decorated wooden tables, chairs, lockers, chests, cribs, and rockers were most often locally made from 1890 to 1930.

Today new items are often decorated with designs or symbols taken from those historical articles, an indication of how attractive they are. Some have become influences in all Canadian kitchens: the utensils used to prepare and serve pasta dishes came with Italian immigrants; stir-fry woks and dumpling moulds arrived with Chinese immigrants, and so on. All newcomer groups bring new recipes and cooking accessories, many of which enter the mainstream diet.