REVIEW: 31050 Corner Deli

[Klaus-Dieter]

Hello everybody!

Here I'm again with a new review, the Creator 31050 Corner Deli:

First of all, the front and the back of the box:

There are five bags with bricks and one bag with three instructions:

The three instructions are for three building alternatives:

But I only built up and therefore only review the first alternative - namely the one shown on the front of the box. So here are the two minifigures - a male store keeper and a girl as customer:

And now some shots which show the building from its four sides and its top when closed:

The interior is - especially on the first floor - very minimalistic:

But I especially like the gas stove:

Here you can see the small terrace:

You can add it at to two locations at the buidling - depending on whether you display the house as a regular house ...

... or as a corner house - which imo looks much more attractive:

To come to an end, here an overview over the complete set:

More images can be found at http://www.brickshel...ry.cgi?f=561596 (when folder is public).

I personally like the set, but there are a lot of things to critizice. So for me this set is only average and I give it a 4 out of 6 points.

Con:

- set name is unfitting since it's a snack bar and not a deli

- boring architecture on the first floor

- weird looking chair on the second floor

- terrace does ony have one chair at the table (if there are always only that less customers, I fear the deli has to close)

- ladder from the first to the second floor (either stairs or better nothing!)

- nearly no interior on the first floor

Pro:

- good minifigure selection

- antenna and bird are lovely addtitions

- gas stove is really nice

- fits very well with regular City sets

- perfect addtion to the last two Creator house row of houses

- corner style

- brilliant architecture of the second floor and roof

Despite my critics I hope that TLG is going on releasing minimum one of these houses in the Creator line every year since these fit the gap in the City theme with more ancient styled and even two floors big civilian buildings!

Although the pics aren't of the best quality, I hope you liked my review! Now vote, too!

A review of the Heartlake Cupcake Café will follow - but at the earliest at the next weekend.

Klaus-Dieter

Edited January 11, 2016 by Klaus-Dieter

[goldengraham09]

this is a nice little review.

i like the look of the corner deli tbh as it gives you something a little bit different to the lego scene.

the sandwich sign is made up really well.

Buying 2 of these sets would allow to increase and create a better building between the 2 of them. allowing for a much better second floor and more detail in the actual deli.

[ezaida18]

Bought one yesterday. Just waiting for some ideas to MOC it into a nice little modular. :)

[eanair]

Just finished building mine! I like it as a corner house too, I'm going to have to do a bit of modding as I prefer my buildings to be fully closed - but I think this gives me scope to add more to the deli because I totally agree that it's lacking in that respect.

I actually really like the chair upstairs and I love the detailing around the windows. I don't really like either of the other 2 buildings you can make with this set (Unlike the Bike Shop & Cafe which I think had 2 really nice alternative builds). Nice review, and I totally want to see a set like this each year too!

[carebear]

I Like This Set

Thanks for the Great review

Greetings

[Withacee]

Cheers, Klaus-Dieter, for putting up the review.

I like this set a lot.

One would expect the details of the interior of these Creator sets to be less detailed than the modulars, so that does not bother me.

I especially like the corner set-up, as seen in the first picture. It's a great building; I also like the sandwich sign above the door.

Thanks again, and keep clicking those bricks together.

[BarBee]

I rated this set rather average. The idea as a deli shop or a sandwich/snack bar is very promissing and I was eagerly waiting to see what Lego came up with. I can't say I was dissapointed, but I wasn't very impressed either.

The best thng about the set (in my opinion) is the color scheme. I really like the dark orange (It is dark orange, right?) with black windows and doors! That can be very usefull when MOCing buildings. But every thing else about the set is so-so. I'm definetely saving my € for something else. My favorite featue is entance to the deli with that window to the street, but that's it.

Same goes for B and C models. As a whole, they are rather bellow average, although the second one (the low one) has a nice entrance with white windows and doors, that could just as well work very well for a modular deli shop.

Compared to other similar Creator models, I think the Bike and Coffee Shop as well as Toy and Grocery offeed much more and better details.

Thanks fo the review!

