Australian Vintage Marquis Doll Furniture. Little Homemaker Set Comparing it with Plasco.

25 March 2025

Marquis Little Homemaker Kitchen Set. 

Oops, one cabinet is upside down.

This Marquis Little Homemaker Set wasn't intended to be used as dollhouse furniture as the inside of the box was its own kitchen play area with images that depicted a kitchen, the furniture could be set up and played within the kitchen box.

With all the adverts I've seen for this set, I've only seen one that mentioned it as dollhouse furniture.

I know it's vintage and Aussie made and I probably should love it but I don't. 

I've tried it out in various dollhouses in the hope I can make some use of it but it doesn't work. It's clunky and awkward and I think the overall sloppy look of it is down to the doors that don't stay shut properly, I've seen this on other sets, not just mine. You only have to look at the oven door to see it's out of alignment and the table has a distinct dip in it.    

I rarely sell dollhouse furniture I no longer want as I prefer to give items away or donate to op shops so this one will end up being donated. If I can't use it there's no use hanging onto it any longer. 

Made in Australia.

This set came with a job lot of other items I bought ages ago. It did come with its original box but I no longer have it as there are plenty of images of this set on Google to easily identify it.

Sometimes I'll dispose of a box after I've taken a photo of it to keep storage under control. I've only kept the boxes for a few dollhouses, one is the 81 piece Blue Box Home Set. I have two of those dollhouses and the other one is an incomplete set so I use that for display.

The only time the full set sees the light of day is when I use it in a window display and set the whole thing up inside and out as originally intended. 

Doors open, drawers don't.

Back to Marquis Plastics in Melbourne who made this kitchen furniture. They operated out of Arncliffe in New South Wales and were also known as Commonwealth Moulding Pty Ltd. 

I can see an early advertisement in The Sun, News Pictorial on the 17 December in 1948 along with the Marquis plastic tea set. They were for sale at a place called Alcock and Pierce in Collins Street. 

The Little Homemaker Set was advertised for sale from 1948 until 1952, that I can see but that doesn't mean it wasn't manufactured prior to 1948. I can only go by the dates with the resources that are available to me.

Marquis, not Plasco.

I've found this set in the more common colour of white and blue plus a less common white and red and a really not so common seen caramel colour with the base of the cabinets in a darker brown.

Plasco in the US also made an almost identical Little Homemaker Kitchen Set, same box type set up for the kitchen, same name but they didn't stop there, they made other Little Homemaker room sets as well.

There was a garden set, living room, bathroom (pretty in pink), bedroom and dining room. The pieces from some of these Plasco sets could also be bought individually. Over time their smaller piece kitchen set was sold in a clear window faced box along with their other Homemaker sets but the pieces weren't always the same.

Plasco also made a Little Homemaker set of kitchen utensils 'Just like Mom's'.

Plenty of kitchen cabinets.

Plasco also produced the Little Miss Homemaker sets. Those pieces were on a card with a clear film over them and the kitchen was the same as the Little Homemaker kitchen set only smaller than the Maquis. 

Plasco's Little Miss Homemaker kitchen is in a pretty pink colour with two of the same rounded open shelved cupboards plus the fridge, table, sink, the four chairs and the cooker which was slightly different to the Marquis. This kitchen set also had one less base cabinet than the original Little Homemaker Set.

The Plasco Little Miss Homemaker Kitchen was a good size for a dollhouse, all moulded so the doors and cupboards still didn't open but it's gorgeous, I love these little carded sets. 

I hope the person who ends up owning the Australian Marquis Little Homemaker Kitchen Set shown here will be able to put it to good use as it's a shame not to use it.