Choosing Commercial Refrigeration for Your Kitchen — A Buyer’s Guide

Commercial refrigeration is rarely the most exciting line item on a kitchen build, but it’s the one that ruins your week when it fails. Pick wrong and you live with cramped storage, an electricity bill you didn’t budget for, or a compressor warranty claim that takes three weeks to resolve. Pick right and you barely think about it for ten years. Here’s the framework we walk our customers through.

How much capacity do you actually need?

The rough rule for restaurants: 1 to 1.5 cubic feet of refrigeration per meal you serve in a peak day, plus the same again for produce-heavy menus. A 100-cover bistro turning two seatings is doing 200 covers, so you’re looking at 200–300 cu ft of cold storage between reach-ins, undercounters, and a walk-in.

Don’t oversize for the menu you might launch in two years — empty cold space costs you money to keep cold. Better to leave room in the floorplan and add a second undercounter when you actually need it.

Reach-in vs. walk-in vs. undercounter

• Walk-in cooler — best $/cu ft for high-volume operations, but you’re paying for installation, panels, and a refrigeration deck on the roof or out back. Worth it once you cross ~150 cu ft of storage need.
• Reach-in (1, 2, or 3-door) — the workhorse of most line setups. A two-door reach-in holds about 50 cu ft. Stainless interior, self-closing doors, top- or bottom-mount compressor.
• Undercounter — slips beneath your prep table, keeps mise-en-place at hand. 27″ or 48″ wide. Sacrifices total storage for ergonomics.
• Prep tables (sandwich/pizza) — refrigerated rail of pans on top, cold storage below. The right answer for any sandwich, salad, or pizza station.

Energy ratings: ENERGY STAR or not?

ENERGY STAR commercial refrigeration uses 20–40% less electricity than non-rated equivalents. On a reach-in running 24/7, that’s $200–$400/year in savings — easily $3,000+ over a typical 10-year service life. The upfront premium is usually $300–$600. The math is obvious.

Several Canadian provinces also offer rebates for ENERGY STAR commercial refrigeration. Check Save on Energy (Ontario), Énergir (Quebec), or BC Hydro for current programs.

Compressor warranties: read the fine print

The headline number (“5-year compressor warranty!”) rarely tells the full story. What you actually want to know:

• Parts only, or parts & labour? Labour-included is worth real money on a unit you can’t easily move.
• Is the warranty serviced by a Canadian network, or does the unit need to ship somewhere?
• Does it cover the full sealed system (compressor + evaporator + condenser), or just the compressor itself?
• What’s the response-time SLA? “Within 30 days” is typical; “next business day” is rare and worth a premium for high-volume operations.

Where Norpex’s lineup fits

We stock Omcan refrigeration across the full range — reach-ins, undercounters, prep tables, walk-in panels, blast chillers — all with full Canadian parts support. For high-volume operations we also carry Trento (Italian-built, dual-temp options) and Vitella display refrigeration for front-of-house. For specialty curing applications, Stagionello cabinets handle the climate control automatically.

Whatever you choose, we honour our Best Price Guarantee on every refrigeration purchase — find a lower advertised Canadian price and we beat it.