Top Tips For Designing A Commercial Kitchen

16 Jun 2017, 7:58 AM

Top Tips For Designing a
Commercial Kitchen

Getting your commercial kitchen design right at the start will save you a lot of time and hassle later on. There are many factors to take into consideration, and here are some steps to follow.

First of all, you'll need to decide on the most suitable layout for your kitchen. There are no set rules here, but there are a few common layouts to choose from.

One option is to divide the kitchen up into zones where different activities are carried out. The island layout is similar, but in this layout you place large block in the centre of the kitchen for cooking, and other tasks are
carried out in the outskirts.

Another option is the assembly line layout. This is ideal if you do not have too many dishes in the menu, such as in fast-food restaurants.

There are a number of areas that you should have in your kitchen, so it makes sense to think carefully about these before you start the actual design. The main areas are:

Prep area – decide how close you want this area to be to the appliances

Production – for the commercial ranges, steamers and large equipment

Receiving – where you will receive the food products

Storage – both cold storage and dry storage

Service – you will want to store some but not all of the dishes here

Washing section – to wash and rinse the dishes

Waste area – for disposing of food and rubbish

The equipment is essential for your kitchen. Rather than choosing your layout and then choosing your equipment, you will want to consider both together because your equipment will affect the layout. Here are some things to consider when choosing equipment:

Choose high-quality equipment that will last a long time

Discuss with your chef what they need. They may have certain items that they prefer to use,

Consider the energy efficiency of the equipment, which may be important if you want to save
money on running it.

Modular equipment can be especially useful from smaller kitchens, and it provides you with
more flexibility to rearrange your kitchen.

Multifunctional equipment that does more than one thing, like combination ovens, can be
great when space is limited.

As well as the above details, there are a number of other factors to consider when you design your commercial kitchen:

Safety – make sure you have enough sprinklers and fire extinguishers, and ensure a high level of sanitation.

Open kitchen – these can be attractive, but you will have to think even more carefully about the appearance of your kitchen.

Ventilation – this is essential to get rid of the smoke and steam, otherwise the kitchen can become unhealthy to work in.

Space – ensure you have enough space for everyone to move around freely.

Flexible – your ideas may change over time, so you may want to ensure your kitchen is flexible enough that you can change it around in the future.

Don't rush your design because you want to ensure that you get it right. If you don't, you may end up having to make time-consuming and costly changes in the future. So keep all of these changes in mind and set up your ideal commercial kitchen.

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catering appliances and cookware.