French Provincial Furniture — How to Use It to Create a Warm, Earthy Country Kitchen

The French Provincial Kitchen

Want your kitchen to truly feel like the heart of your home? French provincial furniture is incredibly popular among people who want to create a warm, intimate family gathering space in their kitchens. The down to earth simplicity and old world feel of French provincial furniture bring natural country comfort and timeless style to even the most modern of homes. Here’s how to use it to create that old fashioned family home feeling in your kitchen.

The most important piece of French provincial furniture for the kitchen is the big, old farm table. The table is the hub of the kitchen, the place where food is prepared, family dinners are eaten, and lively conversation flows between glasses of Chardonnay or steaming mugs of coffee. You can get this look by choosing a table with a knotty or scrubbed pine top, and either wooden or wrought iron legs either natural, or painted white or dark green. You can achieve this look with your existing table by banging it up a bit, and sanding it down and staining it. If you don’t have room for a large table, choose a small wooden table or a wrought iron cafe table.

French provincial furniture often is mix and match, so your kitchen chairs do not have to be part of a set. Wrought iron chairs, or wooden ladderback chairs are often found in French country kitchens, and can either be left as-is or painted. The overall look is gently worn, so aging the furniture is common. You can paint your existing chairs in different shades of green, blue, yellow or red, and then apply a crackle treatment or sand down areas around the seat and arms.

French provincial furniture in the kitchen is generally made up of free standing pieces, since built-ins and sets are not common. Armoires, side boards and buffets are used to store food, dishes, cutlery, pottery and linens. Often, these are whitewashed and slightly worn, and cabinets for food storage have open shelves or doors with chicken wire.

You can recreate this look by painting your kitchen cabinets in a warm cream, and ragging on an antique glaze. Hang cupboard doors that have glass panels on your food cabinets. Add beadboard or panels to the doors, and wrought iron or vintage knobs and pulls. Butcher blocks are common in a French kitchen, so install a butcher block countertop. Or use natural, rustic stone tile.

Other pieces of French provincial furniture often find their way into the kitchen. Use a small chest of drawers to store linens, or a wrought iron bench covered in plump cushions for seating. An old bookshelf might hold treasure cookbooks and accessories like copper pots, earthenware jugs, and glass vases. If it’s pretty, has a use and it fits, then it works in a French country kitchen!

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