Maximizing overall space in any work environment is a crucial task, especially in commercial kitchens. Many storage areas can quickly become cluttered, but keeping things neat and organized is essential. Many foodservice establishments are limited on square footage, so this can be challenging. When designing New Age Industrial products, we consider even the smallest details when optimizing storage. We utilize every square foot of storage space possible, when laying out a storage area. Below are some New Age Industrial products that are great storage hacks often used in commercial foodservice.
Kitchen Area: Dish Rooms
Dish rooms quickly get overloaded with crates, dish racks, dishware, utensils, and other items. This area can become slick, which creates a potential slip hazard if water is spilled during the processes of washing, sanitizing, or moving items back and forth. Commercial dishwashers take up a lot of space, leaving very little room for large shelving units. Consider using vertical wall space or mobile storage for common bulk items that need to be kept inside or near the dish room.
Storage Hack: Wall Mount Dish Rack Holders
Wall Mount Dish Rack Holders are an ideal solution for saving space in a dish room. They are mounted to the wall, typically above the sink, and are used to slide empty dish racks into for convenient storage. These racks are mounted on the wall, instead of standing on end, which frees up floor space and reduces clutter.
Storage Hack: Tray Drying Racks
Tray Drying Racks are used to dry, transport, and store trays. These racks have slats to house individual trays, leaving space between them for proper airflow and drying. The heavy-duty shelves on Tray Drying Racks can be adjusted for different spacing. These mobile units are easily moved to other areas when space is needed in the dish room. Having a versatile tool to store and transport trays can help keep things more organized in the kitchen.
Kitchen Area: Walk-In Coolers & Freezers
When laying out storage for in walk-in coolers and freezers, space can be extremely limited, so every inch counts. It’s important to keep things off the floor and in accordance with local health codes. Check out these storage hacks for making the most of your walk-in cooler and freezer space.
Want to lock up high-end meat, seafood, or alcohol? Maybe you want to add a beer cave to your restaurant? Instead of purchasing and placing a second walk-in cooler in your kitchen, a New Age Industrial Aluminum Security Fence can be installed inside an existing walk-in cooler. It segregates a secured environment from general cold storage, essentially creating two separate spaces in one. Our Security Fences will not rust or corrode and feature optional sliding doors, instead of hinged, to save even more space when opening the doors.
Storage Hack: Ceiling Mount Cantilever Shelving Units
Cantilever Shelving eliminates the front two posts, unlike traditional shelving units, which makes it much easier to access items. It also allows for long runs of shelving for longer, bulky items, without having to struggle maneuvering them around the posts. When Cantilever Shelving is mounted to the wall, instead of using freestanding uprights, it drastically saves floor space without sacrificing space for readily available items to be stored. Ceiling Mounted Cantilever Shelving utilizes this to the fullest. It provides ample space for items to be stored along the wall while leaving open space for items underneath such as stationary or mobile dunnage and half-size speed racks.
Kitchen Area: Reach-In Refrigerators & Freezers
Managing storage space in an upright freezer can be tricky. They are often tight on space, since they usually come standard with only two or three shelves. When storing items on sheet pans, you can’t fit very many pans without stacking them or spilling and damaging the product. Finding the right way to store everything in there can be tricky.
Insert Racks can be used in place of standard reach-in shelves, and can quadruple your storage capacity, or even more! They are made in different styles that will store either standard sheet pans or steam table pans. These racks fit in most reach-ins with a 21” wide door clearance, or they can be customized. You can gain a huge amount of storage slots to store prepped product on sheet pans, maximizing every bit of space inside.
Storage Hack: Inverted T-Bar Shelves
Inverted T-Bar Shelves are a unique storage option for above reach-in refrigerators or freezers. These shelves are mounted to the wall to create vertical storage space. Since the mounting bar is located on the top of the shelf, instead of below, it makes the shelves more easily accessed and reachable when placed above taller appliances.
Kitchen Area: Prep Area
Prep areas are an essential part of the kitchen, where items need to be easy to find, often within arm’s reach. Having the proper equipment to maintain proper organization and allow for easy accessibility can significantly help increase efficiency.
Storage Hack: Counter Height Can Racks
Can Racks are a fantastic storage solution and are typically placed in dry storage rooms. Counter-Height Can Racks, however, can be rolled directly underneath a table or counter instead of sitting in the walkway or kitchen which takes up valuable space on the floor. This makes the cans much easier to access inside the prep area, rather than walking back and forth from the stock room. Many Counter Height and Half-Size Can Racks have optional work tops made from aluminum, stainless steel or polytope. This provides an additional and mobile workspace to prepare food.
Storage Hack: Solid Wall Shelves
Solid Wall Shelves are another excellent solution for maximizing storage space in prep areas. Wall Shelves are mounted to the wall, instead of using posts or uprights, and can serve as a great tool for housing smaller items. They are often mounted above sinks, stoves, tables, and other open areas.
Kitchen Area: Dry Storage Areas
Having a dry storage area that is properly laid out and organized is crucial in any commercial kitchen. Being able to easily locate and identify items or take inventory for future order is imperative. So, it’s important to choose the right equipment that fits the space.
Storage Hack: Full Size Can Racks
Earlier, we discussed how Counter Height Can Racks help with efficiency and space savings in prep areas. Can Racks are also available in full size models. Some are made specifically for First-In, First Out (FIFO) methods of can storage while others are built in standard configurations. One huge advantage of Can Racks, besides FIFO, is being able to find the cans you are looking for without straining. Also, it’s much easier to count inventory in can racks. Plus, mobile versions of Can Racks can be easily moved to clean under and placed back, without removing each can like on traditional shelving storage methods.
Storage Hack: Freestanding Cantilever Shelving Units
We also mentioned Cantilever Shelving earlier in a ceiling mounted version. These Shelving Units are also available in Freestanding Models that sit on the floor using uprights and braces. These shelves also do not contain front posts which provides multiple benefits. You can mix and match shelf types on these units to adjust to your specific needs.
Nesting Pan Racks, also known as Z Racks or U Racks, are huge space savers because they can nest together when not in use. For example, six (6) Nested Z Racks take up 14.9 square feet of space as compared to six (6) standard pan racks that take up 22.4 square feet of space to store. They are extremely heavy duty, just like their standard counter parts, which make them a top choice for commercial kitchens of all types.
New Age Industrial is the leading aluminum extruder and fabricator of storage and transportation equipment in the United States. We use a Flexible Manufacturing Process to design and build heavy-duty yet lightweight aluminum products that can be customized to fit your exact needs, completely stress-free. Our unmatched versatility in product design and in-house team of experts make New Age Industrial the Top Choice for material handling and food service equipment. Our products are Proudly Made in the USA!