About Lauren
Lauren Evans, the owner and visionary behind The Monarch Studio, is passionate about getting kids back outside and off of screens. She believes kids should be playing in the dirt, being creative, and engaged in imaginary play. In her spare time she can be found playing outside with her 2 amazing children, taking family beach walks, and gardening.
About Monarch
We create high quality hand made Mud Kitchens for children to bring more outdoor time and sensory experiences to their every day play. Because of the digital world we live in, it is crucial that our children have plenty of time outdoors and engaged in sensory play, and our products provide families and schools a way to make that possible.
Our Mud Kitchens are handmade in Ohio by Amish woodworkers. .
What sets Our Kitchens Apart
When we started selling mud kitchens, we were just about the only ones, but that has changed. Now a quick google search brings up a lot of options that range from $100 to over $1,000, as well as tons of DIY ideas. All of these are great options, it just depends on what’s right for your family. Here is some info on what sets us apart to help you decide if our Mud Kitchen is what’s right for your family.
Our Kitchens are:
Built to last. Our high quality kitchen’s will last through your children’s childhood, even if they are left outdoors, unstained.
Built by highly skilled Amish woodworkers, 100% by hand, in the USA.
Made of high quality, all natural wood. We don’t use old pallets or pressure treated wood because of the toxic chemicals in these products.
Well sanded, by hand, to protect your child’s hands.
Very strong. We use pocket screws and “L” shaped legs for extra stability.
Aesthetically pleasing. There are no visible screws and our design in sleek and simple.
Free of screws in the tabletop. They don’t look good, in our opinion, and we don’t want water seeping in through the screw holes.
Easy and fast to put together, taking about 10-20 minutes and only requiring a screw driver or screw gun.
Plastic free
Customizable. Add running water with a water faucet that attaches to a hose, burners, or an oven door.
Free to ship, for you. The reality is that someone has to pay for shipping, and we do that. It costs about $60 for us to ship a Mud Kitchen.
Designed to perfection. We spent years designing and redesigning our kitchen until it was just right. We have a simple design to make it easy to assemble and easy on the eye. Our lower shelf is raised off the ground so your children’s feet don’t bump it during play, the solid back wall provides a place to lean learning materials against and to prevent items from falling backwards off the tabletop, there 2 double hooks for hanging utensils, pots ‘n pans, signs, or decorations, a spice rack for storing items, a large lower shelf for storing bins of accessories, and you can add running water to our kitchens.
Large enough to play at but small enough to fit in just about any indoor or outdoor space. They are light enough to be carried by one adult.
Designed to have the smallest footprint we can have when it comes to shipping. The Kitchens nest inside themselves in the box for the most ecological and cost effective shipping and very limited packaging materal. This also makes it easy for you take on a vacation or store if you need to put it away.
Come with excellent customer service. If anything should go wrong with your kitchen, or you have any questions, you can call, email, or text me directly, the owner of the company, and I will help you.