Commercial Kitchen Design: Layouts, Floor Plans & Guidelines - 5 Best Ideas for a Professional Kitchen

What differentiates a commercial kitchen design from a residential one?

Commercial kitchens are high-volume food production centres that are measured to the legal standards of health and safety. They're fully equipped with large equipment and spacious storage areas to cater for large-scale cooking.

Interested in learning more? Let's break down the essential features of a commercial kitchen in Australia.

What's a commercial kitchen?

Understanding the differences between a residential kitchen and a commercial kitchen means knowing their specific requirements and components.

On its own, one can define a commercial kitchen as any space that is prepared and designed to prepare food in bulk, typically for commercial purposes. This includes being sold to the public at large, such as the case with kitchens of restaurants, hotels, and hospitals.

That said, every detail of a commercial kitchen is significant in making it function the way it does.

For instance, unlike its residential counterpart, commercial kitchens have specialised commercial kitchen supplies. These are designed to withstand the rigours of everyday, high-volume cooking and food production.

Commercial kitchens are also required to meet the high standards of health and safety set by the government to make sure that they're a clean and save environment for food production.

Other characteristics of the commercial kitchen are industrial appliances, huge storage areas, and a layout that promotes efficiency and workflow. They're tailored to accommodate several cooks and staff working in the cooking process. They also provide for specific places for other tasks, such as preparing, cooking, and cleaning.

What goes into a commercial kitchen?

You now know what a commercial kitchen is, but what exactly makes it so different from a regular kitchen? Let's talk about the different types of commercial kitchens, their layouts, key materials, equipment, and all the details that make them what they are.

Types of commercial kitchens

Here are a few of the most common types of commercial kitchens you'll encounter today.

Restaurant/Hotel/Resort Kitchens

These kitchens are designed for a wide range of menu items, with sections for preparation, cooking, and plating. They're considered full-service and have varied dining options.

Commissary Kitchens

These are shared kitchen spaces rented by businesses. They offer professional-grade equipment and storage.

Ghost Kitchens

Some kitchens don't have a dining space at all, and these are called ghost kitchens. They're used for delivery or takeout-only restaurants.

Food Truck Kitchens

Street food and mobile food vendors use this type of commercial kitchen a lot. They're designed to be compact and ready to go whenever the workday is done.

Central Production Kitchens

These large kitchen facilities produce food items that are to be distributed to various outlets. They operate more like a factory than a regular kitchen. The goal isn't just to make the process more efficient, but also to make sure that the food items are consistent in taste and quality.

Commercial kitchen layouts

Different kitchens have different layouts, and commercial kitchens are no exception to this. The type of layout a kitchen has usually vary based on its purpose. Here are the most common types.

Commercial kitchens come in various layouts to cater to different needs. Here are the most common types, each suited for specific food businesses.

Assembly Line Layout

This streamlined layout is best for high-volume production since it streamlines the food production process from preparation to pick-up. It can be used for both fast-food restaurants that need to produce a high volume of food in a short amount of time or limited menu restaurants that create similar food for hours on end.

Island Layout

An island layout allows a more flexible workflow since the storage and prep areas are situated around the perimeter. It works best for kitchens whose staff need to interact often and food production processes that need constant supervision.

Zone Style Layout

This layout separates zones for different food types to prevent cross-contamination between each one. It's the ideal option for large operations that have several course meals, like hotel restaurants, for instance.

Galley Layout

The main priority of a galley layout is to fit everything in a small space. With this layout, the equipment and prep stations are usually lined along just one wall. It's commonly seen in food trucks and other small commercial kitchens.

Open Layout

An open layout can have any of the styles listed above, with the added complication of being designed for the public's viewing. The biggest downside to it is that you have to make sure that everything's always in tip-top shape when it comes to food hygiene, safety, and quality – there can't be any accidental lapses because someone could always be watching.

