Pound Cake: Soda Fountain Back Bar

Mired in the ever present Chicken or Egg debate, this week I decided to focus on making the "built in" foundation pieces that will line the walls of the bakery. It seemed like a good plan to have the pieces finished and installed (or at least ready) prior to attempting to install the ceiling. This would eliminate the need for reaching in up to 18" and trying to read a ruler in the dark recesses. Being a pretty straight forward, stand alone piece, I began with the soda fountain back bar. It was a good piece with which to wet my feet as it is only slightly more complicated than any prior cabinets I've designed for the Cricut to cut.

The bakery's ice cream counter section will be at the back of the store when looking through the front doors. I really wanted to incorporate an old fashioned soda fountain back bar to fit the area from the left open wall to the stairway. I gathered the measurements for that space, then began to create all of the pieces to make up the unit, essentially creating a furniture kit for it in Design Space. Initially, I used 5 pieces of chipboard to make it. Material cost: $5.40.

The entire thing is made up using square shapes that have been resized to make up the components needed. For the decorative stepped arches, I imported a cornice drawing and then created a reverse pattern to use to slice out the decorative shelf openings.

This photo shows how well the knife blade actually cuts the 2mm chipboard.

Here are the pieces of the upper unit laid out. I ended up re-cutting a new back frame for the mirror to add more support and to mimic the front piece's decorative arches. I also eliminated the solid backer piece since the unit will be attached to the wall. This reduced the pieces of chipboard down to 4, making the cost for the unit material actually $4.32.

This is how the upper shelf unit looks after gluing the "kit" pieces together. I left the top area above the decorative arches wide so that I could add crown molding and "carved" molding later.

The lower cabinets are a separate unit designed in the same manner. They are standard counter height at 36" in real life or 3" (including countertop height) in 1/12th scale. The upper unit will sit right on top.

The design is basically a rectangle box with decorative wainscot panel. It mimics the upper unit's shelf openings and is simply glued to the front.

Glued together and with added embellishments.

I added molding and support trim behind it to give the countertop a "bullnose" edge. It's my attempt to make a 2mm thick piece of chipboard look like a solid slab of honed marble.

Here is the entire unit with added crown molding and embellishments. Once I install the kit's left frame wall to create the corner (the left frame wall is only about 1-1/2" wide), I may cut the crown molding flush to the left side of the unit for a tight fit to that corner. I did not account for the extra 5/8" that the crown molding would take away from the space to enter the stairway. I'll have a better idea if it looks too tight there once I finish the front counter section.

I gave the countertop a faux marble finish and then painted the rest of the unit Licorice. Once it was dry I attached the mirror sheet to the back. It is really difficult to get good photos of black painted furniture - especially against a white counter. The camera just doesn't know how to compensate. I took several photos using different lighting and adjustments so you could see each of the details in it's best light. I also tried a number of tricks so that you would not have to look at my reflection in the mirrored back of the piece.

For lighting the center and upper shelves, I am using 12v bulb and sockets. I have had the little white plastic support pieces in my stash for a number of years. They came with LED bulbs from China. I like to utilize them, with a little trimming, to act as socket holders for the bulb/socket assembly. Once they are gone, I will have to come up with a different option.
Keep in mind that the bulbs will be much brighter when connected to a transformer with electricity rather than the 9 volt battery I have used for demonstration. Pictures are worth a thousand words...

Here is where it will be placed in the shop, next to the stairs. The soda shop counter and glass ice cream freezer will be placed in front of it. Do you see where gaining another 5/8" for the stair opening might make a difference?
I am super excited and looking forward to filling the shelves with wonderful old time details!

This week I hope to start designing and cutting the pieces for the bakery goods shelving. The angle of the stairs is going to make for some tricky math and measurements. I hope I have learned my lesson with the soda shop back bar and will account for the molding and trim in these pieces! I will keep at it, though, until I figure it all out!

Have a great week that, hopefully, includes time to play!

xo xo,
Jodi