Freedom of movement and dynamism, high performance and maximum functionality. There are many advantages that lead us to prefer a professional kitchen island over the traditional wall kitchen when we set up the kitchen area of our restaurant. But is it always the best choice? Discover all the key points to consider!
Professional kitchen island or wall kitchen? Everything you need to know on the matter
The efficient organization of spaces in a kitchen is one of the elements that lead a restaurant to its success. In order to best express professionalism and talent, thus guaranteeing quality results at the table, the chef and his team must work in the best possible way. This is why when we talk about professional kitchens, how to set them up in restaurants, canteens and pubs, the wall or island configuration factor, together with other key elements, plays an extremely important role to guarantee efficiency, speed and performance, together with power and technological innovation of equipment and instruments.
To choose the most suitable configuration to simplify and optimize the work of chefs and brigade, we must carefully evaluate the characteristics of our kitchen. Setting up a professional kitchen island or a wall kitchen will then depend on its dimensions, the layout of the room, how many people work in it, how many chefs are there, how many seats it provides, how the flow of clean and dirt is organized, where the drains, the hood, the flue, etc. are positioned.
How big is your kitchen? Shape and size matter
Let's start from the space factor and settle things one and for all. How large is the kitchen area of your restaurant? The answer will allow to immediately find out whether you can decide freely between one configuration and the other or not.
The dimensions of a kitchen island must comply with specific parameters, based on the measurements and distances of the kitchen components, and also based on the configuration of the island as to guarantee maximum safety, practicality of use and ease of movement.
The measurements of the kitchen island vary in length, height and depth depending on the specific needs of the restaurant, but we also have to consider the characteristics of the space.
For example, to configure a central island with 70 or 90 cm depth, the block must be at least 1,5 meters long, you then have to consider 80 cm of free area all around. This means that you need to have a room that measures at least 5 meters on the smallest side. And spaces like this are not always easy to find. So, if you don’t have this availability, you will necessarily have to choose a wall kitchen.
However sometimes, even having large spaces is not enough to place a professional kitchen island because a lot depends on how the layout of the room is organised, or rather on the shape of the room, on how the square footage is developed. For example, even if you have 100 m² kitchen but the sizes of the walls are 4 by 20 metres, the configuration of an island would be difficult due to its dimensions.
Even if a kitchen island requires large spaces, in the panorama of professional kitchens with islands, nowadays there are stainless steel kitchen island lines such as the 110 2WAYSLOTUS, which guarantee great performance and cooking quality even in a small space thanks to optimal depths of 110 cm and 55 cm. A new experience of aesthetics and gastronomy that shows both the dish and the art of those who prepare it, becoming a promoter of events in line with new lifestyles.
How many chefs work in the kitchen? The number makes the difference
What matters more than the dimension of your kitchen is how many people work in it. The general rule is that if only one chef works there, as in a small trattoria or pizzeria, the wall line is the best solution, but if more than one chef is working there, it is better to opt for a professional kitchen island with at least two burners, one on each sides of the block, so that they don't have to work side by side, giving thus freedom of movement and more available workspace for a better organization.
Consequently, if the restaurant has many seats, the kitchen will probably have more chefs and more staff moving around and therefore a wall line could be limiting. And this is why hotels and large restaurants usually have a professional kitchen with an island. However, even in these cases, it depends on the size and shape of the space: if the room is narrow and very long, wall kitchen configuration may be fine so the chefs can work in line. An exception are the starred restaurants that even if they betray few seats, they usually have a team of at least 8 chefs in the kitchen, which is why they opt for an island configuration.
In general, we can say that the professional kitchen island is better in places where the kitchen is dynamic and very focused on complex preparations. The island, in fact, allows the chefs to have a lot of space for preparation around them, something not happening in a wall kitchen where chefs have the line preparation behind them. With the island, the preparation space in the kitchen is much more and it allows to organize the preparation lines by dividing the spaces more properly: i.e. the preparation area of cold dish, the starters, the hot dish area, which is divided into first and second courses, the pastry area and the mise en place area. Thanks to the island layout, the chef will be able to supervise all preparation phases and communicate more easily and quickly with all the kitchen staff.
How is the workflow organised? Watch out for HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points)!
The first thing to do when organizing a kitchen space is to study the flow of clean and dirt lines which must never cross as to guarantee the hygiene and sanitisation of the space, as well as to avoid heavy fines from the Local Health Department.
The clean flow starts from the reception of the raw materials, continues with the preparation of the lines of the different courses and ends with the table service. The flow of dirt concerns the collection of dishes from the dining room and the placement in sinks and dishwashers. If the kitchen is sufficiently large and articulated, a dedicated washing area can be designed, but if the environment is single, the two lines must be organized on opposite sides of the room.
The difference between clean and dirt lines is therefore a key element that has to be taken into consideration during the planning because of the position of the drains, as to understand where to set the dirt flow, and how much useful space you have left to guarantee the separation of the flows. In short, you need to compartmentalize the room by carefully evaluating these priorities. If, for example, you have a room that is 5 by 4 metres, it will not be possible to set up a professional kitchen island because it does not guarantee compliance with these parameters.
Don't make it a matter of costs, but of performance!
Performance over price is the discriminating factor in choosing one configuration over another. The built-in kitchen generally costs less than a professional kitchen island. Just think about all the necessary system design, the possibility of the need of a new system of pipes, drains, cables and sockets to connect the independent block. This means connection work so additional electrician, plumber and tiler costs.
On the other hand, the configuration of the professional kitchen with an island in the centre, as said, finds its ideal space in large restaurants, hotels, starred establishments and for catering that requires greater performance in the kitchen and consequently greater investments. And so, at this point, for investments to translate into profits, the balance must tip towards quality which can only be guaranteed by renowned manufacturing companies considered reliable in the market.
Do you want to know more about the different Lotus professional kitchen island models? Contact us at lotus@lotuscookers.it or fill out the contact form.