GN Pan Sizing and Prep Counter Configuration Guide: The Complete UK Guide (2026)
Gastronorm — GN — is the modular pan standard that lets every fridge, bain marie, oven, blast chiller and dishwasher in a commercial kitchen speak the same dimensional language. The whole system is built on one footprint: the GN 1/1 pan at 530 × 325mm. Every smaller fraction — 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/6, 1/9 — is derived so combinations tessellate to fill that same aperture, and every pan comes in standard depths from 20mm to 200mm. Get the sizing right and a prep counter becomes a precision tool: the correct fractions in the correct wells, chilled correctly, feeding a service line without a wasted reach. This guide covers the module maths, tessellation, depths and capacities, then how to choose and configure saladette, drawer, counter and pizza prep fridges — with UK prices and the 8°C chill duty on every wet well.
- The master module: GN 1/1 = 530 × 325mm. This single footprint is the aperture every prep counter, gastronorm fridge, bain marie and combi oven is built around, and every fraction derives from it.
- The fraction ladder: 1/1 (530×325), 1/2 (325×265), 1/3 (325×176), 1/4 (265×162), 1/6 (176×162), 1/9 (176×108). Fractions tessellate — two 1/2s, three 1/3s or six 1/6s all fill one 1/1 opening.
- The depth ladder: 20, 40, 65, 100, 150 and 200mm. Depth drives litre capacity and, in a saladette well, how far the cold air has to reach.
- Capacity example: a GN 1/1 at 100mm holds roughly 13 litres; at 200mm roughly 26 litres. A 1/6 at 100mm holds around 1.5 litres — the classic single-topping well.
- The four families: saladette (open GN wells for cold toppings), drawer fridge, counter fridge (solid worktop over doors/drawers) and pizza prep counter (refrigerated topping rail plus marble or granite bench).
- The 8°C chill duty: under the Food Safety (Temperature Control) Regulations 1995 most perishable foods must be held at or below 8°C. Open saladette wells must keep contents inside that limit — pan depth and lid discipline decide whether they do.
- Cross-compatibility: because GN is one shared standard, a 1/3 pan prepped in the saladette drops straight into the bain marie, combi oven shelf, blast chiller and dishwasher rack — no decanting, no transfer loss.
- Worked product: the Polar U-Series Four Drawer Gastronorm Counter Fridge UA100 is £1199.87 + VAT and takes GN pans across four drawers for high-density prep storage.
Almost every avoidable frustration on a prep line traces back to a pan that doesn’t fit. A 1/4 pan sat in a 1/3 aperture rattles, tips and lets warm air bypass the cold well. A counter ordered without checking its aperture layout swallows two fewer toppings than the menu needs. A saladette stocked with 150mm pans when the well was designed for 100mm leaves the top third of every pan above the cold line. None of these are equipment faults — they are sizing mistakes, and the Gastronorm system exists so they never happen, provided you understand the maths underneath it.
It is written for the people who live with those decisions: owners fitting out a prep station, kitchen managers replacing a tired saladette, pizzeria operators speccing a topping rail, and multi-site caterers standardising GN across a fleet. Browse the full gastronorm range and the refrigerated prep counters as you read.
Table of Contents
- 1. The GN System and the 530×325 Module
- 2. Tessellation — How Fractions Fill a 1/1 Aperture
- 3. Depths and Litre Capacity
- 4. Choosing the Counter — Saladette, Drawer, Counter, Pizza Prep
- 5. Configuring a Prep Line — Well Layout
- 6. Cross-Compatibility and the 8°C Chill Duty
- Prices and Worked Example
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Related Buying Guides
The GN 1/1 footprint in mm — the master module every fraction and counter is built from
20, 40, 65, 100, 150 and 200mm — the depth ladder that sets litre capacity
The chill limit every open saladette well must hold contents at or below
Because GN is a single shared standard, a pan is never trapped in one machine. Dice tomatoes into a 1/3 pan in the saladette; it slides into the bain marie for a hot mezze, onto a combi shelf to roast, into the blast chiller, and onto the dishwasher rack — no decanting, no second container. Standardise on GN across fridges, ovens and warewashing and you remove a whole category of transfer waste and breakage.
