The Good & Bad of Commercial Grade Equipment & Supplies in Your Home

Thinking about putting commercial grade equipment in your kitchen?

Question: Is there really a difference between restaurant grade products and products that I can get at other online and local stores?

Answer: It’s kind of hard to answer that question, because the answer is, it depends.

The Bad

It depends on what you’re shopping for, because a commercial oven has many different features than a standard home oven would have.  A commercial oven is meant to be used 12+ hours a day, constantly making meals for the masses.  These ovens don’t have all of the same safety features that you’d expect in your home oven (like the knobs are much easier for little hands to turn, which is dangerous), and they use a lot more power than a residential oven.  Your home exhaust would have to be switched over to commercial grade ventilation, and the flooring would have to be updated to handle the weight of these large pieces of equipment.  Commercial ovens are also not insulated, meaning, they can’t be installed between home cupboards and against normal residential walls.  In fact, the majority of commercial equipment needs special walling and plenty of space on the sides so that there is enough ventilation.

Same goes for commercial grade refrigerators, they use a lot more energy than home refrigerators and only come with the refrigerator section – no built in freezer (you’d have to buy that separately).

And finally, if you’re planning on installing commercial equipment in your home, you need to know that warranty is officially void.  Warranties are not upheld once equipment is installed in residential kitchens.  And any future maintenance and repairs that you can’t do yourself usually calls for a specialized tech that has commercial-equipment-repair-know-how… meaning repairs could be costlier than normal repair techs would charge.

The Good

But, if you’re up for making these changes and are well educated about what a commercial kitchen means for your home, you’re good to go (call our sales team if you need any help).  These large appliances are able to hold a lot more food, cook more meals and look awesome in a residential kitchen.  Not to mention, they’ll likely be the last purchase of its kind for you, because there’s no way your wear-and-tear on them will match what a restaurant does to them!  They’re basically indestructible in a home; well worth the price.

On the other hand, if you’re looking for supplies like a blender or knives, commercial grade will blow your mind!  Seriously, talk about indestructible, have you seen the Blendtec blender do its magic…

These blenders are made for the food service industry, and are strong enough to last a lifetime in residential kitchens.  Seriously, you’ll be handing them down to your kids.

A knife is a knife?  I think not.  The difference is that the steel and metal used in most knifes don’t even come close to the German and Japanese steel used in commercial knives.  They stay sharp longer, and will make you fall in love with chopping and dicing.  Yes, I said love, the majority of our staff can go on for hours about their favorite kitchen knife (and most talk about their sets of knives).

Also, a lot of restaurant supplies come in bulk.  So you may be buying a lot at once, but because of the bulk price, you save a lot of money!

And anyone that’s ever worked in a commercial kitchen will swear by commercial grade plastic wrap.  I personally have a box at home, and it has lasted me forever!  But the best part is that this stuff sticks to anything!  Not like the stuff you get at the grocery store that usually caves in if you put anything on it, this stuff is likely to cling itself to you if you don’t get it on the dish fast enough – seriously, I’m a bit obsessed with the commercial grade plastic wrap.

These are just a few items that we’ve fallen in love with in our homes, but let us know what other commercial grade products you swear by in your home.

About Kasy Allen

Kasy Allen is the owner and lead marketing strategist of Annapurna Digital, a digital marketing agency. In addition to working with Tundra Restaurant Supply with their online marketing strategies, Kasy has helped many online brands find their online voice and an online marketing strategy that brings in the right users and increased revenue. When not in the office, Kasy can be found exploring the great outdoors of the Colorado Rocky Mountains.

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