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Restaurant Equipment
A restaurant kitchen is a cookline plus the refrigeration and warewashing that keep it running through service. Commercial Kitchen Appliances supplies the whole line — combi ovens, chargrills, fryers, cooktops and salamanders, with prep refrigeration and dishwashing sized to match — ex-GST, delivered Australia-wide.
- Australia-wide delivery
- SilverChef finance available
- Manufacturer-backed warranty
- Granville showroom
Popular in this range
A selection from 294 products, priced ex-GST.
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Who this range is for
Restaurants, bistros and dining rooms plating to order. Whether you are specifying a first cookline, replacing a range that no longer holds temperature through service, or weighing gas against induction for a new site, the sizing logic below is where to start.
Building a cookline around your covers
A restaurant kitchen is sized by covers per service and by how many of those covers hit the same piece of equipment. Count the dishes on your menu that need a fryer, then a grill, then an oven - whichever count is highest tells you where to spend first. Work outwards from the cookline in the order below.
1
The cookline
Your menu dictates this, not the other way around. Write the menu first.
| Combi steam ovens | The most versatile item on the line - roast, steam, and regenerate from one cavity. |
| Chargrills | Size the grill bars to the number of protein dishes leaving at once, not to the bench width available. |
| Deep fryers | Two smaller vats let you hold different oils and keep frying while one recovers temperature. |
| Gas cooktops | Open burners for pans and pots. See the gas versus induction comparison below. |
| Salamanders | Finishing, glazing and melting. Frees the oven for actual cooking during service. |
2
Prep refrigeration
Refrigeration belongs at the point of use, not only in the coolroom.
| Countertop prep fridges | Keeps garnishes and portioned mise under temperature within reach of the pass. |
| Salad and sandwich prep fridges | Refrigerated wells for assembly work where product sits out across a whole service. |
| Chef base refrigerators | Refrigerated drawers directly beneath the cookline - the tightest reach from grill to product. |
| Upright storage fridges | Bulk back-of-house storage feeding the prep fridges each morning. |
3
Extraction and services
Settle this before the cookline is ordered - it constrains everything.
| Exhaust canopies | Must overhang the cooking surface on all exposed sides. Size to the final cookline layout. |
| Stainless benches | Landing space either side of the oven and fryer. Cutting this is a false economy. |
| Overshelves | Plating and pass shelving that keeps the bench itself clear during service. |
4
Warewashing
Rated in racks per hour - match it to covers plus cookware turnover.
| Passthrough dishwashers | Higher racks-per-hour throughput, and the hood design speeds rack loading. |
| Underbench dishwashers | Suits smaller dining rooms, or as a second machine dedicated to glassware. |
| Inlet and outlet benches | Maintains one-way dirty-to-clean flow. Skipping the outlet bench creates a bottleneck. |
5
Service, holding and cooling
Where food safety obligations bite hardest.
| Hot bain maries | Holds sauces and sides at service temperature. Holding equipment, not cooking equipment. |
| Holding cabinets | Rests and holds cooked protein without further cooking it. |
| Blast chillers | The reliable way to meet the legal cooling curve on anything prepped ahead. |
Gas vs induction cooktop for a restaurant
Worth thinking through rather than defaulting to gas, because electrification rules are tightening in some council areas and pan compatibility differs. Check what applies to your specific site and development type before you specify.
| Gas | Induction | |
|---|---|---|
| Responsiveness | Instant visible flame adjustment, familiar to most chefs | Fast and very precise, but requires adjusting pan habits |
| Heat into the room | Significant radiant heat, adding to extraction and cooling load | Much less ambient heat - a real comfort gain in a tight kitchen |
| Pan requirements | Works with any pan, including round-based woks | Needs ferrous flat-based pans - budget to replace incompatible ones |
| Install requirements | Licensed gasfitter, AS/NZS 5601.1 compliant | Licensed electrician, often three-phase for a full line |
| Extraction | Higher extraction demand from combustion and radiant heat | Lower thermal load, though grease extraction is still required |
| Planning considerations | Electrification rules are tightening in some council areas - confirm what applies to your site | Aligns with the direction of travel on electrification |
What drives the cost of a restaurant kitchen
We have not put dollar ranges here, because a credible figure depends entirely on your menu, site and tenancy - and a generic number would mislead more than it helps. What we can tell you is what moves the total, so you can scope your own budget properly.
