Opening a Restaurant: The Kitchen Equipment Checklist

Equipping a new commercial kitchen is a sequencing problem as much as a purchasing one. The line has to fit the menu, the ventilation has to match the cooking equipment, and the electrical service has to be sized before anything is bolted down. Order those decisions wrong and you pay for it in change orders, failed inspections and opening delays. This checklist walks the kitchen station by station in the order a professional buyer should actually think about it, with the specs and lead-time realities that catch most first-time operators.

Start with the cooking line

The cooking line drives every other decision in the room, so specify it first. Build your equipment list from the menu, not from a catalog: count covers at peak, then decide how many burners, wok wells, steamer compartments or roaster racks you need to hit that number without a bottleneck. For high-volume Asian and institutional kitchens, a wok range earns its footprint because a single well can turn a dish in ninety seconds, but each well is also a serious gas load, so quantity matters for both throughput and utility sizing.

• Ranges and wok ranges sized to peak covers, with confirmed gas type (natural vs. LP) and BTU load per burner
• Steamers for dim sum, seafood and vegetables, plumbed with the water quality and drain they require
• Roasters or ovens matched to your protein volume and target holding temps
• A written spec sheet per unit: fuel, dimensions, connection type, clearances to combustibles

Confirm the fuel and connection for every piece before you buy. Gas equipment needs the right supply pressure and pipe diameter; heavy electric equipment often needs 208/240V three-phase service and dedicated circuits sized to the nameplate amperage. Have your electrician and plumber confirm the building can deliver it before the order ships. Browse the full equipment range at our products catalog to match units to your line.

Size ventilation to the equipment, not the room

Ventilation is where new kitchens most often fail inspection, because the hood is specified after the fact instead of to the appliances beneath it. Exhaust CFM is a function of hood type, canopy length and the duty of the cooking equipment below it — a wok line and a heavy char-broiler pull far more air than a light-duty range. Whatever you exhaust, you must replace: your makeup air unit should supply roughly 80 to 90 percent of exhaust volume so the kitchen stays at slight negative pressure without starving burners or slamming doors.

Refrigeration and prep

Map cold storage to your delivery schedule and prep flow. You typically need three tiers: bulk storage (walk-in cooler and freezer), line-side holding (reach-ins and undercounter units at each station), and prep-surface refrigeration (prep tables and rail units that keep mise en place at safe temperature during service). Keep raw and ready-to-eat storage separate to satisfy your health code. Size the walk-in to your least-frequent delivery, not your average day, or you will run out of room every time a big order lands.

Warewashing and sanitation

Most jurisdictions require a three-compartment sink for manual warewashing regardless of whether you run a machine, plus separate hand sinks and a mop sink. If you install a dish machine, decide early between high-temp (which needs a booster heater and the electrical to feed it) and low-temp chemical sanitizing, because that choice changes your plumbing and utility load. Add grease management — floor drains, grease trap or interceptor sized to your fixtures — to the plan before the slab work is done.

Holding, smallwares and the finish list

Hot and cold holding is what protects food quality between the line and the guest. Hold hot food at 140°F or above and cold food at 41°F or below, and buy enough holding capacity that your cooks aren't crowding the range to keep plates warm. Then work the long tail: worktables, shelving, sheet pans, hotel pans, knives, thermometers and the hundreds of smallwares that never make the first budget draft but are needed on day one.

Budget, lead time and financing

Two numbers derail more openings than equipment cost itself: lead time and installed cost. In-stock equipment can ship in 24 to 48 hours, but custom builds are made to order and need to be placed early against your construction schedule. Budget for the installed cost, not the sticker — freight, rigging, electrical, gas and plumbing connections, and ventilation are real line items. Spreading equipment cost over its useful life through equipment financing preserves the working capital a new restaurant needs for its first lean months. If you want a second set of eyes on your line before you commit, talk to us about your menu, your space and your opening date.

Work the list top to bottom — cooking line, ventilation, refrigeration, warewashing, holding and smallwares — confirming utilities at each step, and you'll walk into inspection with a kitchen that's built to the menu and ready to open on schedule.