Six fractions, one aperture — every combination fills the same opening
1. The GN System and the 530×325 Module
Gastronorm is a European dimensional standard (EN 631) for food containers and the equipment that holds them. It fixes one master rectangle — the GN 1/1 at 530mm by 325mm — then defines every other pan as a fraction of it: a 1/2 is half the area, a 1/3 a third, a 1/6 a sixth, a 1/9 a ninth. The fractions are not scaled-down 1/1s; each has its own length and width chosen so whole numbers line up along the sides of the 1/1 opening and fill it without gaps. That is the difference between a modular system and random tubs.
Every piece of GN-rated equipment is machined to accept that 530×325 aperture or a shelf that carries it — prep counter cut-outs, a bain marie top, combi oven runners, blast chiller rails, a dishwasher basket. This is why pans from one supplier and a counter from another fit: both are built to EN 631, not a proprietary shape. “Gastronorm compatible” means the internal runners are spaced to carry 530×325 pans and shelves.
| Fraction | Nominal size (mm) | Typical use | Fits per 1/1 aperture |
|---|---|---|---|
| GN 1/1 | 530 × 325 | Bulk stock, tray bakes, whole-tray roasting | 1 |
| GN 1/2 | 325 × 265 | Sauces, larger toppings, batch prep | 2 |
| GN 1/3 | 325 × 176 | Standard saladette topping, cold garnishes | 3 |
| GN 1/4 | 265 × 162 | Smaller garnishes, sliced items, condiments | 4 |
| GN 1/6 | 176 × 162 | Single toppings, herbs, sauces on a rail | 6 |
| GN 1/9 | 176 × 108 | Small garnishes, olives, capers | 9 |
Two notes on the numbers. First, real pans are made a millimetre or two under nominal so adjacent pans and the rim clear each other, nesting rather than jamming. Second, the fraction name describes area, not a tidy halving of both sides: a 1/2 is 325×265, keeping one dimension shared with the 1/1 so it lines up. Those shared edges are what make tessellation work, and reading them is the key to any counter’s aperture layout.
2. Tessellation — How Fractions Fill a 1/1 Aperture
Tessellation is the whole point of the fraction system: any complete set of fractions adding up to one whole fills a single 1/1 opening. Two 1/2s, three 1/3s, four 1/4s, six 1/6s, nine 1/9s — each fills it exactly. You can also mix fractions within one aperture — a 1/2 plus two 1/4s — as long as areas and shared edges reconcile. A prep counter’s top is a row of 1/1 apertures, and configuring it is the art of choosing which fractions drop into each opening.
Read a counter spec sheet and you see exactly these terms — “accommodates 6 × GN 1/6” or “top holds 8 × GN 1/3”: the aperture count translated into fractions. When planning a menu, count your distinct cold components first, then read the counter’s fraction capacity — if the menu needs eight toppings and the well takes six 1/6s, you are two pans short before you start.
| Combination | Pans | Where it suits |
|---|---|---|
| 2 × 1/2 | Two medium wells | Two-component prep — a sauce and a garnish |
| 3 × 1/3 | Three standard wells | Classic sandwich or salad saladette — the workhorse |
| 4 × 1/4 | Four smaller wells | More toppings, smaller portions — deli and burger builds |
| 6 × 1/6 | Six single wells | Pizza rails and garnish stations — maximum variety |
| 9 × 1/9 | Nine tiny wells | High-value, low-volume — olives, capers, chilli |
| 1 × 1/2 + 2 × 1/4 | Mixed | One large plus two small — flexible builds |
A 1/3 dropped into a 1/4 aperture, or five 1/6s crammed where six belong, leaves gaps where cold air escapes and warm air falls in, so edge pans warm fastest. If a menu component won’t fit the fractions available, change the fraction — not the fit.
3. Depths and Litre Capacity
Every fraction comes in a ladder of standard depths — 20, 40, 65, 100, 150 and 200mm. The footprint decides how the pan tessellates; the depth decides how much it holds and, in a chilled well, how far the cold reaches. The two are chosen independently: pick the fraction for the layout and the depth for volume and chill.
