Last reviewed: July 2026 · Reviewed by: Craven Cooling sales team · 01792 732702

Fitting Out a Commercial Kitchen’s Front and Back of House: The Complete UK Guide (2026)

Most commercial kitchen fit-outs go wrong not because of the equipment bought but because of the order it sits in. A good fit-out zones the room so food travels one way only — goods-in, dry store, prep, cook, pass, then wash — with no dirty stock crossing back over clean food. This guide covers how to split front of house from back, where the pass sits as the boundary, how to choose and place stainless shelving and sinks (including the wash-hand basin required under retained Regulation (EC) 852/2004), and where fridges and prep counters belong on the line at 8°C.

Fitting out a kitchen is a sequencing problem before it is a shopping problem. Order equipment first and you end up with a fridge next to a fryer, a hand basin blocked by a rack, and clean plates past dirty pot-wash. This guide is for the trade buyer planning or refurbishing a commercial kitchen — restaurants, cafés, pubs, hotels, takeaways and contract caterers. Browse the full Craven Cooling range when ready.

Decision 1: Zone the Flow — Goods-In to Wash, One Direction Only

Before you buy a single table, map the room into zones and set the direction food travels. The proven sequence is goods-in → dry store → prep → cook → pass → wash, arranged so raw, dirty material never crosses finished, clean food — how you demonstrate control of cross-contamination under retained Regulation (EC) 852/2004, which requires premises laid out for good hygiene practice.

Space is usually the constraint. In a tight room you compress zones rather than skip them: a single bench can serve as goods-in landing and dry-store staging if you clean between uses, and a wall-mounted shelf run doubles a small footprint. What you must not do is let the wash area bleed into prep — the boundary the inspector looks for first.

Fit out in the order the flow implies: draw the zones, first-fix services (drainage, water, power and extraction) to the equipment schedule, finish the fabric, install fixed stainless, place refrigeration and cooking equipment, then fit shelving and set up FIFO. Out of sequence, you rip out finished work to reach a service you forgot.

Decision 2: Front of House vs Back of House — the Pass as Boundary

Front of house (FOH) is everything the customer sees and the service team works — the servery, counter, drinks station and dining area. Back of house (BOH) is production: goods-in, stores, prep, the cook line and wash-up. The line between them is the pass, the counter where finished plates are handed from kitchen to service. Fit it out as a genuine boundary and the two halves stop colliding.

The split runs through every category: FOH takes bottle coolers, display chillers, back-bar glass shelving and the bar hand basin; BOH takes storage fridges, prep counters, stainless shelving, and the wash-hand, prep, ware-wash and pot-wash sinks. The pass is the hinge.

The pass earns its keep as a physical and hygienic barrier. The kitchen side wants a hot-hold or heated gantry to keep plated food at temperature; the service side wants clear collection space. It also controls traffic. In smaller sites it is often a single stainless counter with an overshelf — see the commercial kitchen shelving range for gantry and overshelf options we stock or source.

Decision 3: Stainless Shelving — Wire vs Solid, Wall vs Mobile

Shelving is the cheapest fit-out decision with the biggest daily impact. Get the storage right — off the floor, air circulating, oldest stock to the front — and prep speeds up while hygiene improves. First choice: wire or solid; second: wall-fixed or mobile.

Load ratings are the spec buyers ignore until a shelf sags. A typical stainless wire shelf carries around 100–150kg evenly distributed per shelf on four posts, but that drops sharply if the load is concentrated or spans wide unsupported. For heavy tinned or bottled stock, shorten the span or add a centre support. Keep the bottom shelf at least 150mm clear of the floor to mop under it.

FIFO — first in, first out — is a shelving decision, not just a training one. Set up open-fronted runs where new stock loads from the back and older stock leaves from the front, and rotation becomes automatic. Mobile towers help: park a delivery on a wheeled rack, wheel it to the store, and load onto fixed shelving oldest-to-front. See the full commercial kitchen shelving range for wire, solid, wall and mobile options.

Decision 4: Sinks and the Dedicated Wash-Hand Basin Rule

Sinks are where most fit-outs cut a corner. A kitchen needs a hierarchy of sinks, and one — the wash-hand basin — is required by law. Retained Regulation (EC) 852/2004 requires washbasins for cleaning hands, with hot and cold running water and hygienic drying — separate from the sinks used for washing food and equipment.

