Opening a restaurant or replacing worn-out equipment comes down to a long list of decisions that all directly affect one another. Most owners plan the kitchen first: the range, the ovens, maybe a walk-in. What gets missed is everything around that core, from the smallwares that never make it onto a spec sheet to the dining room furniture nobody thinks about until they are about to open. It can be a lot to manage all at once.
This checklist walks through every category a Canadian restaurant needs to plan for, in the order most owners tend to forget them: refrigeration and cooking first, since they're hard to substitute once service starts, then food preparation, storage and dishwashing, and finally the two categories that get pushed to the bottom of the list: smallwares and furniture. A printable version of the full checklist is below so you can work through it as you plan.
How Much Refrigeration Does Your Kitchen Need?
Refrigeration is a necessary requirement in any kitchen build-out, and it's the equipment you can least afford to undersize. Run out of storage space mid-week and you're either turning away deliveries or letting food go bad.
Start with the basics: reach-in refrigerators and freezers for regular access to food during a busy shift, walk-ins for bulk storage or overstock, undercounter units and refrigerated prep tables positioned right at the line for quick-access to essentials, and an ice machine sized to your seat count and drink menu, not just your kitchen. Each does a different job, and most kitchens end up needing more than one type. While refrigeration is usually more straight forward, ice machines are notoriously undersized. If you need help sizing an ice machine for your restaurant, our guide to sizing a commercial ice machine walks you through it.
Refrigeration sizing comes down to menu, seat count, and delivery frequency. A kitchen taking deliveries daily needs far less cold storage than one stocking up weekly. Undersize it and you'll be running to the supplier mid-week; oversize it and you're paying rent on wasted space.
Every unit also needs to hold food at the right temperature to pass a health inspection. We've broken down exactly what those numbers are, and what inspectors check, in our Commercial Fridge & Freezer Temperature guide.
Brands like True, Traulsen, and Hoshizaki cover most of what a commercial kitchen needs, and our own Duracold and Nordic Air lines give you a certified, lower-cost option when budget matters as much as capacity. If you're still deciding between a walk-in and a bank of reach-ins, our guide to reach-in vs. walk-in refrigeration breaks down the trade-offs by kitchen size.
Gas or Electric: What Cooking Equipment to Buy?
Your cooking line is usually what your menu directly depends on, and it's the hardest to change your mind about after installation since gas lines, electrical panels, and ventilation hoods are built around whatever you choose. Our guide to gas vs. electric vs. induction ranges breaks down which fits which kind of kitchen, and it gives some insight on pointers when choosing each.
Ovens are a standard in virtually every restaurant. A convection oven is simpler, cheaper, and familiar to most cooks. A combi oven adds steam and can bake, roast, steam, and reheat in the same unit, which can really elevate the final product and experience for your customers. Our combi vs. convection oven guide walks through which one earns its space in your kitchen.
Don't stop at the cook line. Fryers and holding or warming cabinets are what keep food at serving temperature during a rush instead of going cold, and skipping them is a common reason kitchens fall behind during peak hours. Keep in mind: every cooking appliance you choose can also affect your ventilation hood requirements, which can add thousands of dollars to a build-out.
Rational, Turbofan, and Atosa cover most of what a Canadian kitchen needs here, from entry-level ranges to combi ovens built for high-volume service. We also have our own Alpha brand to offer more affordable alternatives on popular models.
What Food Prep Equipment Does My Kitchen Need?
Food preparation equipment is what turns raw ingredients into consistent plates, shift after shift. This is where speed and consistency show up on the guest's plate.
Mixers are the obvious starting point for any kitchen doing baking or high-volume prep, and the choice between planetary and spiral models depends more on what you're mixing than on price. Our guide to choosing a commercial mixer covers which handles your dough and batter needs better.
Blenders matter just as much if your menu includes smoothies, purees, or bar drinks. A Vitamix unit for continuous commercial use holds up in ways a countertop blender never will. Our guide to choosing a commercial blender covers which model fits your volume.
Food processors and slicers round out the category, handling the repetitive chopping, shredding, and slicing work that would otherwise eat up prep-cook hours. With labour being as expensive as it is, this is where you can save money while also getting consistent results.
