How to size a commercial refrigerator for a restaurant

Why the litre figure is the wrong starting point

Brochure capacity is normally gross internal volume. The evaporator, fan guard, shelf supports, door bins and the air gap needed for circulation all come out of it. Two cabinets with the same litre rating can hold a different number of pans because their shelf width and pitch differ.

Kitchens do not store litres. They store GN pans, crates, tubs and bottles. Size by containers and shelf positions, then check the litre figure only as a sanity check.

Step 1: list what you hold and for how long

Write down each chilled category, its daily use at a busy service and how many days it sits before the next delivery or prep cycle. Stock to hold = daily use × days held. Use your busiest normal day, not your average, so the weekend does not overflow onto the counter.

Keep chilled (+2 to +5 °C) and frozen (−18 °C or colder) lists separate from the start. They end up in different cabinets.

Step 2: convert stock into containers

Pick the container each category actually lives in and estimate how much one holds when filled sensibly, not to the brim. A GN 1/1 pan is 530 × 325 mm; depths of 65, 100 and 150 mm are common. Weigh a few of your own filled pans to replace the assumed figures below.

Step 3: turn containers into shelf positions

The example needs 20 GN 1/1 pans plus 2 crates. On a shelf built for the GN 2/1 footprint (650 × 530 mm), two GN 1/1 pans sit side by side. If a cabinet has, say, four usable shelf levels per door, a two-door upright gives 8 levels × 2 pans = 16 pan positions. Check the real shelf count and pitch on the spec sheet; 150 mm pans need roughly 200 mm or more between shelves so you can slide them out.

Add a planning allowance of around 20 to 30% for busy days, deliveries arriving before stock runs down, and air space. This is a common planning margin, not a standard. Here, 20 pans + 2 crates (about 4 pan positions) = 24 positions, plus 25% ≈ 30 positions.

Step 4: split capacity by station, not into one big box

Thirty positions in one cabinet across the kitchen means staff walking and doors standing open. A better split for this example is a two-door reach-in for bulk stock (about 16 positions) and an undercounter or chef base on the hot line holding the service mise en place (about 8 to 12 positions in GN 1/1 or smaller pans). Open the bulk cabinet a few times a shift to restock the line, not every few minutes.

Keep raw meat on the lowest shelves and ready-to-eat food above it, whichever cabinet it sits in. That separation needs shelf positions too, which is another reason not to size at 100% fill.

Step 5: size the frozen side the same way

Repeat the list for frozen stock: frozen chicken, fish, peas, parathas, ice cream. Frozen stock usually sits longer between deliveries, so days held is larger. Cartons and bags stack well in a chest deep freezer; if staff need to reach the item many times a shift, an upright freezer or a freezer drawer near the line is easier to work from.

Allowances for Indian kitchens

• Ambient: a cabinet near the tandoor or fryer can see well over 40 °C. Ask for the ambient the unit is rated to hold temperature at, and do not count on a unit rated only for a cooler room.
• Warm loading: cooked gravies put in warm add heat load. Cool them first as your food safety plan requires; capacity is not the same as pull-down power.
• Power cuts: a fuller cabinet holds temperature longer during an outage, but an overfilled one cools unevenly. Leave the air path around the evaporator clear.
• Growth: if the menu or covers are likely to grow within a year, size for that now; adding a second cabinet later costs floor space you may not have.