Donna Golden (jbresr on the Greenleaf forum) recently posted that she was looking for furniture to fill up half scale houses she’s donating for the holidays, and I sent her a few Town Square Miniatures sets that didn’t think I’d ever use. Most of this I’d gotten for free off Freecyle, plus there was a kitchen set I bought about ten years ago for the Fairfield when I first started doing half scale. This stuff all seems too clunky to me now, but it’s perfect for kids.

Last week Donna sent me a note to ask where I got the kitchen. The only thing she needed to finish the houses was another kitchen, and she hadn’t been able to find one anywhere. I did a search, and to my surprise I couldn’t find it either. This kitchen has been around for such a long time and was carried by Miniatures.com (among others), but it seems to have disappeared without a trace.

I had some mismatched kitchen pieces in my stash and offered to put together a kitchen for the donation. Here’s what I started with. The blue fridge and upper cabinet were part of a set I split up for the Artist’s Cottage. The island came from last year’s half scale Yahoo group swap. I’d scratch built the corner cabinet for my puzzle house and later replaced it with something nicer.

I also had a stove, sink, and dishwasher (not pictured) that are old Acme magnets. These magnets are perfect for half scale and I’ve used them in several dollhouses: the Fairfield, the Victorianna, the Rowhouse, the Artist’s Cottage. The first Acme magnets I ever bought were a batch off eBay (the only place to find them) from a seller who didn’t represent how beat up they were. That’s where this stove came from (dirty and yellowed with age), and the sink insert (broken). Some of the plastic on the dishwasher was damaged and I wasn’t even sure if I should include with the donation.

The sink comes set into a slanted triangular cabinet that couldn’t exist in reality, but it’s a nice silver double sink that I always thought I’d find a use for. That day has come!

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