6 Bars With Bar Tops You Can’t Stop Staring At

Bar VIA (San Francisco)

We all know lighting can affect the vibe of a bar. Too bright and guests feel self-conscious and unable to relax. Too dim and they can’t see the menu, let alone what they’re drinking. State-of-the-art technology from C Walters Design at this upscale hotel bar gives the bartender carte blanche to control the mood and aesthetic. A custom-cast glass bar top with customizable LED under-lighting, plus lights on backbar shelves, make the space go from vibrant and energetic to chill and lounge-y at the flick of a switch.

The Daily Dish (Silver Spring, Maryland)

When the team behind The Daily Dish decided to reinvent its bistro and coffee and juice bar as a farm-to-table restaurant, they wanted a nontraditional bar top that felt like a gathering place. So they enlisted the help of local artisan Chris Jarmin, who installs bars in houses. His stunning concrete bar top is laid with ancient ammonites (extinct marine mollusks), hand-cut marble mosaics, petrified wood and even a chess board, which gets some play during quieter moments.

“We fell in love with having a bar top that connected us to the earth,” says co-owner Zena Polin. “There’s something about how solid it is that gives it a sense of permanence.”

Ophelia (New York City)

Cross a jewelry box with a curio cabinet, and you get the inspiration behind the 24-foot-long pewter bar top at this rooftop lounge atop Beekman Tower. Its glass insets display oddities ranging from tarot cards and antique silverware to flapper hats and postcards from women who used to live in the building. Most of the items are curated from the 1920s and ’30s, all set under subtle vintage lighting.

Outlier (Seattle)

This Seattle restaurant gives a nod to the city’s beer scene with multiple art installations touting bottle caps, a 12th Man beer-can wall and a Jimmy Hendrix mural. The bar top was designed by Julie Coyle Art Associates using recycled caps from Washington breweries. (One year, a Hoppy Holiday contest asked guests to guess the exact number of caps.)

“It took a lot of dedicated drinking from the team to provide all of those beer caps!” jokes general manager Brian McFarland.

Root Down (Denver)

At this airport bar, open suitcases were slid into custom-made cubbies filled with clothes, accessories and trinkets and enclosed in a custom glass curved bar top. Each one unveils a different chapter of the American travel experience, says Justin Cucci, the owner of Edible Beats, the hospitality group that runs Root Down.

“We wanted something that would engage people at the bar as solo travelers and start a dialogue perhaps with the travelers in groups, especially in the context of the journey they were about to embark on,” says Cucci.

Tilt (Washington, D.C.)

Stepping inside this craft cocktail bar in the hip 14th Street neighborhood is meant to evoke the feeling of being inside a pinball machine. (One of the signature cocktails is an adult version of a PB&J sandwich dubbed the PNBL WZRD.) The bar top is crafted from the glass backs of games collected by the owner over the years and is lit underneath to give the entire space a glowing luminescence.

“A cool bar top can change the entire look and feel of the bar,” says cocktail director George Sault. “It also makes very cool photos on Instagram.”