Menu breadth is the biggest driver, more than seat count. Every additional cooking method adds a piece of equipment plus its share of extraction, so a tight menu on a short cookline costs far less to open than a broad one at the same number of covers.
Then, in rough order of impact: whether extraction can be ducted or has to be ductless; whether the tenancy already has adequate gas, three-phase power and drainage; how much benching is standard-size versus custom fabrication; and warewashing throughput, which is the most common thing to under-buy.
For a real figure on your own project, send us your menu and floor plan and we will quote the line. Finance is available through SilverChef, with approvals up to around $65,000 in about five minutes.
Standards and approvals for a restaurant kitchen
Gas. Gas appliances must be installed to AS/NZS 5601.1 by a licensed gasfitter. Certification is not optional and is checked at inspection.
Electrification - check what actually applies to you. This is widely misreported, so the detail matters. City of Sydney planning controls phase in over two dates: from 1 January 2026 new residential development must have electric indoor cooking and heating; from 1 January 2027 the requirement extends to new large commercial buildings, hotels and serviced apartments (broadly, offices over 1,000 square metres and hotels over 100 rooms). Importantly, where a mixed-use development is affected, food and beverage premises within it may still use gas, provided there is adequate space and electrical capacity for later electrification. The controls do not apply to existing buildings or industrial uses. Other councils are moving in a similar direction at their own pace - so confirm with your council and your project's development type rather than assuming gas is ruled out.
Extraction. Canopy sizing and airflow fall under AS 1668.2. The canopy must overhang the cooking surface on every exposed side, and undersizing is costly to correct once installed.
Cooling. Under Food Standards Code 3.2.2, cooked potentially hazardous food must be cooled from 60°C to 21°C within two hours, then from 21°C to 5°C within a further four hours - which is why blast chilling matters as soon as you prep ahead at any scale. Food-handling surfaces must meet Food Standards Code 3.2.3. Confirm all fit-out details with your local council.
Restaurant equipment FAQs
How do I size a cookline for my number of covers?
Count menu items by cooking method rather than sizing on seats. Work out how many dishes leaving the kitchen at peak need the fryer, then the grill, then the oven - the highest count tells you which station to spend on first. A hundred-cover restaurant with a fryer-heavy menu needs very different equipment from a hundred-cover restaurant built around a combi oven.
Can I still install a gas cookline in the City of Sydney?
In most cases yes, and this is commonly misunderstood. The City of Sydney's all-electric controls apply to new residential development from 1 January 2026 and to new large commercial buildings, hotels and serviced apartments from 1 January 2027. Where a mixed-use development is affected, food and beverage premises within it may still use gas provided there is space and electrical capacity for future electrification, and the controls do not apply to existing buildings at all. Confirm your specific site and development type with the council before specifying either way.
Is one large fryer better than two smaller ones?
Two smaller vats are usually better. You can hold different oils - keeping seafood separate from chips, for instance - and continue frying while one vat recovers temperature. A single large vat has more capacity on paper but no redundancy, so a temperature drop or an oil change stops frying entirely.
When do I need a passthrough dishwasher instead of an underbench?
Compare the machine's rated racks per hour against your peak service, counting cookware as well as plates. Passthrough machines clear more racks per hour and the hood design speeds loading, so they suit busier dining rooms. If you are near the threshold, size up - warewashing is the most common bottleneck in a busy kitchen and the hardest to fix afterwards.
Can a combi oven replace most of my cookline?
It can replace a surprising amount - roasting, steaming, baking and regeneration from one cavity - which is why it is often the highest-value single purchase. What it cannot replace is direct high-heat searing or frying, so most restaurants still run a grill and a fryer alongside it. Treat the combi as the backbone rather than the whole line.
Do I need a blast chiller in a restaurant?
If you prep ahead at any scale, yes. Food Standards Code 3.2.2 requires cooked food to drop from 60°C to 21°C within two hours and to 5°C within a further four, and ambient or walk-in cooling will not achieve that on hot bulk product. Kitchens cooking purely to order can often manage without one; anything batch-prepping stocks, sauces or braises should have one.
What is a chef base and is it worth it?
A chef base is a refrigerated drawer unit that sits directly under the cookline, putting product within arm's reach of the grill or range. It is worth it in tight kitchens and on high-volume lines, because it removes a great many steps to a remote fridge across a service. In a roomy kitchen with well-placed prep fridges the gain is smaller.
Supplying another kind of venue? We stock commercial kitchen equipment for every trade in Australian food service.
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