Equipment Available in Kitchen 242

Besides the following equipment, which is standard in a commercial kitchen, we have several pieces of equipment that are worth talking about:

Equipment available for your use:

• KitchenAid® small commercial mixers
• KitchenAid® small food processors
• KitchenAid® blenders
• Commercial Dishwasher
• Walk-in Cooler
• Walk-in Freezer
• Reach-In Coolers – 2 each
• Smallwares: pots/pans, mixing bowls, utensils
• Microwaves – 2 each
• Dry Storage cages for rent
• Ice Machine
• Flat top griddle

Here is a list of equipment and the benefits, and how it might be used:

Tilt Skillet image

30-Gallon Tilt Skillet

A 30-gallon tilt skillet is one of the most versatile and efficient pieces of equipment for large-scale food preparation. It can braise, sauté, steam, simmer, grill, and even function as a griddle, stockpot, or oven—all in a single unit. This versatility reduces the need for multiple appliances, saving both space and energy in a commercial kitchen.

The benefits include:

  • Increased efficiency – Large batch cooking reduces preparation time and labor costs.
  • Versatility – Ability to prepare soups, sauces, meats, vegetables, pasta, and more with one piece of equipment.
  • Food security support – Ideal for preparing high-volume meals for schools, community programs, food banks, and emergency relief.
  • Food security support – Ideal for preparing high-volume meals for schools, community programs, food banks, and emergency relief
  • Cost savings – Multi-function use reduces the need for separate equipment purchases.
  • Consistency and quality – Precise temperature controls ensure even cooking and reliable results.
  • Ease of use – The tilting feature allows for safe, efficient transfer of food, reducing strain and improving kitchen safety.
  • Community impact – Expands capacity for feeding programs, cooking classes, and small food businesses scaling production.
Blast Chiller image

Blast Chiller

A blast chiller rapidly lowers the temperature of cooked or fresh food, quickly moving it through the “danger zone” where bacteria multiply. This process is essential for food safety, quality, and efficiency in commercial kitchens and food production facilities.

Key benefits include:

  • Improved food safety – Rapid cooling minimizes the risk of bacterial growth, ensuring compliance with food safety standards.
  • Extended shelf life – Preserves freshness, flavor, and nutritional value, reducing spoilage and food waste.
  • Operational efficiency – Allows kitchens to prepare food in advance, safely store it, and reheat as needed without compromising quality.
  • Consistent quality – Maintains texture, moisture, and flavor of prepared foods, particularly for delicate items like seafood, baked goods, and produce.
  • Support for food access programs – Enables large-scale preparation and safe storage of meals for schools, food banks, shelters, and community initiatives.
  • Entrepreneurial opportunities – Helps small businesses and food entrepreneurs safely scale production and distribute products to retail or wholesale markets.
  • Sustainability – Reduces food waste and energy use compared to traditional cooling methods.
Convection Ovens image

Convection Ovens – 4 of Them

Commercial convection ovens are a cornerstone of efficient, large-scale food preparation. Unlike standard ovens, they use internal fans to circulate hot air, which shortens cooking times and ensures even heating across all racks. This technology improves both the quality and consistency of food, while also saving energy and labor.

Key benefits include:

  • Even, reliable results – Circulating heat eliminates “hot spots,” producing consistently baked or roasted foods.
  • Faster cooking times – Reduced cook times increase kitchen productivity and throughput.
  • Energy efficiency – Faster cooking at lower temperatures reduces utility costs.
  • Versatility – Suitable for baking, roasting, and reheating a wide variety of foods, from pastries to proteins.
  • Increased capacity – Multiple racks allow large batches of food to be cooked at the same time without sacrificing quality.
  • Support for community food programs – Enhances capacity to prepare nutritious meals for schools, shelters, food banks, and meal services.
  • Entrepreneurship support – Enables small food businesses to scale up production with professional-quality baked goods and prepared foods.
  • Consistent quality control – Essential for food entrepreneurs, caterers, and training programs that need reliable results every time.
Proofing Cabinet image

Proofing Cabinet

A proofing cabinet is an essential tool for bakeries, commercial kitchens, and food entrepreneurs who work with yeast-leavened products. The cabinet provides a controlled environment of consistent temperature and humidity, which ensures dough rises evenly and reliably—something that cannot be achieved in an open kitchen setting where drafts, fluctuating temperatures, or dry air can negatively affect the product.

