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Which Type of Commercial Refrigerator Do You Need?
Whether it’s a restaurant, bar, bakery or other catering industry, a commercial refrigerator plays an irreplaceable role as it allows you to store food or drinks for long periods of time without spoiling, while ensuring that you can serve your customers efficiently, so how do you choose the best commercial refrigeration equipment for your needs, check out Chefmax’s buying guide.
Table of Contents
1. Difference between commercial and domestic refrigerator
People who know about refrigeration equipment generally know that the principle of commercial refrigeration equipment and domestic refrigeration equipment is actually the same, but there are differences in function and style, and sometimes it may be that for some small restaurant business owners may feel that a domestic refrigerators can also be the ideal size for your needs, but before making that decision, you better understand the difference between the two, because it may determine the benefits of your restaurant.
• The capacity of domestic refrigerators is relatively small, for example, the capacity of domestic freezers is generally below 200L.
• The design is usually more aesthetically pleasing to cater to the aesthetics of different customers.
• The structure is simple and single temperature, so it is quieter compared to commercial refrigerators, while not consuming too much electricity.
•commercial refrigerator are available in a wider range of shapes and sizes to suit different sized commercial kitchens.
• Commercial refrigerators have to have larger cooling systems, compressors and fans to withstand the demands of constant work in a commercial kitchen.
• They will typically be more powerful and last longer, and tend to be relatively more expensive.
• They are usually more specialized and have higher storage temperature and stability requirements.
2. The difference types of the commercial refrigerator?
The commercial refrigerator can usually be used to store a variety of kitchen ingredients such as vegetables, meat, ingredients, beverages, etc. The unit is usually vertical in design and thanks to its versatility, reasonable size and storage efficiency, it is one of the most common types of refrigerators in many restaurants, bakeries or other catering industries, allowing your staff to easily access ingredients and effectively increase the efficiency of your kitchen operations. Depending on the temperature, they are usually classified as commercial refrigerators, commercial freezers or dual-temperature refrigerators, and you can also choose between solid door reach in refrigerators/freezers and glass door reach in refrigerators/freezers depending on the type of door, compressor and size you require. .
Selling and displaying refrigeration is most often found in large supermarkets, where it is used to store large quantities of beverages, frozen food or ice cream. Display cabinets, because of their special characteristics, usually require professional storage temperature conditions, but also should have a friendly display to achieve the purpose of sales. Generally they can be divided into: glass door refrigerators, air curtain merchandisers, glass top freezers, commercial wine refrigerators and dry aging refrigerators.
Refrigerated prep tables are essential for restaurants that need to prepare salads, sandwiches, pizzas or any other recipe that requires refrigerated ingredients to be added to the recipe, and the combination of refrigerator and worktop design enhances good mobility in the kitchen. Usually available in different sizes and styles and with a variety of roles, they can generally be divided into the following types.
Sandwich/salad prep refrigerators and pizza prep refrigerators-The only difference is that sandwich/ salad prep refrigerators have a shallow preparation table, usually 8 inches to 20 inches wide, while Pizza Prep Refrigerators have a more spacious work surface, usually 16 inches to 20 inches, to allow enough space for pizza preparation.
Commercial undercounter refrigerators and freezer – This refrigeration unit puts your ingredients at your fingertips, while its spacious countertop leaves plenty of room for your cooking efforts, increasing the convenience of your commercial kitchen, and it can fit into Smaller spaces. If your commercial kitchen needs a smaller unit to store the small amount of product you need to use, this is a great option.
Chef base refrigerator– With the same spacious work surface as the undercounter refrigerator, the only difference is that it has a drawer-style refrigeration area that allows you to store a variety of different foods and prevents your food from getting mixed up, making it the most economical choice for storing burgers, chicken, steaks or other products for a short period of time to keep up with your busy work day.
It is usually designed with glass doors to make your drinks clearly visible and enhance the appeal to customers. The compact design also does not take up too much of your space and is usually divided into back bar coolers, commercial wine fridge, glass chillers and frosters, beer bottle coolers is a perfect choice for small entrepreneurs who own a bar, cafe or grocery store like this.
These machines are often used to flash-freeze food, such as flash-frozen dumplings, flash-frozen seafood, etc., and bring them down to a certain temperature quickly to ensure that the food remains fresh and nutritious. This is a valuable asset for bakeries or large banquet restaurants that offer a variety of breads. Usually there are tray freezers, cart freezers and deep freeze freezers.
