Commercial Kitchen Design
A commercial restaurant kitchen designer may seem un-necessary to you because after all, everything is still based on that 1950's "triangle" work space at home. Right? Wrong, it's a whole other world and here are just a few examples of things that need to be considered.
1. Waste. Where and how does the garbage get out of your establishment? What if it's a super hot summer and you need an indoor garbage storage place to keep the garbage from smelling outside. Not pretty. Also, consider a serious recycling and green waste in-house program. Your restaurant kitchen design needs to incorporate the space for waste units and storage in all areas. What about water waste from washing vegetables? Grease going down the drain and the need for a really good grease trap and grease trap program. This is only scratching the surface of the waste equation of operating a restaurant.
2. Hand washing stations. You can never have to many of these but maybe consider taking it a step further and making them automated with a waist or foot pedal to start the water, not tap handles. A properly designed kitchen not only takes into consideration the efficiency of movement at service time but also the practical and constantly necessary need to wash hands at all times during any food handling. If you don't have the budget for fancy hand washing stations then at least leave the infrastructure in and the space for the units so when you do start making money you can install them later.
3. The Kitchen Floor. We walk on it. We stand in the same 3 foot area for 8 hours a day. We put heavy and hot things on the floor like a heavy stock pot taken off the stove and resting on the floor before before being taken to the pot sinks (if you have them?). Sometimes the flooring will be seen like in an open kitchen concept or over a quick service counter. There is seamless flooring, ceramic flooring, concrete floors and yes, even wooden floors though very rare due to the serious regular maintenance and extra fire protection the kitchen might need.
So, take the kitchen design element seriously or at a minimum try and do your home work. Kitchens are expensive but if properly designed they will last a long time and provide a serious service benefit for you, the Chef and his staff.
