Cooking & Warming Equipment

We were setting up our own restaurant my husband James and I and it was up to me to find the cooking and warming equipment that we needed as that was my area of expertise. As we had a limited budget and we wanted to set up with some good quality cooking and warming equipment I started to check out what we could purchase online – but first I did some research about the types of cooking and warming equipment that was available to decide what we needed. This is what I found.

Types and features of cooking and warming equipment

1.         18 Turbo Air Radiance 79,000 BTU: This is a great piece of cooking and warming equipment that is very economical to run and with some great features like –

  • Heavy duty cast-iron 3 ring 79,000 BTU burners.
  • Its is constructed from a high quality stainless steel and it has a super handy storage area below the burner;
  • Dual control valves making this piece of cooking and warming equipment very easy to use;
  • Removable parts and trays that means it is easy to clean;

 2.         Holding cabinet: I found a few different types of holding cabinets when I was looking for cooking and warming equipment. My favorite had humidity control and French doors, which made access to the food inside very easy. Oh and it has to be big so it can hold a large volume of food;

3.         Anti-fatigue mats: Whilst these are not cooking and warming equipment they are very essential for any commercial kitchen. You do a lot of standing in a commercial kitchen and these mats reduce the stress on your legs and you are not as tired at the end of the day. I buy lengths rather than the premade mats so that I can purpose fit to any space and the super thick ones as well;

4.         Salad Bar Buffet Table: I found with a matching steam table and it is an ideal piece of cooking and warming equipment for our restaurant. It fits perfectly along one wall and the electrics for the lights are installed out of the way in a railing above;

5.         Fryer: There are a lot of different fryers you will find when you are searching for cooking and warming equipment. Of course there is the traditional hot oil fryer, which I wasn’t really happy with, as we wanted to serve wholesome, healthy food. However I did come across a greaseless hot air fryer which was much better suited to the food that we will be preparing;

6.         Vertical Rotisserie Oven: Now this piece of cooking and warming equipment suited our food philosophy perfectly. It seals in the flavor and the food is cooked in its own juices rather than any added fat and evenly throughout. And the particular model that I purchased is very energy efficient (got to love that) and it is cheaper to cook with than a conventional oven;

7.         Electric Convection Oven: This is my favorite piece of cooking and warming equipment and I love convection because it is so much more efficient and cooks all of my food evenly;

8.         Espresso machine: This piece of cooking and warming equipment is for front of house not the kitchen but we chose an espresso machine because we wanted to be able to make signature coffee, which nobody else is doing locally. I looked at alternatives like a 120 cup coffee maker but loving my coffee as I do I just don’t find that they deliver the quality that we want to sell;

9.         Open burner stove: This was actually the first piece of cooking and warming equipment that I purchased. It is a four burner and takes the large pots that I am famous for cooking large quantities of food in and is a great compliment to the convection oven that is now in place as well and has a grill conveniently attached to the side;

10.     Sandwich maker/grill toaster: We are hoping for a busy lunch trade from the local businesses and understanding that people are busy and have a limited time available we added the commercial size sandwich maker to our array of cooking and warming equipment. Our specialty at lunchtime will be toasted sandwiches with all sorts of yummy and unusual fillings that folks can buy and take them back to their workplace.

So once I had sourced the cooking and warming equipment we had to assemble the entire kitchen – I had a friend with a lot of experience setting up commercial kitchens come and advise us on the best way to lay out the cooking and warming equipment not just in the kitchen but the equipment that was in the front of house as well.

The painters and decorators had already done their thing by this stage and I remember that moment when all of the cooking and warming equipment, chairs, tables and the rest of the décor were in place and we were to open the doors to our new venture.

Staff had been briefed and we were very excited and nervous. The afternoon before we opened I checked all of the cooking and warming equipment to make sure that everything would be working as it should that night and then we finally opened the doors. It was a fantastic first night and we received some rave reviews from the critics that came along and we have finally managed to make our dream of owning a restaurant come true.