Walk-In Refrigeration is similar to a large refrigerated warehouse used to store large quantities of frozen foods and is usually perfect for large supermarkets, cafeterias or large restaurants. It is usually divided into, refrigerated cold storage, frozen cold storage, and quick-freeze cold storage.
Ice is an integral part of restaurant operations, whether it’s used in a restaurant, bar, movie theater or other venue to serve refreshments to your customers in the most correct and fastest way possible. Every commercial kitchen needs a trustworthy and durable ice machine to make it seamless. Equipping yourself with an ice machine that gives you access to quality ice all year round is not only an option, but also a necessity to keep your customers happy. They are generally categorized as air-cooled, refrigeration and under-counter ice machines.
3. The principle of working of refrigeration and how to choose
A. Refrigerator the most core 3 major components
Compressor: compressor is equivalent to the heart of the refrigerator, good compressor is usually assembled with higher precision, even in the harsh environment use can also ensure stable performance, while more quiet, wear-resistant, can ensure long-lasting refrigeration effect, and can maximize power saving and energy saving. Compressors are usually positioned in one of two ways, bottom mounted, a design that tends to provide better accessibility and more stable operation in hot conditions than top mounted. Conversely, top mounting is suitable for colder operating environments while providing more large storage space.
Condenser: It cools the medium in the environment, releasing the heat generated by the high temperature and high pressure refrigeration vapor, cooling it and condensing it into a liquid of high temperature and atmospheric pressure refrigerant. A good quality condenser will have better heat dissipation and also a longer service life.
Evaporator: it is a heat exchange equipment, through the throttling element of low temperature and low pressure refrigerant liquid through the evaporator, heat absorption reaction, and then into steam, the material heat all absorbed, so that the temperature of the object down, to achieve the refrigeration effect, good evaporator refrigeration effect will be better and more stable.
B. Kitchen space and the capacity of the refrigerator
No matter what you buy, space is a point you must consider, how much space is available in your kitchen, how large the capacity of the refrigerator to provide effective efficiency for your kitchen, usually need to consider the footprint of the refrigerator, door swing size and internal capacity.
C. Door configuration
Commercial refrigerators have several types of doors you can choose from, but usually solid and glass doors. Solid doors are better insulated, but glass doors allow your food to be clearly visible without opening the door. Another consideration for doors is half doors or large single doors, usually half height doors offer better energy efficiency but will have less storage space and flush doors can hold more food. Also the way the door swings is one of the points you need to consider. If you would like to customize more door types, please contact Chefmax.
4. Commercial refrigeration equipment installation and maintenance tips
The key to prolonging the life of your commercial refrigerator or freezer is an excellent choice of installation location and regular cleaning and maintenance of it. If you can do the following, I believe you can greatly reduce your maintenance costs.
A. Away from heat sources: commercial refrigerators should be placed away from heat sources are not subject to direct sunlight, because the work requires heat exchange with the outside world, both through the condenser to the outside world heat dissipation, the higher the outside environment temperature, the slower heat dissipation, will make the refrigerator and freezer work longer, increasing power consumption, poor refrigeration effect.
B. placed in the humidity of the place: because the commercial refrigerator, shell, condenser and compressor are metal materials, if the air humidity is too large, will make these parts rust, shorten the service life of the freezer. At the same time humid overheated environment, will cause ice commercial wet cooling equipment surface condensation, affecting the performance.
C. should be placed in a well-ventilated place: if the refrigerator around the pile of debris, or too close to the wall, it is not conducive to heat dissipation, thus affecting the cooling effect. Commercial freezer top surface should leave at least 30CM height of space, back and both sides of the surface should leave at least 10CM space, in order to facilitate heat dissipation.
D. Placed on a flat and solid ground: and keep the freezer compressor level. This is not only for the need of safety, but also can make the compressor work smoothly and reduce vibration and noise.
E. Clean regularly: Please clean your freezer regularly to keep the condenser coils, fan blades and other parts free of dirt, dust and debris to keep it running at the best level.
Summary
Commercial refrigerator is an integral part of every kitchen, so I’m sure you’ve already read the above and have your preferred refrigerator style in mind, but if you’re still unsure or want some advice, please contact our professional commercial kitchen designers to recommend a more suitable refrigerator style to add value to your kitchen and meet your business needs.