As the heart of any restaurant, a commercial kitchen needs to be designed to optimize performance and efficiency. Whether spacious or small, commercial kitchens must be fully functional in order for food to be prepped, cooked and plated in a timely manner.

Extensive planning is necessary to construct a high performing commercial kitchen. All aspects of the space, from various food stations and storage to cleaning and service areas, need to be carefully placed. Depending on your concept, you may even have unique needs like a wood-burning oven if you’re a pizzeria or a larger than average refrigerator if you offer fresh, farm-to-table dishes.

Because every commercial kitchen is different, the one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work when it comes to restaurant equipment and components. The dishes on your menu should dictate the layout of your commercial kitchen—not the footprint of the space or the size of standard equipment and products.

Instead of going with a routine design, opt for one that is customized to the construction of your dishes. Forget typical kitchen ratios that force your hand into dividing up the space in a certain layout. Alternatively, choose to build a commercial kitchen tailored to your specific needs and vision. Collaborating with commercial kitchen design-build companies like TME, your space will have industry-standard restaurant equipment and components as well as custom pieces to ensure efficiency and profitability.

Don’t waste valuable space or sacrifice anything by trying to make standard restaurant equipment and products ‘work’ in your commercial kitchen. Custom fabrication doesn’t take any longer than the typical commercial kitchen design-build process and it yields better results.