Equipment guides
Buying guides, comparisons and how-tos for commercial kitchen equipment, written by Norpex for Canadian restaurants and foodservice buyers.
Buying guides
Bar Refrigeration Guide: Back Bar Coolers, Kegerators and Wine Coolers
Fit bar refrigeration to the drinks and the space: back bar coolers for bottles and mixers under the back counter, bottle coolers for fast grab-and-serve, a beer dispenser matched to your kegs and taps, glass chillers for chilled glassware, and wine coolers with the zones your list needs, all front-breathing if built in.
7 min read · Updated
Buying guideButcher Equipment Guide: Grinders, Band Saws, Stuffers and More
Buy butcher equipment for the products and volumes you actually process. A grinder of the right head size covers most kitchens; add a band saw only if you cut bone-in or frozen product, a piston stuffer for sausage, and a patty maker when burgers are a staple.
8 min read · Updated
Buying guideCommercial Blender Buying Guide: Bar vs Food, Containers and Controls
Choose a commercial blender by what it blends and how often. A bar blender suits drinks made in short bursts, a food blender suits purées, soups and sauces, a sound enclosure belongs anywhere guests are close, and programmed cycles pay off when many staff make the same recipes.
8 min read · Updated
Buying guideCommercial Dishwasher Buying Guide: Undercounter, Door-Type or Conveyor
Size the machine for your busiest hour: undercounter units suit bars and small cafés, door-type machines suit most full-service restaurants, and conveyors suit high-volume and institutional kitchens. Then choose high-temperature sanitizing, which needs a booster heater and more power, or low-temperature chemical sanitizing, which costs less up front but uses sanitizer every cycle.
7 min read · Updated
Buying guideCommercial Food Processor Guide: Batch Bowl vs Continuous Feed
Buy a batch bowl processor to chop, purée, emulsify and mix; buy a continuous-feed processor or vegetable cutter to slice, grate, julienne and dice produce in volume. Many kitchens choose a combination unit. Size by bowl capacity and throughput, and budget for the discs you need.
7 min read · Updated
Buying guideCommercial Fryer Buying Guide: Gas vs Electric, Floor vs Countertop
Pick a fryer by volume and product. Floor fryers suit steady, high-volume frying and countertop units suit light volume or a second product. Tube pots handle breaded food, open pots clean easily and flat-bottom pots suit floating batters. Then compare recovery, filtration, fuel and the hood it must sit under.
7 min read · Updated
Buying guideCommercial Ice Machine Buying Guide: Cube Types, Cooling and Sizing
Pick the ice first, then the machine: choose the cube type your drinks and displays need, size daily production to your busiest day with a bin that covers the peak, and choose air, water or remote cooling by where the heat can go, with filtration matched to your water.
7 min read · Updated
Buying guideCommercial Juicer Buying Guide: Citrus, Centrifugal and Cold Press
Match the juicer to the fruit and the volume. Citrus juicers, from electric reamers to automatic whole-fruit machines, handle oranges, lemons and limes; centrifugal juicers handle hard fruit and vegetables quickly; slow juicers and hydraulic cold presses handle leafy greens and bottled juice at a slower pace.
7 min read · Updated
Buying guideCommercial Mixer Buying Guide: Planetary vs Spiral, Sizes and Duty
Buy a planetary mixer if you mix a bit of everything, from batters and whipped cream to moderate batches of dough. Buy a spiral mixer if dough is the main job, especially bread and pizza. Size either one from the manufacturer's dough capacity chart for your recipe, not from the bowl volume.
8 min read · Updated
Buying guideCommercial Pasta Equipment Guide: Extruders, Dies, Sheeters, Cookers
Fresh pasta can take up to three machines: an extruder with dies for shaped pasta, a sheeter or roller for sheets and filled pasta, and a pasta cooker to cook it to order. Size each to the kilograms you make in a day and the portions you cook in the busiest hour.
7 min read · Updated
Buying guideCommercial Range Buying Guide: Gas vs Electric, Burners and Bases
Choose a commercial range by fuel first, then width and top configuration, then base. Match burners to the pans you run at peak, take an oven base only if you will bake in it, and confirm gas type, voltage, clearances and hood coverage before ordering, because freight equipment cannot be returned once delivered in good condition.
8 min read · Updated
Buying guideDough Equipment Guide: Sheeters, Dividers, Presses and Proofers
Buy dough equipment in the order your bottlenecks appear. Pizzerias usually need a mixer, a way to portion and ball dough, and a press or sheeter to open it. Bakeries add a reversible sheeter for laminated pastry, a divider-rounder and a proofer or retarder-proofer.
8 min read · Updated
Buying guideHot Food Holding Equipment Guide: Cabinets, Steam Tables, Warmers
Hot holding equipment keeps food that is already cooked at a safe serving temperature; it is not built to cook or reheat. Choose by the food, the holding time and the place: cabinets for volume behind the line, steam tables for service, lamps and strip heaters for the pass, display warmers for grab-and-go.
7 min read · Updated
Buying guideMeat Slicer Buying Guide: Blade Size, Duty Class and Safe Cleaning
Choose a slicer by how many hours a day it will run and what it will slice. A 12-inch blade on a medium or heavy-duty machine is the common choice for delis and restaurants; if you slice a lot of cheese, buy heavy duty. Automatic carriages pay off only at high volume.
7 min read · Updated
Buying guidePizza Oven Buying Guide: Deck, Conveyor, Wood-Fired or Countertop
Choose a pizza oven by style and volume. Deck ovens bake traditional crusts on stone and reward a skilled operator, conveyor ovens bake consistently with little training, wood-fired and high-heat dome ovens suit Neapolitan-style pizza, and countertop ovens suit low volume. Then check fuel, venting, footprint and throughput at your busiest hour.