With a proofing cabinet, bakers can:

  • Improve product quality by producing consistent, high-quality breads, rolls, and pastries with better texture and flavor.
  • Increase efficiency by proofing multiple batches of dough at once, saving time and labor.
  • Support small businesses and food entrepreneurs who rely on dependable equipment to meet customer demand.
  • Expand food production capacity for farmers markets, cafés, schools, and community programs.
  • Enhance food education and training programs by teaching proper baking methods and consistency.

Without a proofing cabinet, many small-scale producers are limited in their ability to scale up production, maintain consistency, and deliver baked goods that meet commercial standards. This equipment investment directly supports entrepreneurship, food security, and community access to high-quality, freshly baked products.

Steam Kettle image

Steam Kettle – 12 Gallon

A steam kettle is designed for preparing large volumes of food efficiently and safely. Using steam as the heat source provides even, consistent cooking without scorching, making it especially effective for soups, sauces, stews, pasta, and other liquid-based dishes.

Key benefits include:

  • Efficiency in large-batch cooking – Significantly reduces cooking time compared to traditional stockpots on a stovetop.
  • Consistent quality – Gentle, even heating prevents burning or sticking, resulting in better flavor and texture.
  • Labor savings – Allows staff to prepare large quantities of food with minimal monitoring, freeing up time for other tasks.
  • Safety improvements – Tilting and dispensing features reduce the need for heavy lifting or pouring from large pots, lowering risk of injury.
  • Food security support – Increases capacity to prepare high volumes of meals for schools, food banks, shelters, and community feeding programs.
  • Cost savings – Energy-efficient design reduces utility use compared to traditional cooking equipment.

Entrepreneurial opportunities – Supports small businesses and caterers in scaling up production to meet demand.

Mixer 20-Qt image

Mixer – 20 Quart

A 20-quart mixer is a versatile piece of commercial kitchen equipment that bridges the gap between small countertop mixers and larger floor models. Here are the benefits and uses:

Benefits of a 20 Qt Mixer

  1. Versatility – Handles a wide range of mixing needs: dough, batters, sauces, whipped toppings, and more.
  2. Capacity – Large enough to mix medium-sized batches (ideal for bakeries, restaurants, schools, and catering), but not as bulky as larger mixers.
  3. Efficiency – Saves time and labor by mixing faster and more consistently than manual methods.
  4. Consistency – Produces uniform doughs, batters, and mixtures every time, ensuring reliable product quality.
  5. Durability – Built to withstand frequent, heavy-duty use in commercial kitchens.
  6. Attachments & Accessories – Typically comes with a flat beater, dough hook, and wire whip; many models allow for additional attachments (pasta maker, meat grinder, slicer, etc.), expanding functionality.
  7. Floor or Counter Model – Offers flexibility—large enough to be freestanding but compact enough to fit on a sturdy counter or mixer stand.

Common Uses of a 20 Qt Mixer

  • Baking: Mixing bread dough, pizza dough, cake batter, cookie dough, muffin batter, and pastry creams.
  • Whipping: Cream, meringue, mashed potatoes, eggs, and other aerated foods.
  • Sauces & Dressings: Preparing large batches of sauces, dips, frostings, and salad dressings.
  • Savory Prep: Meatball mixes, mashed vegetables, or stuffing blends.
  • Attachment Uses (if applicable): Grinding meats, slicing vegetables, making pasta, or shredding cheese.

In short, a 20 qt mixer is the perfect mid-size workhorse—large enough for batch production but compact enough to be practical in most commercial kitchens.

Stove Top and Griddle image

Stove Top Burners and Griddle

Stove Top Burners

  • Boiling & Simmering: Large pots of soups, stocks, and pasta.
  • Sautéing & Pan-Frying: Vegetables, meats, seafood, and sauces.
  • Heating & Holding: Keep multiple items warm simultaneously during service.
  • Batch Cooking: Handle multiple recipes at once, reducing prep time.
  • Specialty Dishes: Stir-fries, reductions, or dishes requiring precise heat control.

Flat Top Griddle

  • Breakfast Service: Pancakes, French toast, eggs, bacon, and sausages.
  • Sandwiches & Grilled Foods: Burgers, melts, quesadillas, and wraps.
  • Vegetables: Grilled peppers, onions, mushrooms, or zucchini.
  • Versatile Cooking Surface: Can cook delicate items (like fish fillets) or sear proteins evenly.
  • Bulk Cooking: Large surface area allows multiple orders at once.

