The Heart of This Place
Cottage Kitchen & Market was created from a way of life that values home as more than a place — it is where faith is lived out, skills are passed down, and hospitality is practiced in everyday, ordinary moments.
In a world that often feels hurried and disposable, this market exists to offer something different: thoughtfully chosen pieces for home and hearth, rooted in Amish-inspired heritage, craftsmanship, and purposeful living. Each item is chosen for the life of a home — woven into daily rhythms and carried forward with care.
This is not a traditional storefront, nor a classroom built around schedules and sign-ups. It is a market shaped by a lived experience — one that honors old-fashioned skills, values work done well, and believes the home is still the heart of a meaningful life.
Everything you’ll find here reflects that belief.
How This Market Took Shape
Cottage Kitchen & Market began as a natural extension of my own home and table — a way to share the kinds of goods, skills, and traditions that shaped my upbringing. What started simply has grown into a carefully curated market rooted in heritage and craftsmanship.
Many of the families and artisans I partner with come from communities where small businesses are still centered around local, in-person markets. Cottage Kitchen & Market serves as a bridge — helping their handcrafted work reach homes beyond their own communities while staying deeply rooted in tradition.
This market is built on careful selection — choosing pieces that reflect craftsmanship, usefulness, and a heritage worth carrying forward. Many of these pieces are ones I use in my own home, and some are made by members of our extended family: furniture shaped in Montana workshops, garments sewn in Amish homes, and heirloom goods crafted with steady, careful hands. They are offered because I trust the work and the people behind them.
The Roots Beneath It All
I was not raised in a fast world.
From the quiet backroads of Ohio and Kentucky, to a one-room log schoolhouse nestled in Montana’s rugged mountains where I once taught, to the warm shores and bustling streets of Sarasota, Florida — and now to the hills of Chattanooga, Tennessee — my life has carried both simplicity and movement. Yet no matter where I lived, certain things remained steady.
The table mattered.
Work mattered.
Home mattered.
I grew up watching faith expressed through hands — bread kneaded in warm kitchens, wood sanded smooth, seams stitched carefully, gardens tended patiently. My Amish grandma’s recipes were not simply instructions; they were rhythm. My dad’s woodworking was not just craftsmanship; it was stewardship. My mom’s sewing was not only practical; it was legacy.
Formation did not happen through lectures.
It happened through doing.
Some of my earliest memories are tied to work done alongside family — learning by watching, then helping, then practicing until it became natural. That foundation still shapes how I live and work today.
That same rhythm continues in apprenticeship — inviting the younger generation into meaningful work and teaching diligence, integrity, and follow-through. Not for productivity’s sake, but for character’s sake. Work done well shapes hearts long before it shapes outcomes.
Long before Cottage Kitchen & Market had a name, my love for the kitchen was already forming. It was where stories were told, jars cooled after canning, and women gathered not to impress, but to nourish.
Those roots continue to guide me.
Carried Into Everyday Life
The way this market is built reflects the way I live.
Faith is not something separate from work or home; it guides both. It shapes how decisions are made, how partnerships are chosen, and how hospitality is practiced in everyday life.
Slow living, for me, is not about nostalgia. It is about intention. It looks like cooking from scratch when possible, preserving what can be preserved, and cherishing and using old pieces so they can continue serving another generation. It is about creating a home that feels steady rather than hurried.
When you step into our little cottage home, my prayer and hope is that you feel as though you’ve walked into your grandma’s house — a place where time slows down and you can catch your breath before returning to the busyness of the world. That same spirit of warmth and steadiness is what I hope this market quietly carries into the homes it reaches.
Homemaking is not performance. It is stewardship.
The rhythms of baking, sewing, mending, tending, and welcoming others in are not small things. They are quiet acts of care that shape families and communities over time.
Here in Chattanooga, within my own little cottage kitchen and through volunteer opportunities with Renew Women’s Ministry, I have been grateful to gather with women — teaching practical skills, working side by side, and sharing meals around the table in ways that strengthen both confidence and community.
Those moments of cooking, conversation, and prayer are reminders that discipleship often happens in ordinary places. Scripture such as Proverbs 31 and Titus 2 has shaped my understanding of faithful work, generosity, diligence, and hospitality — especially in the quiet places where they are often unseen.
Cottage Kitchen & Market exists as an extension of those convictions. What is offered here — and how it is offered — flows from the same belief: that the home still matters, that work done well still matters, and that a life rooted in faith and purpose is never wasted.
This is the work. It is a joy to share this journey with you.
The Cottage Homemaker
Christina Miller-Roberts