Commercial kitchen equipment list, with a budget

A commercial kitchen equipment list has six parts: cooking, refrigeration, prep and storage, dishwashing and handwashing, the hood and fire suppression, and the front-of-house hardware that gets orders to the cooks. What goes into each part comes from your menu and your room, not from a catalog.

Some items are not up to you. In the US, the FDA Food Code, the model that health departments work from, asks for a three-compartment sink, handwashing sinks, a mop sink, cold holding at 41°F or below and thermometers in holding units. Anything that cooks with grease goes under a hood with fire suppression.

This checklist says what decides whether you need each item, then prices the whole list in one budget table you can refill with your own quotes.

Plan the list from the menu and the space, not a catalog

Every piece of equipment should trace back to a dish.

1. Write the menu, noting how each dish is cooked and held: fried, griddled, grilled, sautéed, baked or assembled cold.
2. Group the methods into stations: fry, griddle or grill, range, oven, cold prep and dish. A burger-and-salad menu might need four.
3. Size each station for your busiest hour. Say 60 covers arrive between 7 and 8 p.m. on a Friday and half order fries. The fryer, the freezer and the counter beside them must handle 30 portions in that hour. The Food Code asks for equipment “sufficient in number and capacity” to keep food at safe temperatures (section 4-301.11).
4. Check the utilities before choosing models. Have a gas fitter and an electrician confirm what the building can supply.
5. Draw it, with the hood over everything that makes grease. The restaurant floor plan guide covers kitchen layouts.

Get plan review before you buy

Under the Food Code, plans go to the health department before you build, convert or remodel (8-201.11), and they list each piece of equipment by type, manufacturer, model number, location, dimensions and capacity (8-201.12). King County, Washington, for example, asks for the make and model of all equipment and says an initial review can take up to 8–10 weeks. So choose models, submit, get approval, then buy.

Scaling it for a café, bar or food truck

• Café. The espresso machine and grinders drive the budget, and the coffee shop guide prices them. A menu without grease can also change the hood you need, as the hood section explains.
• Bar. Underbar sinks and ice bins, back-bar coolers, and an ice machine sized for the busiest night. The guide to opening a bar has the full list.
• Food truck. Every piece has to earn its footprint and its power draw, and some prep may happen off the truck: Texas requires a mobile food unit to work from a permitted central preparation facility. See the food truck guide.

Cooking equipment

Buy the line for the menu you have, and plan the hood’s length for the line you expect to grow into.

• Range. A 36-inch, six-burner gas range with an oven below handles sauté, sauces and stock.
• Convection oven. Full size, for roasting, baking and reheating by the sheet pan.
• Fryer. A 40–50 lb gas floor fryer covers most menus that fry.
• Griddle. Burgers, eggs, pancakes. Thermostatic controls, which hold a set temperature, cost more than manual ones.
• Charbroiler. For grill marks and char.
• What your menu adds. A pizza deck oven, a wok range or a salamander, bought only when a dish needs one.

Gas or electric? Usually the building decides. A new gas line or a bigger electrical service is a contractor’s quote, so get it before you choose.

Running costs count too: ENERGY STAR says a certified gas fryer saves $370–$420 a year on energy bills.

Refrigeration and cold storage

The Food Code holds cold food at 41°F (5°C) or below (3-501.16). Refrigerated holding units need a built-in or permanently attached thermometer that reads their warmest part (4-204.112), and cooks need probe thermometers, including a thin one for patties and fish fillets (4-302.12).

• Reach-in refrigerator and freezer. The main cold storage of a small kitchen. The table prices budget and house brands only.
• Refrigerated prep table. Ingredient wells on top and storage below, for sandwich, salad or pizza lines.
• Undercounter refrigerator. Cold storage at the station that uses it.
• Walk-in cooler. For bulk storage once reach-ins run out. The listed price excludes installation, which WebstaurantStore’s guide says a qualified technician must do, so get a local quote that includes the electrical work.
• Ice machine. Size it for your hottest, busiest day.

ENERGY STAR says restaurants use more electricity on refrigeration than on anything else.

Prep, storage and smallwares

• Stainless work tables with an undershelf. The price climbs with thicker steel (a lower gauge number), type 304 stainless over type 430, and a backsplash.
• NSF wire shelving for dry storage and the walk-in.
• Mixer, 20-quart, only if you make dough or batter in volume.
• Food processor for sauces and chopping in volume.
• Slicer for deli meat and cheese.

Smallwares checklist

GoFoodservice budgets $3,000–$6,000 for opening smallwares (December 2025).

