Making a "stainless steel" kitchen counter for my restaurant

I am just so excited to be working on my restaurant!

It's the only restaurant in town, so it serves everything, including delicious pizza.  It has an Italian/ beachy/nautical atmosphere.

First, I had to make the kitchen counter with a sink in the corner. (I did debate NOT having a sink so I'd have more counter space to display food, but the kitchen should have a sink.)  I think I have enough space, though.  

I wanted a stainless steel counter top, so I had to find my craft metal. That took me some time. I looked on Amazon and it turned out I had purchased three different pieces, so I had some hope that I should be able to find one of the three :). (And I told myself I could not just buy it again.) 

I purchased them back in 2017 so it's only taken me 2 years to get to this :) 

I had used some to make the mail slot for my Malibu dolls house. 

I finally found all three pieces together. I wasn't sure if I could cut it with a scissor, but the reviews said I could. And indeed it cut very easily. It was very easy to work with. 

I cut out the shape I wanted in matte board and then I bent the craft metal around it. See below.

My sink is a jelly container. I have a very fancy aluminum sink but it was too big.

Here's my playing with the various patterns/colors. I am thinking of putting that subway tile on the one wall, and the blue tile on the floor. I used the fruit picture for my daughter's small pizzeria, and made one for myself as well. I just came across it again and it works better than I expected here as well. I had planned initially to have only white tile. 

Then with guidance from Julie Warren's book on making kitchen furniture (also used for "Cool Beans" in this post), I made the bottom shelf of the kitchen cabinet. I used the shape of the top stainless steel counter and then I cut out spaces for the legs. The back is a solid wall.  I glued that to the shelf first. Then I marked on each leg the distance to the floor and glued the legs in.

I put the partially glued cabinet into the restaurant kitchen space to make sure it fit.

(the Reutters pizza oven is in the corner)

But then I couldn't resist playing and added some pizzas, plants and pots.  And the tray I made of miniature pizza fixings.

The playing made me realize I should add some more shelves, one for pizzas waiting to go into the oven. I have purchased so many pizzas over the years while preparing to make this.

So below is the counter cabinet right before I "varnished" it.

While that dried, I made a shelf for the pizza waiting to go into the oven.

My kids made this pizza so I'm very fond of it.

 I also wanted to hang a dish towel, so I glued wire to make a railing on the other side. 

Meanwhile I had bought a faucet from #PaperDollMiniatures (check out her blog) on Shapeways. (And I hadn't lost it yet). So I spray painted it. I wanted a stainless steel look, but I must not have been paying attention when I bought the Humbrol Metal Cote spray (last year) because I bought "polished steel" --  which came out much more black than I was expecting.  But in the end, I think it looks rather nice with the tile artwork behind it. And maybe a stainless steel spray wouldn't have matched the counter.

The dishwashing soap is from Sue's Little Things on eBay.

The tomatoes on the cutting board are by Sharon Harbison. The knife is from TYA Kitchen.

I glued the sink and the faucet onto the top counter (before I lost them). I love the detail on them. I also bought the pot filler.  

I still have to glue the counter top to the bottom cabinet, but I started playing again. I had bought these dirty dishes so I put them in the sink (while I wait for an eyelet from my friend to make the drain. Or I find a snap). 

 The frying salmon is from TeenyPerfections on Etsy. The metal stove is by TYA Kitchen in Japan (@minichuubouan_tyakitchen on Instagram). I bought the fried cutlets at the Chicago International Show, but I can't recall the name of the vendor.

The spaghetti is from Teeny Perfections on Etsy. The Italian Chef spoon holder is from aMusing Miniatures on Etsy. I think I bought the olive oil and pasta at a show. 

And dinner is served. All the food is by Teeny Perfections from Etsy.  

Have a great week!

Castle Second Floor WIP

I have painted, wallpapered and glued in the walls on the second floor. So there are now three separate rooms. My son gave me his thumbs up approval :) 

(The bathroom is now on the top floor--in the battle area. Which may be appropriate.)

The rooms are still all to be decorated. He's only just started.

This is the boys' bedroom. My mother-in-law made the blanket. One boy looks like he's having a great time on the gingerbread cookie couch.

Above is the boys' playroom. My son chose the colors. But I love them too. (At first he wanted orange, so I was quite happy when he switched to this one.)

I love the door handles by Olde Mountain Miniatures. My son decided he liked the look of the wood and didn't want to paint this wall.

And above is the parents' bedroom. I found the wall hanging on eBay. 

And then we ordered a new dryer (Hurray! So happy to have a new dryer) and the styrofoam packaging was perfect for the back wall of the top of the castle. Isn't that amazing? 

(You can the bathroom in the box. We will try to insert that under the back wall.) Next summer, I can work on adding the stonework. 

And also probably next summer, I will do the front wall, but here is the preliminary layout of the windows:

I am wondering if we should paint them a royal blue, even though that won't match the bottom windows. These windows don't match the bottom windows anyway, as I found these fancier windows after I'd already installed the bottom windows.  Apparently the bottom windows were modernized :)

But I may just stain them cherry so that at least they match in stain color.

Have a great week!

Castle Kitchen

Here is the kitchen castle.  It's been modernized :)

The tile floor is from HBS/Miniatures.com.

And I framed the door. I still have to frame the window, but I've run out of wood out here. 

And above is a summer sunset.