Refurbished Deli Cabinets

Which side it opens on, and how the cold is held. A deli cabinet is a serve-over: the glass faces the customer and does not open, and the staff reach in from the rear. A display fridge is built for the customer to open and take from, so the glass is a door.

That changes the whole design. A serve-over holds its cold in an open well behind glass rather than in a sealed box, so it depends much more on the room around it being stable. It also means the cabinet height and the glass angle are set for a conversation across the counter, which is the bit that sells.

A ventilated cabinet moves cold air around the display, which holds temperature more evenly and copes better with a warm shop. A static cabinet is gentler on product that dries out, which is why some cheese and some charcuterie counters prefer it.

On refurbished stock you are largely choosing from what exists. If the product is mostly sliced meats, salads and prepared lines, take the ventilated cabinet. If it is dry-cured product and cheese, ask us whether a static unit is available. The product page states which a unit is.

Misting comes from the room rather than the cabinet. An open-well serve-over sits with cold air on one side of the glass and shop air on the other, so humid air in the room — from a door propped open, from steam, from a wet floor at the end of the day — will show on the glass.

Keep the shop ventilated, keep the cabinet away from the door and from any steam source, and do not pack the well above the load line, because that disturbs the air curtain the cabinet relies on. Some cabinets have heated glass; the product page says. If a used cabinet mists badly from day one with none of these causes, raise it with us.

Only if they are the same model, and in refurbished stock that is the hard part. Deli cabinets are designed to be run in lines, with matching heights, glass angles and joining kits, but mismatched cabinets side by side look exactly as mismatched as they are.

If the counter needs to be longer than one cabinet, tell us early and we will tell you whether a matching unit is likely. Otherwise a single long cabinet, or a deliberate break in the run with a till or a scale between two different cabinets, looks better than two near-misses butted together.

Glass first: chips at the edges, scratches in the customer's line of sight, and fogging between panes, which cannot be cleaned. Then the lighting, because a dark cabinet kills the product, and lamps or strips for an older model are not always available.

Then the obvious refrigeration points — the condenser, the fan, the drain in the well — and the condition of the stainless and the trays. These cabinets are heavy and long, so confirm the path in and the power requirement, both of which are on the product page. Ask us what was replaced during the refurbishment rather than what was looked at.

Usually yes, and it is a reasonable way to start a serve-over counter. Silverchef Rent-Try-Buy lets you rent the cabinet instead of paying for it upfront, which keeps the cash for stock and fit-out in the first months of trading.

A deli counter is also one of the things businesses change their minds about most, because the length you need depends on a product range that is still settling. Renting makes that reversible. Ask us which of the units in stock can be put on a rental.