Don't overlook plain stainless prep tables and work surfaces; they're inexpensive compared to the rest of this list, but a kitchen without enough of them ends up with cooks working on top of each other during prep.
Buying quality here pays off in a way that's easy to underestimate: a mixer or blender that fails mid-shift doesn't just cost a repair bill, it stalls your business until it's fixed.
A good rule of thumb: Keep a back-up unit of the most important piece of equipment in your place. If you’re a butcher, that’s probably a meat grinder or meat saw. If you’re a bakery, that’s probably a mixer or oven. I know it sounds like wasted money to have a unit collecting dust in a corner of your place, but it will be your life saver if the original unit goes down.
We actually did that for our own warehouse. To stay organized and efficient, we needed a forklift to remove and organize pallets of equipment on our racking. A forklift is the prime piece of equipment in our warehouse, so if it stops working one day, the whole warehouse immediately comes to a halt. We decided to bite the bullet and buy a back-up lift. It was extremely costly and a big investment, but it means we never run the risk of being down. When you think of the potential loss, even if the machine is just down for a day, the extra costs can add up. It will also give you some much needed peace of mind as an owner, which carries its own value.
What Warewashing and Storage Do You Need?
Dishwashing is easy to underbudget because it's invisible when it's working and impossible to ignore when it isn't. Undercounter dishwashers suit lower-volume kitchens and tight footprints, while hood-type pass-through machines handle higher volume but need more space and ventilation. Our guide to choosing between undercounter and hood-type dishwashers walks through exactly which one your volume calls for.
Beyond the dishwasher itself, every commercial kitchen in Canada needs a proper three-compartment sink for manual washing and a separate handwashing sink, both non-negotiable for a health inspection regardless of what other equipment you have. Skipping or undersizing is one of the fastest ways to fail an inspection before you've even opened.
Storage is the silent half of this category. Wire shelving units, dunnage racks, and dry storage organization keep inventory off the floor and easy to see and grab, which matters when you have to restock the shelves all at once. A kitchen with expensive cooking equipment but nowhere to store its ingredients ends up wasting food and losing track of what it has on hand.
This is why buying from one supplier pays off: dishwashers, sinks, and shelving all need to work together in a tight back-of-house layout, and getting them from a single source makes that layout easier to plan.
The Smallwares Nobody Budgets
Smallwares are the category every new restaurant owner underestimates, right up until they're standing in an empty kitchen a week before opening realizing they don't own a single sheet pan. Pots, pans, cutting boards, mixing bowls, measuring tools, food storage containers, thermometers, and utensils don't show up on an equipment spec sheet the way a range or a walk-in does, but a kitchen can't run a single shift without them.
The real problem with smallwares isn't any one item, it's the volume. A single kitchen might need dozens of cutting boards, hundreds of food storage containers in different sizes, and multiples of nearly every utensil, since stations can't share equipment mid-service. Add it up across a full kitchen and the smallwares total can rival a mid-sized appliance, which is exactly why it gets left off early budgets.
The fix is simple: treat smallwares as its own line item from day one, not an afterthought you'll deal with once the big equipment arrives. Since you're likely already ordering major equipment, adding smallwares to the same order saves a separate round of sourcing and shipping.
What About the Room Your Guests Sit In?
Furniture and dining is the category that gets treated as decoration instead of equipment. I call that backwards thinking, since it's the part of your restaurant every guest touches and judges before their food even arrives.
Tables, chairs, booths, bar stools, and tabletop items like condiment caddies and menu holders need to hold up to daily wear the same way your kitchen equipment does, just under a different kind of pressure.
Commercial-grade furniture matters here for a reason beyond looks: restaurant seating gets far more turnover and abuse than anything in a home, and furniture built for residential use tends to loosen, wobble, or wear out within a year or two of real service. Replacing chairs mid-season costs more than buying the right ones the first time, and mismatched replacements are obvious to a returning customer.