| Depth | GN 1/1 (approx) | GN 1/3 (approx) | GN 1/6 (approx) | Typical role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20mm | ~2.5 L | ~0.8 L | ~0.3 L | Flat garnishes, single-layer items, drainers |
| 40mm | ~5 L | ~1.5 L | ~0.6 L | Shallow toppings, sliced meats, sushi |
| 65mm | ~9 L | ~2.5 L | ~1 L | The everyday saladette depth — most cold toppings |
| 100mm | ~13 L | ~4 L | ~1.5 L | Bulkier toppings, sauces, deep wells |
| 150mm | ~19 L | ~6 L | ~2.3 L | Bulk storage, soups, stocks, marinating |
| 200mm | ~26 L | ~8 L | ~3 L | Deep bulk storage — fridges, not open wells |
Two rules fall out of that table. Capacity scales with depth in a near-straight line — a 1/1 at 200mm (~26 L) holds about twice a 1/1 at 100mm (~13 L). And on a prep line, depth is the enemy of chill in an open well: a shallow 65mm pan chills through, while a 150mm pan has its top third in warm air above the cold line. For open wells, 65–100mm is the sweet spot; reserve 150mm and 200mm for enclosed storage where the whole cabinet is cold.
The maths gives you six distinct cold components, each in its own washable, interchangeable pan, all in the chill zone because 65mm keeps them there. Swap to 100mm pans for roughly 60% more volume per pan, provided the counter’s cold output reaches the deeper contents.
4. Choosing the Counter — Saladette, Drawer, Counter, Pizza Prep
Four families of refrigerated prep counter carry GN pans, each solving a different problem, and choosing between them fixes how your prep line works. Browse them all in the refrigerated prep counters category; the four sub-ranges are below.
Saladette Fridge
Open GN topping wells
- Open 1/x wells across the top
- Chilled cabinet or drawers beneath
- Built for cold assembly — sandwiches, salads
- Best with 65–100mm pans for chill reach
- Lids or night cover hold the 8°C duty
Drawer Fridge
GN pans in refrigerated drawers
- Solid worktop over stacked drawers
- Each drawer takes GN pans directly
- High-density chilled prep storage
- No door swing — good under a pass
- The Polar UA100 below is this family
Counter Fridge
Solid top over doors/drawers
- Full worktop for prep and plating
- Chilled storage on GN runners below
- Doubles as a work surface and a fridge
- No open wells — everything enclosed
- Whole cabinet cold, so any depth suits
Pizza Prep Counter
Topping rail + stone bench
- Refrigerated 1/6 or 1/4 topping rail
- Marble or granite prep bench for dough
- Chilled cabinet below for bulk stock
- Rail sized for many small fractions
- Purpose-built for the pizza build order
Match the family to the task. A sandwich bar or salad station wants a saladette fridge — open wells for fast cold assembly. A high-volume kitchen that preps into pans and needs dense, door-free storage under a work surface wants a drawer fridge. A site needing a big cold work surface with storage under it wants a counter fridge, and a pizzeria a purpose-built pizza prep counter. Many run two side by side — a saladette for the cold line and a drawer or counter fridge feeding it from bulk.
+ VAT — Craven price
Four GN drawers
- Four refrigerated drawers, each taking GN pans
- Solid worktop above for prep and plating
- Gastronorm-compatible runners throughout
- High-density storage, no door swing
- Ideal beneath a pass or feeding a saladette
The drawer-fridge answer to a busy prep line: four chilled drawers holding GN pans directly, with a solid top to work on. Prep into pans, slot them into a drawer, pull them out chilled — the same pans move to the bain marie, oven or dishwasher without decanting. Runs the whole cabinet cold, so any GN depth suits.
5. Configuring a Prep Line — Well Layout
A prep counter delivered empty is potential, not a system. The layout — which fraction goes in which well, in which order — turns it into a line a cook can work without thinking. The governing principle is build order: arrange the wells in the sequence the dish is assembled, left to right, so the cook’s hand never backtracks.
Write out each distinct topping, garnish, sauce and protein that lives in the counter — that number is your well count. If it exceeds the counter’s aperture capacity, specialise the counter or step up to a larger unit before buying pans.
High-throughput items (lettuce, house sauce) get a 1/3 or 1/2; single low-volume garnishes (capers, chilli) get a 1/6 or 1/9 — matched so nothing runs dry or goes off in an oversized pan.
Group the fractions so each 1/1 opening fills exactly — three 1/3s here, six 1/6s there, a 1/2 plus two 1/4s next — with no gap where cold air leaks out.
Lay them left to right in the order the dish is made — base, protein, salad, sauce, garnish. A well out of order costs a backtrack on every cover.