7 min read · Updated
Buying guideReach-In Refrigerator Buying Guide: Doors, Sizes and Compressors
Choose a reach-in by the space and heat it will work in: size the sections to what you actually store, use solid doors for back-of-house holding and glass where people need to see stock, and match the compressor position, plug and door swing to the room before comparing cubic feet.
8 min read · Updated
Buying guideRefrigerated Display Case Buying Guide: Deli, Gelato and Grab-and-Go
Choose a refrigerated display case by the product and the room: service showcases with gentle cooling for deli, meat and cheese, a case with the right temperature range for gelato, open-air merchandisers only for packaged food away from drafts, and always load any case with product that is already cold.
7 min read · Updated
Buying guideRefrigerated Prep Table Buying Guide: Sandwich, Pizza and Mega-Top
A refrigerated prep table keeps ingredients cold in a pan rail above a refrigerated base. Choose sandwich, pizza or mega-top by how many ingredients the station uses and how much board depth the work needs, and pick an undercounter, worktop or chef base when the station needs storage or a cooking surface instead.
7 min read · Updated
Buying guideRotisserie and Shawarma Machine Guide: Spits, Baskets, Gas or Electric
For whole chickens and roasts, choose a spit rotisserie for volume and display or a basket rotisserie for mixed and irregular items. For shawarma, doner, gyro or al pastor, choose a vertical broiler sized to the cone you sell in a day, with gas or electric heat to suit your utilities and hood.
7 min read · Updated
Buying guideStainless Steel Work Tables and Shelving: Grades, Gauges, Racks
For most kitchens, choose 304 stainless tops where the table gets wet or sees acids and salt, and 430 for dry prep. Pick 16 gauge for general prep and 14 gauge for heavy equipment; the lower the number, the thicker the steel. Match shelving to the room: chrome wire for dry storage, epoxy or poly in coolers.
7 min read · Updated
Comparisons
Chamber vs External Vacuum Sealers: Which Does a Kitchen Need?
Choose a chamber vacuum sealer if you pack liquids, marinades or soups, cook sous vide, or seal more than a few bags a day. Choose an external suction sealer for occasional sealing of dry, solid foods, where portability and a lower purchase price matter more.
7 min read · Updated
ComparisonConvection Oven vs Combi Oven: Which Does Your Kitchen Need?
A convection oven circulates hot, dry air with a fan and suits baking and roasting. A combi oven adds controlled steam, so it can roast, steam or combine both. Buy convection for baking and simple roasting; buy a combi when one oven must do several jobs and you can supply water, drainage and maintenance.
6 min read · Updated
ComparisonGas, Electric or Induction: Choosing Fuel for a Commercial Kitchen
Choose fuel by what the building can supply first, then by how you cook. Gas gives instant, visible heat and works with any pan. Electric suits buildings without gas. Induction heats the pan directly, responds quickly and adds less heat to the room, but needs magnetic cookware and substantial electrical capacity.
7 min read · Updated
ComparisonGriddle vs Charbroiler: Flat-Top, Grill or Salamander for Your Menu
A griddle cooks on a flat, even steel plate and suits breakfast, smash burgers and sandwiches. A charbroiler cooks over open grates for grill marks and char, suited to steaks and burgers. A salamander broils from above to finish and melt. Many lines need two of the three, and the menu decides which.
6 min read · Updated
How-tos
How to Receive a Freight Delivery of Commercial Kitchen Equipment
Heavy equipment ships by freight carrier on a pallet or in a crate, and a standard delivery ends at the truck or the dock, not inside. Arrange a liftgate, appointment or inside delivery before paying, clear the route, then inspect every piece before signing, note damage on the delivery receipt and call Norpex the same day.
7 min read · Updated
How-toWhat to Measure Before Ordering Commercial Kitchen Equipment
Before ordering, measure the whole delivery route against the crated size, measure the final spot including clearances, and confirm the utilities: voltage, phase, amperage and plug; natural gas or propane and the supply's capacity; water, drain and ventilation. Special-order and freight equipment is not returnable once delivered in good condition, so check before you buy.
8 min read · Updated
Checklists
Explainers
Commercial Sinks Explained: Compartment, Hand and Prep Sinks
Most commercial kitchens need three kinds of sink: a compartment sink for washing, rinsing and sanitizing wares, dedicated hand sinks, and a separate prep sink for food. Many health units also expect a mop or utility sink. Size compartments to your largest pan and check your local health unit's rules before the plumbing goes in.
6 min read · Updated
ExplainerDry-Aging and Curing Cabinets: What They Control and Who Needs One
A dry-aging or curing cabinet is a refrigerated cabinet that holds temperature, humidity and air movement steady for weeks at a time, which an ordinary fridge cannot do. Dry-aging cabinets run cold for beef; curing cabinets run warmer and step through fermenting and drying stages for salumi.
7 min read · Updated
ExplainerNSF, CSA, cUL and ETL Marks Explained for Canadian Kitchens
Commercial kitchen equipment in Canada usually needs two kinds of certification: a safety listing for Canada, such as CSA, cUL or cETLus, for electrical and gas equipment, and a sanitation listing, such as NSF, for food equipment. A plain UL, ETL or CE mark without the Canadian indicator does not show approval for use in Canada.
7 min read · Updated
ExplainerWhat Is a Blast Chiller? Cook-Chill, Capacity and Roll-In vs Reach-In
A blast chiller pulls heat out of freshly cooked food fast with high-velocity cold air, moving it through the temperature range where bacteria multiply far quicker than a refrigerator can. Kitchens that cook ahead use one to cool batches safely and consistently, then move the food into ordinary cold storage.
7 min read · Updated
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