This rendering of the front view of the World's Largest Hoosier Cabinet shows a person looking from the countertop access that will also act as a stage for entertainment. Contributed rendering
NAPPANEE — A groundbreaking was held Tuesday morning for the building of the world’s largest Hoosier cabinet. The giant cabinet will be located on the greenspace at Coppes Commons, across from the Coppes Cabinet Company, which is still operating today.
This is a project of the Mast family which owns both Coppes Commons, the original factory which has been converted into retail spaces, and Coppes Cabinets. It is being built to commemorate the company’s 150th anniversary in 2026. It will be created in partnership with the Coppes entities, the Nappanee Public Libraries Evelyn Lehman Culp Heritage Collection, Stillson Studios, the Nappanee Development Corp. and Redevelopment Commission and the City of Nappanee. The project aims to celebrate both the history of the Hoosier cabinet and Coppes and Nappanee’s role in its development.
The “Coppes Napanee Dutch Kitchenet” [spelling is deliberate] will be 30 feet high, 20 feet wide and 10 feet deep. The brick and concrete structure will consist of a 12-by-38-foot brick structure, using 15,000 bricks that echo the architecture of the original 1800s building.
Richard “Dick” Pletcher, who is a liaison and consultant on the project, said people will be able to walk up steps inside the supporting building and step out onto the counter part of the cabinet, “providing the best Instagram photo in the State of Indiana” as well as a stage for entertainment and additional events to be held throughout the anniversary year. Pletcher said inside the cabinet will be full-scale pots, pans, spoons and ladles “as big as your head.” There will also be interactive aspects inside with screens showing the history of Coppes and of Nappanee.
Justin Mast, manager of Coppes Commons, said the huge cabinet will be facing east and is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2026.
Pletcher said the cabinet will be a replica of the 1921 Dutch Kitchenet Cabinet that was featured in Harrison Emerson’s “scientific study” for the purpose of making the American housewives’ time spent in the kitchen less burdensome. The study was commissioned by Herbert Hoover, then Secretary of Commerce. Emerson drew national attention by saving the American railroad industry millions of dollars by following his time and money saving suggestions. Emerson concluded if the American household owned a “Coppes Napanee Dutch Kitchenet” she would save 1,592 steps every day. Demand soared after the study was released and Coppes shipped 50,000 Dutch Kitchenets in a single year.
Pletcher said of the hundreds of companies making the Hoosier cabinets, “Coppes is the only one remaining and the only one who has never missed a payroll.”
The Masts are initiating the steps necessary to include the project in the Guinness Book of World Records and America’s Roadside Attractions.
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