Much like a residential kitchen is the heart of the home, a commercial kitchen is the beating, pulsating nerve centre of any café, restaurant or eating establishment. A well-designed commercial kitchen is integral to safe and profitable food preparation and service and includes specific components organised into a specific layout designed to optimise performance and efficiency. 

A carefully considered design will save time and money and increase profitability over the life of the kitchen, not to mention making the chef and kitchen staff happy.

Commercial kitchen design

As a general rule, commercial kitchen design is dictated by space requirements, equipment and budget, however, all commercial kitchens will incorporate the following zones or spaces:

• Cleaning/washing

• Storage

• Food Preparation

• Meal Cooking

• Service

The cleaning/washing zone is where you’ll find the workhorse appliances such as commercial washing machines, stainless steel sinks and drying racks. This zone should be located near the kitchen entrance so waitstaff can quickly drop off dirty dishes and adjacent to the storage area so chefs can quickly find clean dishes.

Incorporating storage and preparation in a commercial kitchen

The storage zone will comprise non-food and cold and dry storage. Non-food storage is used for clean dishes and utensils and cleaning and sanitation supplies. Cold storage is where you keep anything that needs to be refrigerated or frozen and will house walk-in chillers, while dry storage includes all non-perishables and other consumables that can be kept on open storage systems.

The food preparation zone will require sinks for washing produce, along with designated cutting areas and mixing areas. To avoid food contamination, this area is typically split into a section for dealing with raw foods and a section for mixing dressings and sauces.

Zones in a commercial kitchen

The meal cooking zone makes the rest of the kitchen tick. This is where main dishes are finished, so here you will have large pieces of equipment like ranges, ovens and fryers. In large establishments that deal with large quantities of food, the meal cooking area can be broken down into smaller sections: a baking station, grilling station and frying station, for example. Because meals are finished here, the meal cooking area should be near the front of the kitchen next to the service area. 

Another factor to consider within the meal cooking zone will be ventilation. The type and capacity of the extractor hoods required will, in some part, be dictated by where in the design the cooking zone is placed.

The final area of a commercial kitchen is the service zone. This is where your waitstaff will pick up finished dishes to take to customers, or, in the case of a self-serve establishment, where dishes will be displayed for customers to choose. This area needs to be located at the very front of the kitchen, just after the meal cooking area, to shorten the distance between completed meals and customers.