Opening a brand new restaurant can be laborious and stressful. Its not only about the designing the restaurant right but getting the right essentials. It has so many things to keep track about. So its very common that you can miss upon some of the things.

While planning for your restaurant, one of its most important section is the Kitchen. And its quite easy to miss out some of the small equipment but necessary. So its better to have a checklist that will let you know the needs well. Before purchasing the equipment you might need to carefully plan and do some research on some of the aspects and then select the best one.

Things to consider before purchasing the Kitchen equipment for your Restaurant

– Need
You need to figure out what exactly your restaurant needs. The equipment required for a restaurant kitchen other than some basic ones strongly depend upon the restaurant’s concept, theme, and the cuisine that you would be offering.

Thus, you first need to finalize your menu and then analyse it to figure out what all kitchen equipment will be required to prepare it.

– Quality
With the kitchen, your exemplary menu will get life. You will need the the high quality equipment to withstand your restaurant’s daily use. So its suggested to view and inspect the restaurant kitchen equipment in person before buying.

– Space Available
Its effective to purchase the equipment according to the space available in the kitchen. Otherwise, your kitchen might get disordered and hinder staff movements thus not allowing them to work efficiently.

Moreover, in a restaurant more than half of the area is kept as dining space. So in the remaining one other things also need to be put along with the kitchen which means the kitchen will not get that big area until your overall restaurant area is too large.

So if you are low on space then you can consider buying multi-purpose equipment.

-Price
One of the most important factor to be considered while buying for any restaurant kitchen equipment is price.

One you have decided that what all equipment you require for your restaurant kitchen, see for how frequently each of them will be used. Based on the use you can think of options such as purchasing a brand new equipment or a second-hand option will do.

For instance if you don’t require an equipment that frequently, then you can think of second-hand option. There are many restaurant that shut-down the business in early years so you can get it from them. Also think of multi-purpose equipment, it will save the money and the space as well.

-Ease in Using and Cleaning
The equipment that you want for your restaurant should be easy to clean and comfortable to  use. It should not become a hub of hiding bacteria that would affect the hygiene.

Essential Restaurant Kitchen Equipment list

Following is a list of the restaurant kitchen equipment that is essential to run your kitchen and ensure its effective functioning.

– Freezers & Refrigerators 
Obviously all commercial kitchens require some unit to keep the food items fresh and storage for other materials.

Refrigerating food items prevents them from perishing quickly, preserves freshness, and provides cold food storage space.

Choosing the right commercial refrigeration equipment is essential for maximum kitchen efficiency. According to your restaurants’ size and nature you can choose your type from Reach-In Coolers, Walk-In Coolers and Restaurant Freezers.

– Slicers
The foremost task of any slicer is cutting meat, cheese or other foods quickly and efficiently. It will also help you maintain consistency and uniformity.

Before purchasing a slicer, consider how often will you need to use it. If your slicing work is low volume then manual slicer is better, however for larger amounts of food that need to be cut in specific proportion and with uniformity, choose an electric slicer instead.

– Counters for Food preparation
Preparation tables and cutting surfaces are essential to any kitchen and come in various sizes.

Choose preparation surfaces made of stainless steel. It stands against corrosion and can withstand harsh cleaning products. For cutting surfaces, choose either plastic or wooden surface.

– Mixers
If you include baking or bread/base making in your operations for kitchen then a commercial mixer is a must. The size of the mixer will vary according to the volume of the food to be processed in mixer.

For instance if you want to  mix intense dough then use spiral mixer, but for a wider use, choose planetary mixer.

 – Ranges 
Any commercial range in a restaurant is responsible for performing wide range of functions ranging from cooking, grilling, and boiling to performing other cooking functions that are required. The range units can be gas or electric. It will allow you to use several methods of cooking in one piece of restaurant.

– Kitchen Cooking Utensils
Any Restaurant Kitchen requires a versatile range of utensils for different functions in kitchen like preparation, cooking, baking, etc.

For example the utensils required

for food preparation- Chef’s Knife, Vegetable Peeler, Mixing Bowls, Measuring cups and many more…

for cooking- Spatula, Tongs, Thermometer, Spoon, and many more…

and some other miscellaneous utensils.

– Fire Extinguishers
This is the most important equipment required in the kitchen for the safety purpose. In a commercial kitchen, there is always a risk that kitchen fires can go out of control. Most of the fire start from the cooking surface, having a fire suppression system in place becomes important and becomes your first line of defense.

Conclusion

Kitchen equipment needs to be perfectly according to your needs so that you can give the best dish out. Proper planning and research needs to be done before purchasing the equipment so that you use money efficiently and get the best product.

Hope this will help you move ahead with your restaurant set up.