Features To Look for in a Restaurant Freezer

Aside from a bain marie, a freezer is one of your kitchen's most hardworking pieces of catering equipment. It houses your ingredients, stocks and supplies. So when looking into a new freezer equipment, you should know the features you require. 

Here are some features to look for when shopping for a commercial freezer for your restaurant. Of course, make sure to cover the basics such as space requirements, budget, uses and capacity. 

Self-closing Doors

Your restaurant could get busy. You or your staff may forget to close your freezer’s doors - this is inevitable. Leaving a freezer's door open or ajar for a long period of time affects its cooling capacity and energy efficiency. Worse, a door left open will compromise your food's safety and quality. This is why you need a freezer unit that has self-closing doors. 

Many commercial refrigeration equipment features self-closing doors. They are designed with sealing gaskets with magnetic strips which pull the door close and seal it tightly back to the unit. 

Internal Lighting

Most of the time, interior lights are optional features of a freezer and they're often overlooked when buying. Although in hindsight internal illumination might not be necessary, the lack of it can lead to serious problems. You see, a poorly-lit unit can cause you to overlook issues and maintenance needs. 

Sure, you could get around with a flashlight, but nothing is more convenient than having lights built within the unit. With internal illumination, you can see if there’s a need for fixing and repairing.  It also makes it easier to organise and retrieve items from compartments. Some providers also offer make and models where lights are dedicated for specific compartments only.

Auto Defrosting

Auto-defrost, sometimes called frost-free feature, ensures that the freezer chamber won’t be piled up with ice. With a self-defrosting feature, you don’t need to manually defrost and clean up the unit. With the lesser need for manual defrosting, you are saving on staff hours.

Self-defrosting freezers also ensure that your foods won’t stick together. There will be no freezer burn on meat which lessen quality. Since there’s no more ice building up in corners and walls, there will be more space for storage. 

Defrosting is essential in order to keep the unit working efficiently.   Modern units often feature a timer and a compressor fan which sets the process of defrosting.    

Removable Shelving

Most refrigeration equipment may not have it but they come in handy at times. With features like adjustable shelving, you can display your items according to an arrangement style of your liking. Some freezer units feature GN pan holders, food trays, and vegetable and fruit bins. Chest freezers commonly have baskets that let you divide spaces. 

If you’re nifty about organising, you may consider drawer freezers. These cabinet-looking equipment feature drawers to sort out ingredients and spices. These make great add-ons or as complimentary freezers for a busy kitchen. They are relatively compact in design so they can be stashed or fitted into smaller spaces. 

Temperature Control

Temperature controllers of refrigerators are called thermostats or cold controls. They are either physical knobs or buttons with digital controls that you can adjust to achieve the right temperature for your items. A cold control is located inside the unit or outside of it. This freezer feature is essential especially if you're items are temperature-sensitive. 

The thermostat itself is not what changes that temperature but it is what relay the ideal parameters into the main cooling system to achieve your desired results. 

Stainless Steel

If you’re buying a commercial freezers that’s built with stainless steel, then kudos to you for making the right choice. Stainless steel is durable, easy to clean and resistant to wear and tear. Manufacturers often build their equipment out of this material because it can withstand heavy, repetitive use. In short, stainless steel has a good lifespan which makes this material the best choice for equipment. 

Shock Freeze

There are freezer units specifically designed to shock freeze. By instantly freezing foods and ingredients within a shorter amount of time, you are able to maintain the quality and freshness of your items. These units are the fastest freezing solutions in the market.  Shock freezing instantly crystalises the water inside the foods, thus freezing them faster. Once the items are blast frozen, you can move them to a conventional freezer for longer storage. 

Features of Freezers Available at Leading Catering Equipment

As one of Australia's most trusted leading commercial catering equipment suppliers, our refrigerators carry features that make business more efficient and streamlined. We have a commercial freezer unit that has self-closing doors, internal lighting, removable shelving and self-defrosting features. Most of our equipment are made from high-grade stainless steel. We offer bar freezers, blast chillers, multi-door freezers, shock freezers, chest freezers, and supermarket freezers. We also have discounted ranges on clearance. 

We know that a freezer for your business is not an impromptu purchase. Aside from features, you may be looking for financing options, warranty assurance and the like. We can help with these. If you want to know more about the available options, you can call our team at 03 8657 3937 / 0411 505 588 (for VIC, SA, WA and TAS) or at  02 8859 1888 / 0431 073 246 (for QLD, NSW, NT and ACT).