For ware washing, a double sink with double drainers is the workhorse of the wash zone: wash in the first bowl, rinse in the second, drainers either side so wet items air-dry. The Vogue stainless double sink with double drainer 2400mm we stock (£596.21 + VAT) gives a full wash-rinse-drain run in one unit — see the commercial sinks range. Sink runs should be 304-grade, sealed to the wall, and drained to a trapped gully.

Decision 5: Refrigeration and Prep-Counter Placement

Refrigeration placement is where fit-outs quietly waste money for years. The rule is simple: fridges near prep, never near cook. A compressor beside a fryer, oven or grill fights ambient heat all day, runs longer, uses more electricity at £0.27/kWh, and wears out sooner. Storage fridges belong in the dry store or prep side; prep counters at the prep line, chilled ingredients under the lid, a stainless worktop over it.

The temperature target is not optional. Under the Food Safety (Temperature Control) Regulations 1995, food that needs refrigeration must be kept at 8°C or below — most operators run fridges at 1–4°C for a safe margin. Spec every fridge and prep counter to hold 8°C in your hottest conditions, build the check into daily HACCP records, and give the cabinet its condenser clearance. A prep counter jammed against a wall with no airflow will not hold temperature.

Browse the refrigerated prep counters range and the storage fridges range. Match capacity to your covers with 20–30% headroom, and climate class to your hottest realistic temperature.

Decision 6: Ventilation, Drainage and Services

The services behind the equipment — extraction, drainage, power and water — decide whether the fit-out passes inspection and survives a busy service. Plan them before the equipment lands; retro-fitting a floor gully or gas interlock afterwards is expensive.

UK Price Tiers — July 2026

Vogue Shelving & Sinks We Stock

Vogue stainless shelving and sinks in stock, July 2026, + VAT. Prep counters, storage fridges and bespoke fabrication are stocked or sourced to spec — see the shelving and sinks ranges.

Shelving Cost Worked Example

Kitting out a small dry store with 6 linear metres of shelving on three runs, plus a mobile staging tower. Vogue stocked lines, + VAT — adjust to your runs and tiers.

The Vogue double sink with double drainer 2400mm (U910) at £596.21 + VAT costs about the same as the whole dry-store shelving package. Shelving is the cheap part of a fit-out — sinks, refrigeration and services carry the cost — so skimping on it is a false economy that slows the kitchen every shift.

Fit-Out Walk-Through Checklist

Walk the plan against this list before you commit. Ten minutes here prevents the classic mistakes: crossed flow, a blocked hand basin, refrigeration cooking beside the fryer.

• ✓
  Flow drawn one-directional — goods-in to wash Arrows show food moving dirty-to-clean with no cross-back. Wash sits at the end near the pass return, never as an island.
• ✓
  The pass fixed as the FOH/BOH boundary Kitchen plates one side, service collects the other. Hot-hold at 63°C+ and any cold pass at 8°C or below, sized to your covers.
• ✓
  A dedicated wash-hand basin in every prep and cook area Separate from food and equipment sinks, with hot and cold water, soap and hygienic drying, kept clear — required by retained Regulation (EC) 852/2004.
• ✓
  Sink hierarchy in place — prep, ware-wash, pot-wash Food-prep sink separate from ware-wash; a double sink with drainers for wash-and-rinse; pot-wash for large pans.
• ✓
  Shelving specified — wire vs solid, grade to the zone Wire for airflow in stores, solid for wet and greasy areas; 304 in wet zones, 430 or chrome in dry stores; bottom shelf 150mm clear of the floor.
• ✓
  Refrigeration on the prep side, not the cook line Storage fridges and prep counters away from ovens and fryers, with condenser clearance, commissioned to hold 8°C or below.
• ✓
  Services first-fixed to the equipment schedule Extraction, floor gullies, power circuits and hot/cold water mapped to the equipment — before floors, walls and kit.
• ✓
  Cleanable surfaces and HACCP records ready Sealed non-slip floors, wipeable walls, coving — the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 baseline — plus daily temperature logs.

Dig deeper with our choosing commercial shelving guide, the commercial kitchen extraction regulations guide (DW/172, TR19 and gas interlocks), the equipping a compliant commercial washroom guide for handwashing and drainage, and the how to choose a commercial fridge guide for sizing and climate class.

Frequently Asked Questions