• Knives, a sharpening steel and color-coded cutting boards
• Sheet pans, hotel pans with lids, stockpots, saucepans and sauté pans
• Tongs, spatulas, ladles, whisks and portion scoops
• Measuring cups and spoons, and a portion scale
• Probe thermometers, including a thin-tip one
• Food storage containers with lids, and date labels
• A sanitizer test kit, which the Food Code requires (4-302.14)
• Sanitizer buckets, towels, gloves, bus tubs and dish racks

Dishwashing and handwashing

The three-compartment sink

For washing by hand, the Food Code requires a sink with at least three compartments, for washing, rinsing and sanitizing, each big enough to immerse your largest pan (4-301.12). A dishwasher does not automatically replace it. The code allows alternatives only when the health department approves them, and Texas’s guide for new establishments lists the sink and says a mechanical dishwasher “may also be utilized”. Plan for both unless your health department says otherwise, and add a thermometer for the wash water (4-302.13).

Handwashing sinks

• How many: at least one, plus enough for staff to use conveniently (5-203.11).
• Where: in or next to the food prep, food dispensing and warewashing areas, and toilet rooms (5-204.11).
• Water: at least 85°F (29.4°C). A metering faucet must run at least 15 seconds (5-202.12).
• Use: handwashing only (5-205.11).

Add a mop sink, or a curbed cleaning area with a floor drain (5-203.13).

Dishwasher: buy or rent

• Buy. Undercounter machines are in the budget table. Door-type machines on WebstaurantStore’s category page listed at $3,849–$7,549 in September 2026.
• Rent. Chemical suppliers such as Ecolab and Auto-Chlor rent dish machines with service included, and neither publishes a price. Get the monthly cost, chemicals, term and exit terms in writing.
• Rules. New machines need a data plate, a thermometer in each tank and automatic detergent and sanitizer dispensing (4-204.113, 4-204.115, 4-204.117). WebstaurantStore’s hood guide lists dishwashers among the equipment Type II hoods serve.

Hood, fire suppression, utilities and certification marks

Most of this is installed work priced by local contractors, which makes it the easiest part to leave out of a budget.

Type I and Type II hoods

In the US, hood types come from the International Mechanical Code (507.2), not NFPA 96. As Wisconsin’s building agency summarizes it, appliances that make grease-laden vapor need a Type I hood: fryers, griddles, woks, charbroilers, broilers and ranges among them. Steamers, enclosed ovens, warming ovens and other appliances that make steam or fumes but no grease need at least a Type II.

Fire suppression

WebstaurantStore’s code guide (January 2026) says every appliance under a Type I hood needs an approved automatic fire suppression system. NFPA 96, the Standard for Ventilation Control and Fire Protection of Commercial Cooking Operations, is in its 2024 edition. Minnesota’s health department, citing the 2011 edition, says it requires systems listed to UL 300 and a grease inspection of the exhaust at least every six months. Older dry-chemical systems do not meet UL 300, notes the City of Lafayette, Indiana, so check before buying a used hood.

What a hood costs to install

We found no dependable national figure for a complete installed hood. What is priced is the suppression system. Thepricer.org (August 2026) puts it at $3,500–$7,000 installed for a small restaurant cookline, $7,000–$12,000 for a midsize one and $12,000–$25,000 or more for large or multi-hood kitchens, with inspections every six months at $200–$500 a visit.

The hood, ductwork, exhaust fan, make-up air, roof work and permits come on top. Get local quotes that price each part separately.

Gas, power, water and grease

• Gas. Total the BTU ratings for your gas fitter. One six-burner range can be rated at 210,000 BTU (Cooking Performance Group S36-N) or 236,000 BTU (Garland G36-6R).
• Electricity. Match each appliance’s voltage and phase to the building’s supply.
• Hot water. The sinks and the dishwasher draw on it, and a plumber sizes the heater.
• Grease trap. A Tampa utility FAQ, quoted by Grease Trap Locator (August 2026), puts a small installation at about $250–$1,500 and a 750- to 1,500-gallon one at about $4,000–$8,500. The site says no dependable national price exists.

Certification marks

• Sanitation. The Food Code does not name NSF. It accepts equipment certified or classified for sanitation to a recognized American National Standard by an ANSI-accredited program (4-205.10). Most of the FDA’s recognized food equipment standards are NSF/ANSI standards, such as NSF/ANSI 2 for food equipment and NSF/ANSI 7 for refrigerators and freezers. Local codes may ask for more.
• Gas and electrical safety is a separate mark: the Garland G36-6R lists both NSF and CSA.
• ENERGY STAR is an efficiency label, not a requirement. It says a kitchen outfitted with certified equipment could save about $4,000 a year.