BarBee

[JaHawk2009]

Picked this up - my first Creator set in years - and thoroughly enjoyed everything about it, from the build to the finished model. Will definitely be coming back for more from Creator.

[finnbricker]

Thanks, Klaus-Dieter, for the review and pics of all sides of the building. There definitely is some modularizing potential out there, but it really is a pity that the building is so small and that the ground floor lacks so much in taste.

Here's what I tried. I wanted to be as true to the original as possible. Creating the upper floors was easy, and they ended up looking rather good IMO. The window design comes from the original, as does the roof design. Just fill it up with enough windows and consider it done.

But the ground floor was a trickier matter. The original just doesn't look good, and playing around with the original features got me to what you can see on the right hand side. Now it's really a corner deli, with two service windows on the outside and one on the inside. There's room for a wc, some seating and a kitchen area. The yellow door leads to the upper floors via staircase. But it still doesn't look nice. It lookes like one of those old buildings where the ground floor façade has been completely rebuilt and the rest of the building remains more or less intact. Such buildings seldom look good.

So I came up with another idea, which you can see on the left. I borrowed the upper floor window design and altered it to fit the larger windows, added a door on the façade and another one in the back for upper floor access. I think it looks a lot better even if it might be a little boring, bearing so much resemblance to the upper floors. Whether it could still be a deli or something completely different, I don't know.

I'd love to hear your opinions. The set is not available in any stores here in Finland yet but I ordered two online and they should be here next week.

Edited January 17, 2016 by finnbricker

[Legogal]

K-D, thanks for the fine review! I have mixed feelings about this set, but am not a fan of it at this point. Design just does not do anything for me. It looks too chopped up and mismatched...maybe because it is so small.

Finn, Gorgeous design on the left above for sure! Now that is a building! It gives you enough bricks to dig into and to carry out a theme or design. Look forward to seeing this built with real bricks as it has enough substance to keep your eyes busy for more than five seconds. And the building on the right is fine, too. Thanks for sharing your designs!

[Kalais]

Thx for review. Now i see how small this set is. I thought it is a bit bigger.

It is dark orange, right?

I thought it is Reddish brown, is it?

Edited January 17, 2016 by Kalais

[slovakiasteph]

Thanks, Klaus-Dieter, for the review and pics of all sides of the building. There definitely is some modularizing potential out there, but it really is a pity that the building is so small and that the ground floor lacks so much in taste.

I'd love to hear your opinions. The set is not available in any stores here in Finland yet but I ordered two online and they should be here next week.

Did you try this as a 16-wide? It seems like it would cut out some of the repetition of all the windows.

Thanks for the review, Klaus-Dieter! Looking forward to getting this set....I like this little "mini modulars."

[Lordofdragonss]

Personaly I like the armchair design. It's qutie cozy!

[El Garfio]

Folded as the box picture is 15 wide. I think that could be fine to add one stud to "depth" on "the back side wing" and you have 16 wide biulding.

For making it modular you only have to fill the blank to complete a four walls biulding.

And then you can add a third floor for making it higher.

[Kalais]

I thought it is Reddish brown, is it?

Ah, i checked, it is dark orange indeed :O

[finnbricker]

Finn, Gorgeous design on the left above for sure! Now that is a building! It gives you enough bricks to dig into and to carry out a theme or design. Look forward to seeing this built with real bricks as it has enough substance to keep your eyes busy for more than five seconds. And the building on the right is fine, too. Thanks for sharing your designs!

Thanks! I'll try building the version on the left in real bricks. However, two sets isn't even close to enough, so it's going to require a whole lot of bricklinking. We'll see. I'll be sure to post the result here sooner, or probably later.

Did you try this as a 16-wide? It seems like it would cut out some of the repetition of all the windows.

I thought about it, but since it's called "Corner Deli", I wanted to keep it a corner building. Moreover, I converted the 31036 Toy & Grocery shop into a 16-wide and I think this one would resemble it too closely if it were of similar size.

[jjava]

I like the basics of it and like the color pieces we get. Set is too small but I understand with the pieces/price constraint. So I got a few sets and plan to make my own. It will be "in the style of corner deli". I might need to buy one more set. We shall see.

[E LEGO]

Hi. this is my build :P