The other reason this category deserves early planning is timing. Custom or made-to-order furniture, especially booths and built-in seating, can carry lead times of several weeks to months, and ordering it too late is a common reason for a grand opening delay. Plan your dining room alongside your kitchen, not after it.
The dinnerware you decide on matters as well. We have seen a trend in the industry the last several years of restaurant owners going to companies like Ikea for their dinnerware, utensils, and glassware. We see two problems that arise from this: Firstly, these just aren’t meant for commercial use, and so you see more plates and glasses breaking in the kitchen as busboys try to clean up. It feels like you’re saving money up-front, but the costs add up over time.
Secondly, a lot of these glasses and plates are easily recognizable. Some designs can be spotted a mile away by a customer. The plates, glasses, utensils, and furniture are what your customers are interacting with first-hand, and if they only interact with lower grade quality (or what they associate with lower grade) they will psychologically think they are receiving lower grade service. Your expensive foreign ingredients and $40,000 combi oven in the kitchen are nice, but you know what your customers remember? The Ikea wine glass.
What Certifications Should You Check For?
Every piece of commercial equipment you buy should carry recognized certification marks, most commonly CSA, ETL, NSF, UL, or QPS in Canada. These aren't just stickers; they confirm a piece of equipment has been tested to standards that protect your staff, your food, and your ability to pass a health inspection. Buying uncertified equipment to save money upfront is one of the more expensive mistakes a new restaurant can make, since a health inspector can require you to replace it after it's already installed and running.
We've written a full breakdown of which certifications matter for which equipment category and why, in our guide to Canadian equipment certification requirements, so you can check any piece of equipment against it before you buy. As a general rule, the majority of brands we carry are built to meet Canadian certification requirements, so sticking with recognized commercial brands takes most of the guesswork out of this step.
What Should You Budget for Restaurant Equipment?
Total equipment costs for a new restaurant vary enormously by size and concept, but the mistake that shows up repeatedly isn't the big-ticket items, it's underestimating everything around them: installation, ventilation, smallwares, and furniture, all of which add up fast once they're totaled together.
New equipment isn't your only option. A quality remanufactured or open-box unit from a reputable supplier can offer real savings without the risk that comes with buying used equipment from an unknown source, since it typically still carries a warranty. Equipment financing is also worth exploring for a full build-out, since spreading the cost of a kitchen across its useful life is often easier on cash flow than paying for everything upfront.
The value in working with one supplier for your whole list, from walk-ins to dining chairs, isn't only convenience. It means one point of contact for after-purchase service and warranty issues, one delivery schedule to coordinate, and pricing built around outfitting a full restaurant rather than one-off purchases. That's the approach we built Phoenix around: helping Canadian restaurant owners get the equipment they need at a fair price.
Your Printable Restaurant Equipment Checklist
Use this list room by room as you plan your build-out or replace worn equipment. Check off each category as you finalize it, and come back to any section above for more detail on making the right choice.
Refrigeration
- Reach-in refrigerators and freezers
- Glass display refrigerators and freezers
- Walk-in cooler and/or freezer
- Refrigerated prep tables
- Ice machine (sized to seat count and menu)
Cooking
- Range (gas, electric, or induction)
- Oven (convection or combi)
- Fryer
- Holding and warming cabinets
- Ventilation hood matched to your cook line
Food Preparation
- Mixer (planetary or spiral)
- Blender
- Food processor
- Scales
- Stainless prep tables and work surfaces
Storage and Dishwashing
- Dishwasher (undercounter or hood-type)
- Three-compartment sink
- Handwashing sink
- Wire shelving and dunnage racks
- Dry storage organization
Smallwares
- Pots, pans, and cutting boards
- Mixing bowls and measuring tools
- Food storage containers (multiple sizes)
- Thermometers
- Utensils for every station
Furniture and Dining
- Tables
- Chairs, booths, and/or bar stools
- Tabletop items (menu holders, condiment caddies)
- Host stand or waiting area furniture, if applicable
Printable PDF Here
Ready to Start Checking Off Your List?
Whatever stage you're at, from an early build-out to replacing a single worn-out unit, we're set up to help with the whole list, not just one category. We make it easy to browse and shop by category. Contact our team or start planning below:
