The document provides a comprehensive guide to commercial kitchen equipment for restaurants. It discusses the various types of essential equipment needed in a restaurant kitchen, including cooling equipment like refrigerators and freezers, heating equipment like ovens and grills, preparation equipment like food processors and mixers, washing equipment like sinks and dishwashers, cookware and accessories, tables and shelves, safety equipment, and kitchen display systems. Purchasing the best suited commercial kitchen equipment is important as it can reduce costs, increase productivity, prevent waste, and create a more streamlined workflow.

1. May 8,
2019
Commercial Kitchen Equipment For Your Restaurant – A
Comprehensive Guide
limetray.com/blog/commercial-kitchen-equipment-restaurant
Whether you’re starting a new restaurant or re-establishing an already existing one, you
need a proper restaurant commercial kitchen equipment list before you go ahead and start
cooking.
Once you have all the necessary commercial kitchen equipment in place, you can focus on
creating delectable dishes for your customers.
Largely the equipment list is the same for every restaurant. However, there may be some
pieces of equipment that are restaurant specific.
What is restaurant commercial kitchen equipment?
Restaurant commercial kitchen equipment are appliances that are used to produce, store
and, to a certain extent, cook food. Everything from sleek kitchen stoves to huge
refrigerators, fall under these appliances. Today, most of them are electrical but some are
still powered by gas.
You can focus on restaurant management systems better once your commercial kitchen is
functional.
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2. Commercial kitchen equipment at restaurants.
The commercial kitchen equipment list
Whether you’re a Quick Service Restaurant, cafe, or fine dining, you need certain tools that
are absolutely essential for your kitchen. Let’s look at some of the basic commercial kitchen
equipment you need to have in your restaurant.
1. Cooling equipment:-
Any kitchen today would be useless without refrigerators or freezers. Refrigeration prevents
any kind of food damage. Different food items come with defined expiration periods so
getting your cooling systems in order is the first step. Depending on the kind of restaurant,
you can choose the kind of coolant you’d require for your restaurant kitchen.
Refrigerators and Freezers –
There are tons of refrigerators and freezers available in the market today, each having
varied capacities and functions. If you’re a small coffee house, buying a reach-in refrigerator
would be more sensible (and economical) than buying a walk-in refrigerator.
Ice-makers –
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3. If you’re a brand that deals with all kinds of beverages, let’s say a bar or cafe, you’d definitely
need this tool to help you with all those smoothies, shakes and mint punches. Ice-makers
come in different storage spaces for various kinds of operations.
Display freezers –
Yes, there is room for dessert. Display freezers in your restaurant will help give customers
the option of looking at pies and cheesecakes before ordering them.
Display freezer for baked goods
Other commercial refrigeration equipment, are ice-cream freezers, wine coolers, back bar
coolers, etc, that are restaurant specific.
2. Heating equipment:-
Roasting, grilling, baking, rethermalizing and plenty of other cooking processes that involve
heating/reheating of food, are taken care of by the commercial equipment involved in this
category.
Ranges – There are two types of ranges both gas and electric. You could opt for either one
of these based on the intensity of cooking that happens in your restaurant’s kitchen.
Ovens –
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4. One of the most common and significant electronics that a restaurant cannot work without
is a commercial oven. Ovens today are designed to meet the temperature requirements of
various cooking methods. Conveyor ovens, high-speed ovens, toaster ovens, rack ovens, are
few of the many ovens available today.
Commercial kitchen ovens come with regulating temperatures
Display food warmers –
If your restaurant has ready to serve meals then this food display case is exactly what you
need. They keep the food warm and fresh.
Grills –
This is something you’d need to grill your sandwiches and steaks with.
Microwaves –
Greatly helps in the rethermalization of already prepared food.
Broilers –
Whether it’s beautifully melting cheese on a pizza or giving dishes that perfect brown
finishing, a broiler is going to help you achieve it.
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5. There are plenty of other retherming pieces of equipment used in commercial kitchens.
Many of them like a commercial toaster, soup warmer, coffee machine, etc., being dish
specific.
3. Preparation equipment:-
Let’s now get straight to hardcore cooking. There are so many commercial kitchen electrical
appliances available in the market today that have simplified the most basic of cooking
processes.
Food processors and slicers –
The function of a food processor is not just limited to finely chopping the veggies. With the
variety of food processors available today, you can chop, slice and mix vegetables and meat,
make purees, and more. Given there’s a large scale processing of food items in restaurants,
food processors have large bowls with high power. Buffalo choppers, batch bowl
processors, continuous food processors, and combination processors are the four major
commercial food processors.
Mixers and grinders –
An absolute essential in bakeries and pizzeria, mixers are very useful when it comes to
complex mixing, kneading, whipping and beading various doughs and batters. Spiral,
countertop, heavy-duty, floor and stand mixers are the most frequently used mixers in
restaurant commercial kitchens. There are typically three types of commercial grinders,
namely, meat, spices, and coffee grinders.
Blenders –
Be it hot soups or frozen smoothies, commercial blenders are designed to evenly blend
food, beverages or sauces.
4. Washing Equipment:-
Sinks –
Who doesn’t like working in a restaurant kitchen that is spick and span? Ideally, a restaurant
commercial kitchen should have three or four compartment sinks for cleaning and
sanitizing the kitchen utensils, and washing food items. Other kinds of sinks used in
restaurant kitchens are janitorial sinks, underbar sinks, and hand sinks.
