Refurbished Commercial Chargrills And Griddles

Chargrill for product you want marked and for fat to drain away from: steaks, chops, chicken, capsicum, haloumi. The grates and the radiants give you the char and the smoke that comes with it. Griddle for anything that needs full contact with the surface or would fall through grates: eggs, bacon, onions, burgers you want a crust on, pancakes.

Most kitchens want both and buy them in that order based on the menu's hero dish. If you can only have one and the menu is broad, the griddle is the more versatile surface. If the menu is built on marked protein, the chargrill is not optional.

The grates and the radiants, because those are the parts that live in the fire and the parts that cost. Warped, cracked or badly pitted radiants cook unevenly and need replacing, and whether they are available depends on the brand and the age of the machine. Then the burners, the pilots and the gas taps.

Then the body: the fat tray, the drip channel and the splash guards, which corrode where the grease sits. Ask us what was replaced during the refurbishment rather than what was checked, and check the brand still has service agents in Australia. Grill cleaners and a decent scraper are the first thing to buy alongside it.

Lay a straight edge across the plate. A plate that has dished, warped or bowed will pool fat in the low spots and leave the high spots dry, and it will never cook evenly again, so this is the one check that can rule a machine out on its own.

Then look at the surface for deep pitting and at the edges for cracking, and check the splash guards and the grease chute. Light scoring on an otherwise flat plate is normal wear and seasons out. Ask for photos taken along the plate rather than down at it, because a bow does not show from above.

Flat plate is the general-purpose surface and the one most kitchens should start with. Grooved plate marks the product and lets fat run off, which suits steaks and toasted sandwiches, but it is harder to clean and useless for eggs. Split-plate machines give you some of each at the cost of flexibility on each half.

In refurbished stock you are choosing from what exists, so decide what you cannot live without. If the menu needs marks, a chargrill does that job better than a grooved griddle anyway, which is the usual argument for buying flat plate and a chargrill rather than a compromise plate.

Yes. Ventilation rules follow the appliance and what it does, not what it cost or how old it is. A used chargrill throws off the same heat, grease and smoke as a new one, so it needs mechanical exhaust over it and the canopy has to actually cover it. The range of commercial kitchen exhaust hoods shows what is involved.

If you are adding a machine to an existing line, check two things: that the hood extends over the new unit, and that the total load under that hood has not grown past what the system was built to shift. Then pull and wash the filters on a schedule, because a clogged filter is the most common reason a canopy stops working.

For gas, a licensed gasfitter, and that is not optional or something to do yourself. The appliance is built and jetted for either natural gas or LPG, and converting a second-hand machine between them is licensed work that depends on a conversion kit existing for that model. Confirm the gas type matches your site before you order.

Allow for a bayonet and a commercial hose if the unit rolls out for cleaning, and for the gasfitter's visit in your timeline, because the machine is not ready to cook the day it lands. For an electric unit, check whether it is single or three phase and get a licensed electrician in. Neither cost is in the price of the machine.

Often yes. Silverchef Rent-Try-Buy lets you rent the machine rather than buy it outright, which keeps cash in the rest of the fit-out and makes the payments an operating expense. It suits a kitchen adding a second grill for a seasonal menu or testing whether a griddle line earns its place.

It also helps where the menu is still moving. Buying the wrong width of grill is a mistake that sits in the middle of your cook line for years; renting makes it reversible. Ask us which of the units in stock can be put on a rental.