Benefits

Stove Top Burners

  1. High Volume Capacity – Allows cooking multiple dishes at once, essential during peak times.
  2. Flexibility – Supports varied cooking methods (simmering, frying, sautéing, etc.) simultaneously.
  3. Efficiency – Speeds up prep and service by running multiple pans at once.
  4. Consistency – Maintains steady heat across many burners for reliable results.
  5. Scalability – Perfect for kitchens serving large groups, catering operations, or high-traffic restaurants.

Flat Top Griddle

  1. Versatility – Can replace multiple pans with a single large surface.
  2. Even Cooking – Heat distribution ensures consistent browning and doneness.
  3. Speed – Large cooking area allows multiple items cooked in parallel, reducing ticket times.
  4. Durability – Designed for heavy daily use in high-demand kitchens.
  5. Easy Cleanup – Smooth flat surface is quicker to clean than multiple pans.

Together, 10 burners plus a flat top griddle provide maximum flexibility, efficiency, and production capacity. This combination supports everything from fast-paced breakfast service to complex multi-course meals in high-volume commercial kitchens.

Vacuum Packer image

VP320 Vacuum Packer

Key Features

To understand what it does well, here are the main specs and features:

  • It is a chamber-type vacuum sealer.
  • Seal bar is 16″ long, double-wire.
  • Chamber size: about 16.75″ × 18″ × 7″
  • Has a powerful 1.5 HP oil rotary pump.
  • Digital control panel, programmable for multiple cycles (vacuum time, seal time) for different product types.
  • Stainless steel body, easy to maintain, with removable seal bar, filler plates etc.

Uses

Here are the typical ways people use the VP320:

  1. Extending shelf life of perishable foods
    Vacuum sealing slows down spoilage by removing air (oxygen), which bacteria, mold, and oxidation need. This is particularly useful for meat, fish, wild game, poultry, etc.
  2. Sealing liquids, wet or messy items
    Because of the chamber design, liquids like sauces, soups, marinated foods, or moist items can be sealed without the mess that happens in external (“outside”) vacuum sealers where suction can pull liquid to the seal.
  3. Sous vide cooking / cook-chill prep
    Vacuum sealing is key for sous vide since it ensures there’s no air around the food (good heat transfer) and seals in flavor. Also useful for preparing foods in advance (portions, batch cooking) and refrigeration or freezing.
  4. Portioning and packaging for sale
    Useful in foodservice, butcher shops, supermarkets, labs, etc., for packaging products (raw, cooked) for sale, storage, or transport. Also helpful for private label packaging or prepping multiple small portions.
  5. Protecting against freezer burn
    Because air is removed, freezer burn (which comes from moisture loss and oxidation) is greatly reduced. This helps maintain texture, flavor, and appearance. (This is a general benefit of vacuum sealing, implied by many of the product descriptions.)
  6. Cleaner, more efficient storage / logistics
    Vacuum packed items take up less space, are more compact. They also reduce waste since food lasts longer, less spoilage or waste.
  7. Versatility
    Since the VP320 has programmable cycles, removable seal bar, etc., you can adjust for different bag types, food types (dry, wet), sizes, etc. Good for mixed operations.

Benefits

Putting those uses together, here are the benefits:

Longer shelf life Foods stay fresh much longer; can reduce inventory spoilage, save costs. (Some marketing claims up to 5× longer shelf life vs “traditional storing methods” without vacuum. )
Better quality Less oxidation, better moisture retention, flavor and texture stay more consistent; foods frozen or stored will taste better when thawed or reheated.
Less waste Spoilage, freezer burn, flavor degradation each cause waste; vacuum sealing reduces those, so more of what you prepare or purchase ends up usable.
Time savings / batch prep Can cook or prepare food and then portion and seal, then store; good for sous vide, meal prep, food service during busy times.
Efficiency and space saving Vacuum sealed bags flatten out, take less freezer space, stack better, easier to transport and store.
Ability to handle liquids Unlike many regular sealers, the chamber design lets liquids be placed in the bag before sealing without messing up the seal. This opens up more kinds of foods you can process safely.
Consistency & safety Strong seal, good vacuum, less chance of contamination. Also, the stainless steel body and cleaning ability make it easier to maintain hygiene.
Flexibility Adjustable cycles and sizes mean you can handle a wide range of foods, from powders or dry goods to wet/juicy meats or liquids, which reduces need for multiple machines.

Conclusion  The VacMaster VP320 is a strong option if you are doing medium-to-high volume vacuum sealing, especially with mixed types of food (liquids, meats, prepared meals), or want consistency, longer shelf life, and better quality.

Use of the proper size bag is important and you will need to provide your own bags and supplies.