Dishwashers –
When you’re a full-service restaurant serving a large number of customers, dishwashers
literally are a blessing. There are many categories of commercial dishwashers based on
individual capacities like a single and double rack, under the counter and conveyor
dishwashers. Choose the one that will conveniently fit in your restaurant commercial
kitchen.
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6. Glassware washing and polishing equipment –
These are separate machines, specially designed to clean glass cutlery (mainly glasses) and
remove tough spots.
5. Cookware Accessories:-
All cooking utensils fall under this category of commercial kitchen equipment. There should
be a sufficient amount of small kitchenware available for each chef in the kitchen. There are
many cooking tools like bakery utensils, cooking boards, peelers, graters, etc, which are
common purchases for a restaurant kitchen.
Pots and cookers –
The most basic essentials are the various types of pots and cookers. For example, pressure
cookers, pasta cookers, boiler pots, sauce pots, etc. All varying in size and storage capacity.
Pans –
Stainless steel, cast iron, and non-stick pans and the kinds of pans available for cooking.
Different sizes can be used based on the number of dishes being cooked.
Knives and spoons –
There are plenty of knives used for cutting anything, be it thick chunks of meat or soft slices
of tofu. Kitchen spoons, whisks, spatulas, and other hand tools, assist in stirring and serving
purposes.
Dinnerware –
Porcelain plates go well with a classic wine and dine, whereas steaks and sizzlers look
heavenly on stoneware plates. Therefore, depending on the kind of restaurant you’re
running you can go for Chinaware, melamine, metal or glass dinnerware for your restaurant
commercial kitchen.
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7. Choose crockery based on your restaurant type
6. Tables and Shelves:-
When you open a restaurant you want your kitchen to look a certain way. Kitchen shelves
and tables help in making the kitchen look fairly neat and systematic.
Wall mount shelves and racks –
Food items and small electrical appliances can be stored on wall-mounted shelves, from
where they are easy to access.
Prep tables and counters –
Purchase tables and counters that are easy to clean and have a long life. You’d want a
surface that’s able to withstand changing temperatures and chemicals used for cleaning.
7. Safety Equipment:-
With so many commercial kitchen equipment and utensils that are conductors of heat, a
restaurant kitchen is highly susceptible to fires. Make sure your kitchen is well equipped
with fire and safety equipment like fire extinguishers. Also, make sure your chefs use
mittens and gloves while handling hot utensils and heating appliances. After all, it’s better to
be safe than sorry.
8. Kitchen Display Systems:-
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8. Shelving makes the restaurant kitchen look organized.
Gone are the days when the server used to run to and fro with kitchen order tickets after
noting down orders from the table.
With a restaurant POS
system, orders will be directly
displayed on your Kitchen Display
System with all necessary
modifications, time of order, and
more. The staff wouldn’t have to go
through the trouble of reading
printed KOTs. They can directly
read it and start preparing the food
without any delay.
Key reasons why your
restaurant should be well-
equipped with commercial
kitchen equipment
There are plenty of reasons why
your restaurant kitchen needs new
electrical appliances.
One time investment:-
When used well and serviced
regularly, commercial restaurant
equipment lasts up to a good
number of years. You wouldn’t
have to buy them time and again if
they stop working due to any technical glitches. Most electrical appliances come with a
service warranty.
Reduced labor cost:-
Commercial kitchen equipment like the food processors reduce basic manual work like
chopping, peeling, etc. They can be easily operated. A chef wouldn’t necessarily need a sous
chef to help them out with the initial stages of food preparation. The machine does it for
them. Hence, the cost of labor goes down.
Higher productivity:-
Commercial kitchen equipment is more accurate and gets the job done quickly. As a result,
food is prepared at a faster rate and the number of tables served increases efficiently. This
not only enhances the customer experience but also elevates your restaurant’s overall
productivity.
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9. Zero wastage:-
Most commercial kitchen equipment come with various scales for measurement. You would
know the exact quantity to be used for a particular dish. This greatly helps in reducing
unnecessary waste. This makes it easier to maintain your restaurant’s inventory.
Less chaotic and more streamlined:-
Commercial kitchen equipment doesn’t occupy large spaces in the kitchen. When
systematically organized, there is no cluster of equipment and the workflow becomes
streamlined.
Choose the best restaurant commercial kitchen equipment
Using age-old equipment at your restaurant kitchen is going to burn a hole in your pocket. It
affects the quality and efficiency of a restaurant. A classic burger brand in the US, Steak ‘n
Shake, had to temporarily shut down at 44 locations, due to a drastic drop in sales. Both the
service towards customers and speed were poor. One of the major reasons for this was an
ill-equipped restaurant kitchen. They didn’t replace their old equipment with new
commercial ones, which eventually led to a decline in good service from the staff.
Purchasing the best-suited equipment for your kitchen will prove beneficial for your
restaurant and all its employees. We can’t deny the fact that electrical appliances greatly
help in beautifying dishes by giving them a perfect finishing. They make cooking a fun
process rather than an exhaustive one. And if maintained well they work for a decent
number of years.
The more commercial kitchen equipment you use, the more efficient your restaurant
becomes. It aids in increasing sales of your restaurant and everyone leaves feeling content.
Here’s to making sure your commercial kitchen is equipped with everything you need to run
a successful operation!
Cheers!
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