Refurbished Commercial Under Bench Fridges

Sometimes, and it is worth checking rather than hoping. Commercial benching is built to a handful of common working heights, and most under bench refrigeration is made to slide into them, but a refurbished cabinet comes in the height it was built in. Castors and adjustable feet give you a little movement either way, and the product page lists the overall height.

Measure the gap, the height from the floor to the underside of the bench front, and the depth from the wall to the front edge. Then check nothing in the opening blocks the vent. If the numbers are close but not exact, a stainless infill panel is usually a cheaper fix than holding out for a perfect match in one-off stock.

An under bench fridge gives you refrigerated drawers or doors with a stainless top you can prep on. A chef base refrigerator is built to carry cooking equipment on top of it, so the top is reinforced and the refrigeration is arranged to live with the heat above it.

If a chargrill, a griddle or a salamander is going on top, you want a chef base. If the top is a prep surface and the heat is somewhere else in the line, an under bench cabinet is the cheaper and more flexible buy. Putting cooking equipment on a standard under bench fridge will shorten its life, whatever its condition when it arrives.

Every fridge throws the heat it removes out through a condenser, and that heat has to leave the cabinet. Where it leaves from depends on the model — some vent at the front, some at the back, some out of one side — and that decides whether the cabinet can be boxed in on three sides or not.

The product page states the clearance the maker asks for. Build the cabinet into a tight joinery run without it and the air around the condenser stays warm, the compressor runs far longer than it should, and a unit that held temperature in the warehouse struggles in the kitchen. A front-breathing cabinet is the one to look for if there is no room behind.

Yes, that is the point of the shape. The tops on commercial under bench cabinets are stainless steel, and 304 is the food-safety grade used in Australian kitchens. Light scratching on a used top is cosmetic and does not make the surface unsafe.

What you should look at is whether the top is dented or dished anywhere, because standing water sits in a hollow and a dent takes the edge off a clean line of work. If the cabinet is going somewhere heavy chopping happens, put a board down. If you want a second surface above it, kitchen bench overshelves free up the top for work.

Door gaskets, almost always. They take a knock every time a tray goes in, they take a set where the door has been closed on them for months, and once they are flat, warm air leaks in and the compressor never stops. Close the door on a sheet of paper and pull — if it slides out with no resistance, the gasket is done. They are cheap, so budget for a set either way.

After that it is the hardware: castors that have been dragged across a tiled floor, hinges that have dropped, and handles. All of it is replaceable and none of it is expensive. The condenser is the other one to look at, because a coil packed with dust and kitchen grease cannot shed heat, and a proper clean often fixes a cabinet that seems to be running too hard.

They are heavy, low cabinets, so think about the path before the day. Doorway widths, a step at the entry, a lift, and whether the unit can be wheeled to the spot or has to be carried are all worth sorting out in advance. Tell us about anything awkward when you order rather than when the truck is outside.

On arrival, stand the cabinet upright and leave it a few hours before you switch it on, particularly if it travelled on a lean, so the compressor oil can settle back. Then run it empty with the doors shut for a day with your own thermometer inside, and load it with cold stock rather than warm. If something looks wrong in the first day or two, call us then, not a fortnight later with the cabinet full.