Wardrobe Chest and Changing Top Set in Birch Plywood

the nursery version, with a change top that unbolts and leaves a chest of drawers rather than a piece of furniture with an obvious past.

The Montessori idea behind this is simple enough to say in a sentence: a child who can reach a thing can choose it, and a child who can choose it will use it. That is why the bed is on the floor, the shelf is at knee height and the tower exists at all. It is not a style. Almost everything sold as Montessori furniture is a normal piece of furniture made smaller, and the test of whether it is the real thing is whether a two year old can use it without an adult, which is a question you can answer by watching rather than by reading a product page.

Specification

• Dimensions: wardrobe 900mm wide by 550mm deep by 1200mm high, chest 800 by 450 by 700mm
• Age range: 18 months to 10 years
• Material: 18 layer Baltic birch plywood with the edge exposed and rounded to a 3mm radius, which is the detail that stops a plywood edge catching a shin
• Finish: water based lacquer or paint, certified to BS EN 71 part 3
• Load rating: 30kg per shelf, 25kg per drawer, rail rated to 20kg
• Standards: BS EN 12520 and BS EN 12521 for domestic furniture, finish to BS EN 71 part 3, and the tip test in BS 4875
• Edges and fixings: every exposed edge rounded to a 3mm radius, every fixing recessed and capped, and no pinch point anywhere a hand goes
• Assembly: flat packed, two people, about two hours
• Weight: approximately 102.0 kilograms
• Rail height: 600mm, which a three year old reaches
• Drawers: soft close, full extension, with a fitted stop so they cannot be pulled out onto a child
• Doors: soft close hinges and finger safe gaps at the hinge side
• Anti tip restraints supplied and required on both pieces
• Changing top unbolts and the chest carries on
• Shelves adjustable on a 32mm pitch

In the box

• Both pieces, flat packed
• Hanging rails with sockets
• Adjustable shelves and soft close drawer runners
• Anti tip restraints for both pieces
• Finger guards for the hinge side of every door
• A hex key, a spanner, spare caps and printed instructions

Assembly and safety

Flat packed with a hex key and printed instructions. An anti tip restraint is in the box and it is not optional on this piece. Furniture tip overs injure a serious number of small children every year in this country and every one of them is preventable with two screws. If you cannot drill the wall, tell us and we will send the freestanding ballast kit instead at no charge.

How long it lasts

This one converts rather than being replaced. The conversion kit is listed alongside it and is about a fifth of the price of the piece, which is the point. We keep the conversion parts for a range for ten years from the day we stop making it, so a piece bought for a first child can be brought back up to size for a third.