5 Design Tips to Create a Commercial Style Kitchen at Home

When most people think of a commercial kitchen, they picture steel countertops, food prep strewn all over the galley and kitchen walls, and a frantic chef shouting orders at their back-of-house kitchen staff.

While this is certainly a reality for most commercial kitchens, it’s not the only thing that defines a quintessential commercial kitchen. At Buildmat, we think what best defines a commercial kitchen is its design – where everything is perfectly placed to enhance the workflow.

Because commercial style kitchens are incredibly on-trend at the moment, we thought we’d put together an article with our best kitchen design tips to help you transform your kitchen into a commercial-style kitchen inspired by the pros.

 1. Get Your Shelving & Cabinetry Right

Whether you have a small kitchen or a large kitchen, having good kitchen cabinets and storage space is key to achieving that commercial kitchen vibe at home. Commercial kitchens typically feature an open kitchen design, so it's smart to start your kitchen planning with some well-designed open shelves.

In a small kitchen especially, making the most of vertical space is crucial, and open shelves are a great way to do just that. They let you easily grab your go-to cooking tools, spices, and dishes while giving your kitchen a modern touch.

2. Commercial Style Stainless Steel Sink

For a true commercial style kitchen at home, it’s essential you find the perfect commercial style stainless steel sink. Why do commercial kitchens feature so much stainless steel you ask? And why are stainless steel sinks the epicentre of a well-designed commercial kitchen? Well, as the name suggests, they don’t stain, you can place hot pans right in them, and they are super hygienic (because bacteria can easily seep into porous surfaces but not stainless steel, making them great for food safety).

3. Invest in a Professional Worktable

When we say professional worktable, this is just a fancy way of saying get yourself a kitchen island. A kitchen island is an essential investment when turning your kitchen into a commercial style workspace because it’s just so versatile.

4. Rolling Butcher Block Cart

Similar to a kitchen island, a rolling butcher block cart is a smart and compact way to bring a touch of commercial kitchen design and efficiency to your own home. This large piece of butcher block perfectly contrasts with the shiny stainless steel base of the below cart (and will match your stainless steel commercial style sink). It’s a dedicated food prep space but can only easily be rolled out to the dining area when it comes to serving up your meal to guests.

5. Heat Lamp-Style Lights

For a true commercial kitchen vibe, consider installing some heat-style lamps. They don’t have to be actual heat lamps, but some pendant lights over your kitchen island can give your kitchen a real high-end, commercial look and feel. It’s a huge kitchen trend at the moment and with its timeless and classic appeal, we don’t see this look going out of style anytime soon.

Bonus Tip: Create a Commercial Kitchen Layout

There are a lot of factors to consider when designing a commercial kitchen. But perhaps the most important part of a commercial kitchen space is the workflow. To really bring a commercial kitchen vibe to your own home, you need to create zone-style layouts.

For example, one zone for washing, one zone for chopping and food prep, another zone for cooking, a zone to store your cooking equipment and so on. It’s a good idea to map out a floor plan to get a better sense of where all the different zones could sit within your kitchen.

Get the Commercial Feel with Buildmat’s Commercial Style Sinks

Feeling inspired to create a restaurant kitchen in your own home? The first step is investing in a commercial-style kitchen sink. It’s one of the easiest ways to achieve a commercial look and feel at home, and once you have your kitchen sink in place, everything else will just flow from there. SHOP our premium commercial-style sinks today.