Commercial kitchen materials

Commercial kitchens value durability and hygiene above all things. That's why the most common materials found in commercial kitchens include:

Stainless steel, for its resistance to corrosion, durability, and ease of cleaning
Heavy-duty plastic for storage containers
Non-slip materials in floors and other wet or damp areas to prevent accidents

Commercial kitchen equipment

Commercial kitchen equipment tends to be quite expensive, but for good reason. One, they're high-quality to make sure that the production is also high-quality. Two, they're designed to handle large volumes continuously. Three, they're usually energy-efficient despite their intensive usage.

Examples of commercial kitchen equipment are:

Industrial ovens
Stoves
Fryers
Refrigerators
Freezers
Built-in dishwashers
Rangehoods

They also include smaller but equally important tools like:

Mixers
Slicers
Ice-makers
Food processors
Food waste disposal

Commercial kitchen storage and delivery

A commercial kitchen's choice of storage solutions can make or break an operation. Imagine the feeling of losing food just because the freezer stopped working overnight – now multiply the cost of that by tens of thousands of dollars, and you'll see why having the proper storage is important for commercial kitchens.

Walk-in refrigerators and freezers are great for holding all the perishable items, while dry storage areas are needed for holding non-perishable foods.

Meanwhile, a good delivery system means uninterrupted service. A bad delivery system, on the other hand, means a bad customer experience.

Commercial kitchen design standards

Commercial kitchens, as mentioned above, are legally required to focus on hygiene and safety. This is why they're checked for proper ventilation, fire suppression systems, adequate lighting, clear signage and other safety accommodations.

However, they also care about efficiency. Their layouts reflect this, as even the smallest commercial kitchen needs to be designed to allow staff to easily access supplies and tools they need.

Commercial kitchen design software

These days, it's easier to plan commercial kitchen designs with design software. These tools are used to create detailed floor plans with all the above considerations in mind. Some of the popular software today includes:

AutoCAD
SmartDraw
Revit

Commercial kitchen costs

Just like with residential kitchens, costs are a major factor when building commercial kitchens. That's because the higher the budget, the more optimised the design tends to be. Businesses with limited budgets have to make sacrifices on different aspects like equipment, installations, materials, and labour.

Personally, we suggest investing in quality materials and energy-efficient appliances outright. While they may be costlier at first, they don't have to be replaced as often and they also don't consume much electricity. In the long run, this can lead to significant savings and fewer headaches for the kitchen owner.

Commercial kitchen design ideas and examples

Want to see what commercial kitchens look like in real life? Here are some real-world examples.

1. Casa Pollo (NSW) - Petra Projects

Casa Pollo is a chicken shop with a galley style open layout that allows customers to see the food preparation process in action. This layout works because they have a relatively limited menu, so it involves cooking the same dishes repeatedly.

2. Avli (Cranebrook) - Petra Projects

Avli was a Greek restaurant in Cranebook whose kitchen had a zone-style layout. There were specific sections reserved for certain types of food, which helped make the production process faster and more efficient.

3. The Marion (Canberra) - Sydney Commercial Kitchens

The kitchen at The Marion in Regatta Point, Canberra combines a zone-style layout and an island layout. It has a central island prep area surrounded by cooking stations on one side and cleaning stations on the other. This arrangement allows cooks to communicate with each other easily, see the food production in the process, and do more things all at once – something that's important in a fast-paced hotel restaurant.

4. Bendigo Community Aged Care Facility (Bendigo) - Croft Development

The Bendigo Community Aged Care Facility has a typical assembly line layout where the refrigerator is right next to the stoves, next to the prep area, next to the sink – making the process more streamlined from start to finish.

However, it also uses a central for the final preparations. Since it's a care facility, it's likely that the prepared meals will be placed here prior to being sent to their residents.

5. Trackside Noodle Bar (Springvale) - Brandon Hospitality Solutions

Like other food stalls, the Trackside Noodle Bar has a galley-style open layout that's on the smaller side. Since it doesn't have a large menu, though, this layout is already sufficient for the staff to do everything they need to do.

Architecture & Design Team

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