Refrigeration Buying Guides

Obviously every commercial kitchen needs suitable refrigeration equipment to keep fresh food fresh and to store chilled food as well as prepared food before cooking or to be reheated later on.  Choosing the right type of refrigeration is essential and there are different types to take into consideration from light duty to heavy duty units. 

Light and Medium Duty Refrigeration

For coffee shops, pubs, bars, cafes and small restaurants where there are not many heat producing appliances then a light duty refrigerator (+32 Deg C/60% humidity) is perfectly suitable as they have the legal temperature requirements for cooked meat, cooked fish, dairy, fruit and vegetables.  Most light duty refrigerators are made out of ABS with steel or just ABS.  For slightly larger cafes, pubs, bars and mid-size restaurants a medium duty unit is suitable, these are made out of stainless steel and are more robust than ABS appliances.

Heavy Duty Refrigeration

For larger scale catering, busy restaurants and hotels, a heavy duty refrigerator (+43 Deg C/85% humidity) is essential and these come with a ventilated “fully blown” cooling system.  They are made out of stainless steel or aluminium inside and stainless steel on the outside so they are exceptionally strong and durable.  Heavy duty refrigerators are especially constructed to cope with large and busy kitchens which have many heat producing appliances.  They are set to provide a lower temperature and recover their low temperature very quickly during use.  Heavy duty refrigerators are perfect for all chilled products including raw meat and fish.

Stainless Steel Grades

Commercial refrigerators made out of stainless steel use two grades, 304 and 430 and both are extremely strong because they resist corrosion and these grades are less likely to rust.  When cleaning out refrigeration it is important not to use corrosive cleaners or do it in high humidity conditions to prevent damage.

There are many different units to consider from refrigerator cabinets to under counter products, refrigerator counter top and refrigerated displays.

Frost free, these cabinets come in a variety of sizes depending on your requirements for example...

Used to display prepared food for example cakes and desserts, pre-packed sandwiches, soft drinks...

Every commercial kitchen needs high quality freezer appliances in order to keep your meat, fish...

Choose from freezer counters and under counter freezers which are excellent if space is limited...

These freezer types are much larger than upright freezers and open from the top. They are ideal...

Blast chillers are excellent appliances for commercial kitchens because they are designed to reduce...

Multi deck fridges are used for many retail food businesses as they give customers easy access to...

Ice is important for restaurants and commercial kitchens and there are plenty of options...

Bars and pubs need plenty of high quality refrigeration equipment to keep bottles perfectly chilled...