Restaurant Equipment Checklist: What to Buy to Open in Canada

Decide these before you buy anything

Equipment is the last decision in a kitchen plan, not the first. The menu sets what has to be cooked, held and chilled; the building sets what can be powered, vented and drained. Buy in the other order and you can end up owning a range the gas line cannot feed or a dishwasher the electrical panel cannot power.

Settle the points below with your designer, landlord and trades first. Each one narrows the equipment list, and several of them decide between two entirely different machines.

• Menu and volume: the dishes, the busiest service you expect and how many covers it has to handle.
• Utilities: whether natural gas is available or propane is needed, the electrical service size and phase, and where the water lines and floor drains are.
• Ventilation: which appliances will sit under an exhaust hood, and whether the hood, fire suppression and make-up air are designed for them.
• Layout: the size and shape of each station, the route food takes from receiving to the plate, and the doors every piece has to pass through.
• Approvals: what your local public health unit, fire department and building department expect to review before construction and before opening.

Cooking line

Build the line around the two or three items that sell most. A burger and fries menu leans on a griddle, a charbroiler and fryers; a full-service menu leans on a range with an oven base, a convection or combi oven and a salamander. Cooking equipment that produces grease-laden vapour generally has to sit under a commercial hood, so the hood length caps how much you can put on the line.

Check each piece against the fuel you actually have. Gas and electric versions of the same appliance are not interchangeable at the wall, and a gas unit also has to be ordered for the right gas, natural gas or propane.

• Range or ranges: burner count, oven base or storage base, and any griddle or charbroiler section on top.
• Fryers: floor or countertop, the number of vats, and whether you want built-in oil filtration.
• Griddle, charbroiler or both, on equipment stands or refrigerated chef bases.
• Ovens: convection, combi, deck or conveyor pizza ovens, depending on the menu.
• A salamander or cheese melter for finishing.
• Hot holding at the pass: food warmers, heat lamps or strip heaters.

Refrigeration

Refrigeration is easy to undersize. Work out cold storage from your deliveries: how many days of product you hold between orders, and how much of it is chilled or frozen. Once volume is high, a walk-in cooler often makes more sense than a row of reach-ins, but it is a construction project that may need permits and has its own lead time.

At the line, cold storage should sit where the cook reaches for it. Prep tables, undercounter and worktop units, and refrigerated chef bases under the griddle keep product within arm's length and cut trips to the walk-in during service.

• A walk-in cooler and freezer, or reach-in refrigerators and freezers.
• Sandwich, salad or pizza prep tables for the make line.
• Undercounter, worktop and chef base units at the cooking line.
• An ice machine with a storage bin sized for the bar and the kitchen together.
• Bar refrigeration: back bar coolers, bottle coolers or a beer dispenser.
• A blast chiller if you cook in batches and cool food for later service.

Food preparation

Prep equipment follows the menu more closely than any other station. A bakery or pizzeria needs a mixer sized for its biggest dough batch, a deli needs a slicer, and a kitchen that cuts its own vegetables needs a food processor or vegetable slicer rather than more knives and more labour hours.

Give prep its own tables and its own sink. Many health units expect a sink for washing produce and thawing that is separate from the dishwashing sink and from hand sinks, so plan the plumbing for it now rather than after the walls are closed.

• Stainless work tables, with poly cutting boards or poly-top tables where you cut.
• A mixer: planetary for general bakery work, spiral for bread and pizza dough.
• A meat slicer, food processor, vegetable slicer and immersion blender as the menu requires.
• Portion scales and a receiving scale.
• A vacuum sealer if you portion, store or cook sous vide.
• A prep sink with a drainboard.

Warewashing and sinks

Plan the dish room for the worst hour of the week. Soiled plates, glasses and pots arrive faster than any machine can clear them, so the soiled-side table needs room to land and scrape a full bus tub before the rack goes in. A machine that is too small for the rush becomes the bottleneck for the whole restaurant.

Most Canadian health units expect dedicated hand sinks in food handling areas and a way to wash, rinse and sanitize wares, usually a dishwasher, a three-compartment sink or both. Requirements differ between health units, so confirm yours before the plumbing is roughed in.

• A commercial dishwasher: undercounter, door-type or conveyor, high-temperature or low-temperature.
• Soiled and clean dish tables, with a pre-rinse faucet on the soiled side.
• A three-compartment sink for pots and anything that does not fit a rack.
• Hand sinks at each work area, plus a mop sink.
• Dish racks, a rack dolly and chemical dispensers.

Storage, front of house and smallwares

Storage is often where a kitchen runs short of room. Dry storage shelving, walk-in shelving that tolerates humidity, dunnage racks for heavy sacks and cases, and pan racks for sheet pans all compete for floor space, so measure the storage rooms before you choose shelf widths. Most health units expect food to be stored off the floor.

Front of house and beverage equipment depends on the concept: coffee and espresso equipment, cold beverage dispensers, display cases for grab-and-go, and dining room furniture. Smallwares are easy to leave out of the budget, and they add up quickly once every station has its own pans, utensils, knives, cutting boards, thermometers and storage containers.

• Wire or polymer shelving, dunnage racks, pan racks and ingredient bins.
• Utility carts and a hand truck for receiving.
• Beverage equipment, display cases and dining room furniture.
• Smallwares for every station, with spares of the pans and utensils that spend time in the dishwasher.
• Probe thermometers and refrigerator thermometers for your food safety records.

Ordering, lead times and common mistakes

Order the long-lead items first. Hoods, walk-ins, combi ovens and configured or special-order equipment can take longer to arrive than stock items, and lead time depends on the supplier and the destination, so ask for a lead time on anything you cannot open without before you set an opening date.

For a full kitchen, you can send the equipment list or a floor plan through the Norpex project quote form, and the whole list is priced with freight included. Large equipment and anything that cannot be bought online is priced by a person on a quote, and quotes come back within one business day.

Some of the costliest mistakes are the ones discovered on delivery day.

• Buying before the gas, electrical and exhaust capacity is confirmed.
• Ordering the wrong gas type or voltage; special-order and freight equipment is not returnable once delivered in good condition.
• Not measuring the doorways, stairs and corners on the delivery route.
• Using residential appliances in a commercial kitchen, when many health units expect commercial, sanitation-certified equipment.
• Leaving smallwares, shelving and dish racks out of the budget.

Common questions