Design Phase of a Commercial Kitchen (Guide)

Overview

A lot goes into designing a commercial kitchen on a high level, from considering storage space, food prep zone, and cooking station to service and washing station. If you have been in this industry you might already have an idea on the nitty-gritty of it. So, here we give you some details on the technical aspects of a commercial kitchen design, which includes renders and layouts.

When it comes to designing a commercial kitchen and drawing out a plan, much thought goes into the reference standards and adherence to Council/Australian Food Standards guidelines, dimensions, and workflows.

Design of a Professional Commercial Kitchen

The design team consults the chef and ascertains what kind of catering activity will take place in the kitchen and who the target customers are. They have to arrange for functions and dedicated spaces in the most efficient way possible.
The food service designer or the design team is responsible to ensure that the design complies with the:

Food safety/Australian standards regulations
Workflow
Layout equipment, dishwashing section, food prep, etc.
Environmental standards
Waste disposal requirements
Optimising the space

Reference Standards for Designing a Professional Commercial Kitchen in Australia

Food Standards, Australia New Zealand rolls out food standards code for Australia and New Zealand. However, each state in Australia has different agencies enforcing the food standards code. You can click the link below to know which applies to you:
Food enforcement contacts

In Australia, it’s essential to abide by the standard 3.2.3 – Food Safety Practices and General Requirements when designing a commercial kitchen. The goal of this Standard is to guarantee that the layout of the premises, to the greatest extent possible, minimises potential for food contamination.

You can deep dive into this by downloading this PDF from the official source:

Standard 3.2.3: Food Premises and Equipment

6 Must-Dos for Designing a Great Commercial Kitchen

Food service designers should comply with the standards not only to create efficient designs, but also to ensure hygiene and easy maintenance. This ensures a smooth flow in preparing, storing, and displaying food.

Standards lay down minimum required dimensions for the dedicated kitchen spaces to further facilitate good hygiene as well as efficiency. Here’s how the workflow should look like:

access to raw supplies -> preparation for pre-cooking -> cooking -> food garnish -> service

Areas dedicated to washing and processing vegetables and meat should be kept separate. They can also be independent rooms altogether, of course depending on the size of the kitchen and the amount of customers it handles at once. These rooms can be kept separated from the other areas by washable panels or something similar.

Reign in Design tip: In order to comply with the hygiene and sanitation standards, we recommend you keep these areas square shaped to keep them as spaced out as possible, or else you could face bottlenecks in ensuring efficiency and difficulty in maintaining hygiene standards.

1. Standard dimensions for a commercial kitchen design

The minimum size of your commercial kitchen for every 50 seats should be 20 square metres, including the washing station. To put it simply, you should have 0.5 square metres of kitchen space for every seat in the establishment.

Furniture, fittings, and fixtures should be installed in such a way that they allow easy cleaning and sanitation.

2. Ventilation and lighting

Lighting and ventilation should be adequate and communicate directly with the outdoors. Furthermore, all apertures must be equipped with anti-insect and rodent netting. Cooking hoods that vent fumes outdoors must also be installed in the kitchen.

There are two kinds of hoods:

Wall-mounted or flue-outlet air extractors
With activated carbon filters and a wall outlet

The decision is yours; the only requirement that should be met is all cooking surfaces, fryers, and rotisserie ovens have a hood.

3. Walls and flooring

Floors should have rounded corners and light-coloured edges to encourage proper and easy cleaning. The material used for constructing the floors should be smooth, washable, and impermeable. For proper drainage, the edges of the floors should slope into a drained gutter that should have a fine mesh grid.

Reign in Design tip: In the design of commercial kitchen floor plan, for smooth workflow and ease in the kitchen activities, the food service designer can link the kitchen to other related spaces such as the pantry, washing station, cold storage area, and others. Do keep in mind that half of their surfaces should be considered and included in the calculation for the standard of 0.5 square metres kitchen space/seat.