Front-of-house hardware

This hardware is small money next to a hood, but it decides how orders reach the cooks. For the software side, see what a POS system is.

• Order devices. A tablet, phone, laptop or dedicated terminal. A store-bought tablet works with many systems; a proprietary terminal such as Square Register ($899 in September 2026) works with its maker’s.
• Receipt printer. A thermal printer with the connection your setup uses: USB, Ethernet, WiFi or Bluetooth.
• Kitchen printer or kitchen screen. A printer puts a ticket on the rail; Epson markets its two-color TM-U220 impact printer for kitchen orders. A screen, which can be a wall-mounted tablet, shows orders without paper. Some software charges per screen: Square listed its kitchen display at $20 a month per device with Square Premium, or $30 with Square Plus.
• Card reader. Square’s reader was $59, with in-person processing at 2.6% + 15¢ (September 2026), and it pairs with a phone or tablet running Square’s app. A standalone terminal, such as Square Terminal at $299, works beside any POS: type the amount, then mark the bill paid.
• Cash drawer. A printer-driven drawer is cabled to the receipt printer and opens when it prints.
• Network. A router, a reliable connection and WiFi that reaches the kitchen. Test the signal where screens and printers sit, and arrange a backup connection.

What it costs: the whole list as a budget table

Equipment rows price one unit at its regular WebstaurantStore listing on September 12, 2026. Smallwares, fire suppression and the grease trap are the dated estimates quoted above, and the front-of-house rows come from the sellers named there. Replace them with your own quotes.

Each subtotal and the sum count one of each line, including a walk-in and a slicer that many small kitchens skip, and leave out quantities, the hood and ductwork, installation, utility work, delivery and tax. Printers were listed at Shopify’s hardware store, Barcode Factory and Shop Lavu.

Three retailers’ published ranges disagree: $75,000–$115,000 for equipment (WebstaurantStore, 2024), $50,000–$200,000 for a complete setup (GoFoodservice, December 2025) and $75,000–$250,000 or more (CKitchen, March 2026). None explains its method, so your own priced list is the better estimate.

New, used, rented or financed

• Used. WebstaurantStore (January 2026) notes that used equipment has no warranty or ownership history, calls ovens, ranges and fryers the best secondhand buys, and urges caution with used refrigeration, where a failure costs you the food inside.
• Auction. Main Auction Services, an auction dealer, says auction prices for static equipment such as tables, sinks and shelving can save 40–60% (July 2026).
• Lease. According to Pathward, a bank, a fair market value lease generally runs 12 to 60 months, and a $1 buyout lease works like buying with a loan (2022).
• Finance. An SBA 7(a) loan, up to $5 million, can pay for buying and installing equipment. An SBA 504 loan, up to $5.5 million, covers machinery with at least 10 years of useful life left, but not working capital or inventory.

The tax deduction (US)

This is not tax advice; ask an accountant. For tax years beginning in 2026, Section 179 lets a business expense up to $2,560,000 of qualifying equipment, phasing out once equipment placed in service that year exceeds $4,090,000 (IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32). The IRS also says 100% bonus depreciation is permanent for property acquired after January 19, 2025.

Where Platevio fits, and where it does not

Platevio is a free restaurant POS that runs in the browser. On this list, it is the software behind the front-of-house rows, not equipment you buy.

• It runs on devices you already own. Any current browser on an iPad, Android tablet, phone or laptop, with nothing to install.
• No hardware to buy from Platevio. Keep your existing card reader, cash drawer and printer.
• Receipts and kitchen tickets print over WiFi, Ethernet, USB or Bluetooth to ESC/POS and Star Micronics thermal printers.
• The kitchen can use a screen, a printer, or both. The kitchen display shows every sent item with its extras and notes, and cooks mark items cooked, then served.
• No per-device or per-station fee. Free. No card, no plan.

What it does not do:

• No card processing. Platevio records whether a bill was paid in cash or by card. Your own reader takes the card.
• It does not open a cash drawer. A drawer cabled to the receipt printer stays shut when Platevio prints, so open it by hand or keep a separate cash box.
• No offline mode. Orders need an internet connection to reach the kitchen, so budget for the network.
• No inventory. No stock counts, purchasing or supplier management.

If that fits your kitchen, see how Platevio’s kitchen display works.