In open wells, favour 65–100mm so cold air reaches the contents. Keep deep 150mm bulk pans in the enclosed fridge below, decanting into shallow open-well pans as they empty and keeping every well pan under the cold line and 8°C.
A matching lid per open pan holds temperature overnight and in lulls, stopping drying and cross-contamination. Buy a spare of each fraction so a pan can go to the wash mid-service.
If you run more than one counter, or a counter plus a bain marie and oven, settle on a small set of fractions — say 1/3, 1/6 and 1/1 — and stock deep. Fewer distinct pans means lids, spares and racks interchange throughout.
6. Cross-Compatibility and the 8°C Chill Duty
The reason to standardise on GN across the whole kitchen is that one pan then serves the entire cook chain without ever being decanted. Every decant is a chance to spill, break, cross-contaminate and lose product; GN cross-compatibility deletes that step. The table below traces a pan through every station.
| Station | What the GN pan does there | Why one standard helps |
|---|---|---|
| Prep counter / saladette | Holds chilled toppings in open or drawer wells | Prep straight into the serving pan |
| Bain marie | Same pan drops into the well for hot holding | Cold prep becomes hot serve, one container |
| Combi oven | Pan sits on GN runners to roast, steam or bake | Cook in the pan you stored and serve in |
| Blast chiller | Hot pan goes straight in on GN rails | No decanting hot food — faster, safer |
| Dishwasher | Empty pan loads onto the GN warewash rack | One rack profile cleans every pan |
Cross-compatibility carries a food-safety duty that lands hardest on the open saladette well. Under the Food Safety (Temperature Control) Regulations 1995, most perishable ready-to-eat foods must be held at or below 8°C. An open saladette relies on chilled air over the pan tops, so three things decide compliance: pan depth (shallow pans chill through; deep pans leave the top warm), lid discipline, and not overfilling above the cold line. The retained hygiene framework of Regulation (EC) 852/2004 sits behind this, and the Food Standards Agency’s guidance at food.gov.uk is the reference for your food safety management system.
The most common saladette failure is running 150mm pans in a well designed for cold air to reach 65–100mm. The top third — the part being served — drifts towards ambient through a busy lunch. Keep open-well pans shallow, lidded between orders, and probe-check the contents (not the air) against the 8°C limit.
Prices and Worked Example — UK Tiers
£6–£30 + VAT
By fraction and depth — 1/9 shallow up to 1/1 deep
£600–£1,500 + VAT
Open-well counters — size and well count drive price
£900–£2,500 + VAT
GN drawers or solid-top counter fridges
£1199.87 + VAT
Four-drawer gastronorm counter fridge — the worked product
The pans are the cheap part and the part people under-buy. A counter is a five-year purchase; the pans that make it work are a few pounds each. Buy spares of every fraction from day one — a saladette with three empty apertures because the pans are in the sink runs at half capacity. Standardise the fractions, buy deep on lids, and the whole line stays interchangeable.
Gastronorm is the modular pan standard (EN 631) built on one master footprint: GN 1/1 = 530 × 325mm. Every fraction — 1/2 (325×265), 1/3 (325×176), 1/4 (265×162), 1/6 (176×162), 1/9 (176×108) — is derived so whole numbers tessellate to fill a single 1/1 aperture: two 1/2s, three 1/3s, six 1/6s, nine 1/9s, or mixes like a 1/2 plus two 1/4s. Depths run 20, 40, 65, 100, 150 and 200mm and set capacity — a 1/1 holds roughly 13 L at 100mm and 26 L at 200mm — but in open wells depth is the enemy of chill, so favour 65–100mm and keep contents below the 8°C limit of the Food Safety (Temperature Control) Regulations 1995. Choose the counter to match the task: saladette for open cold assembly, drawer fridge for dense GN storage, counter fridge for a cold work surface, pizza prep for a topping rail and stone bench. Lay out wells in build order and reconcile fractions to whole apertures. Because GN is one standard, a pan moves from saladette to bain marie to oven to blast chiller to dishwasher with no decanting. The Polar U-Series Four Drawer Gastronorm Counter Fridge UA100 (£1199.87 + VAT) delivers four GN drawers of chilled storage. Craven Cooling stocks or sources the full gastronorm and prep counter range: call 01792 732702 or email [email protected].
Frequently Asked Questions
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