Designing a Professional Commercial Kitchen in Australia

4. Pantry and storage

The pantry must always be situated in a separate room or in the basement, as long as it is healthy and high enough. Pantry is one of those kitchen spaces that are completely isolated from the public and only accessed by the chefs and the kitchen staff. It is dedicated to food storage in special cold stores. Its floors and walls should also be constructed with a smooth material so that they are easily cleaned.

The deposit must be outfitted with appropriate and adequate shelves made of washable material and intended to hold non-perishable products.

4 kinds of equipment can be used for food storage:

A refrigerator or a cell for cooked dishes, ready-to-eat meals, and semi-finished foods
A refrigerator or a cell for meat
A refrigerator or a cell for vegetables
A refrigerator or a cell for other foods such as processed meats, milk, and dairy products

For frozen food, a single freezer is sufficient; however, two freezers should be preferred.

5. Dishwashing station

There shouldn’t be any food preparation or food processing permitted in the room or area designated for washing pots and pans. The minimum surface area must be 5 square metres, and it can be incorporated in the same kitchen space in certain instances.

6. Equipment that must be placed while designing a restaurant kitchen plan

The types of equipment used should align with the types of food intended to be prepared and should also make cleaning and sanitation easier.

Work tables, storage shelves, and all other elements of a commercial kitchen should be composed of materials that are smooth, continuous, food-safe, readily clean, and disinfectable.

Reign in Design tip: The food service designers are recommended to include the cooking island installed right at the centre of the room and elevated from the ground in the commercial kitchen layout.

Dishwasher

An industrial dishwasher is essential because it allows for the prevention of disease and bacteria spread caused by food.

Fridge

Fridges are necessary in every restaurant since many food products must be maintained at a specific temperature to meet food safety standards. Freezers are necessary for food storage since food cannot always be consumed right away.

Blast Chilling

The blast chiller is an equipment that quickly lowers the temperature of newly cooked or raw food, allowing for optimal preservation in the freezer or refrigerator. Although not required, it is strongly advised.

Steel Tables

Food preparation tables must be constructed of stainless steel and are typical kitchen appliances, as the food being prepared, particularly meat, must be processed on such materials.
Stainless steel tables for food prep can be freestanding or attached to other pieces of equipment, depending on the layout of the kitchen.

Cooktop

Professional cooktops are typical equipment in a catering business and should preferably be located in the centre of the kitchen.

In general, the centre module is made up of numerous burners that may alternate between grids and plates. Each burner has its own knob that may be used to regulate it. To work efficiently, more ovens should be incorporated within the stove, and a kitchen hood device must be installed over the stove.

Sinks

Sinks must be made of either ceramic or stainless steel and have non-manual faucets, such as pedal or photocell. Meat and vegetable spaces must have their respective sink and work area, as well as particular instruments that can only be used after thorough cleaning.

Kitchen flow

It is critical to ensure smooth traffic in a restaurant kitchen through a good design: from delivery and cooking to serving and washing. Planning your commercial kitchen layout with these steps in mind helps identify concerns, such as:

Efficiency of your food prep section – is it configured for optimum usage?
Choosing the right equipment, spacing – is there sufficient space given for food storage, refrigerators, etc.?
Food sanitation & food safety – are furnishings for sanitation positioned strategically?
Location/availability of services: gas/water/ventilation/electrical – are the right type of cooker hoods selected for ventilation? Are gas pipelines and plumbing located correctly?
Choosing materials – are flooring and walls made of impermeable material? Are work surfaces smooth for efficient cleaning? Are table surfaces stainless steel?

Reign in Design tip: It is vital to construct a dual access route whenever feasible to segregate the pathways for clean dishes that go out towards the dining room and dirty/used dishes that enter towards the washing area.

To ensure a smooth workflow and room hygiene, these two paths should always be clearly defined and conflict with each other.

Finally, waste bins and containers should always be available. They should be conveniently accessible, have a foot opening, and not need the personnel to have direct hand contact with the lid. Waste management is critical to sanitary operations.

Parting Words

We hope you found this detailed information on a commercial restaurant kitchen layout helpful. For any queries or a free consultation and quote, you can reach out to us at 0475255792 or email us at info@reignindesign.com.au. You can also submit your query via this link.