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Kitchen extraction cleaning - kitchen design
Designing a commercial kitchen from scratch is a chance to get everything right together - the workflow, the equipment, the services, the ventilation - rather than bolting fixes on later. And the extraction should be designed in as a core system from the start, not squeezed in at the end. Here is how to approach designing a commercial kitchen from the ground up, with the extraction in its proper place. This is general information; kitchen and ventilation design is for competent designers.
The short answer
Designing a commercial kitchen from the ground up is a significant undertaking - and a real opportunity, because doing it from scratch lets you get everything right together, rather than living with compromises and bolted-on fixes. Here is how to approach it, and where the extraction fits. This is general information; the actual design is for competent kitchen and ventilation designers. Start with the workflow and the cooking. A good kitchen design starts not with equipment lists but with how the kitchen will work: the workflow - how food moves through the kitchen, from delivery and storage, through preparation, cooking, and service, to wash-up and waste - laid out so the flow is logical and efficient (avoiding cross-flows and bottlenecks). And the cooking - the menu and volume, which determine the cooking equipment needed. So the design begins with what the kitchen does and how, then arranges everything to support that. Then the equipment and services. From the workflow and cooking, the equipment is chosen and placed (the cooking line, prep areas, refrigeration, wash-up), and the services designed to serve it: gas, electricity, water, drainage - sized and routed for the equipment. So the physical kitchen takes shape around the workflow. The ventilation: a core system, designed in early. Crucially, the ventilation - the kitchen extraction and its make-up air - must be treated as a core system, designed in from the start alongside the equipment and services, not squeezed in at the end. This is because the extraction has to be integral to the cooking line: sized and positioned for the appliances (their heat, smoke and grease), with the canopy over the cooking, the ductwork routed sensibly through the building, the fan located and sized, and the make-up air balanced - all of which needs to be planned with the kitchen, not retrofitted around a finished layout. An extraction designed in early performs well and fits; one bolted on at the end tends to perform poorly (wrong size or position) and be hard to clean and maintain. Design the extraction to perform and to be maintained. Within the ventilation design, two things matter for the whole life of the kitchen: performance (effective extraction for the cooking, balanced make-up air) and maintainability (adequate access panels, a reachable fan, sensible routing - so it can be cleaned to TR19 Grease for years). Both should be designed in (as covered in briefing a ventilation designer and designing for maintenance access). The payoff of integrated design. Designing everything together - workflow, equipment, services, ventilation - means the systems work together and support the kitchen's operation, with no bolted-on compromises. The extraction, designed in as a core system, performs and can be maintained. So the kitchen works well, safely and manageably from day one, and for its life. So design a commercial kitchen from the ground up as an integrated whole, around the workflow and cooking, with the extraction designed in as a core, maintainable system - not an afterthought. So integrated design, extraction included. This is general information; design is for competent designers.
Key points
Start with the workflow
A commercial kitchen design should start not with an equipment list but with how the kitchen will actually work - the workflow and the cooking. The workflow is how food moves through the kitchen: from delivery and storage, through preparation, to cooking, to service (plating and passing to front-of-house), and to wash-up and waste. A good design lays this out so the flow is logical and efficient - food moving forward through the stages without awkward cross-flows, backtracking or bottlenecks, and with hygiene flows respected (raw and ready-to-eat kept apart). So the workflow is the backbone of the design.
Alongside the workflow is the cooking: the menu and the volume, which determine what cooking equipment the kitchen needs (the ranges, ovens, fryers, grills and so on) and how heavily it will be used. So the design begins by understanding what the kitchen does (the menu and volume) and how it should flow (the workflow) - and then arranges everything to support that. Starting here (rather than with a fixed equipment list or a given space) means the kitchen is designed around its actual operation - which is what makes it work well. Everything else - the equipment placement, the services, the ventilation - follows from and serves the workflow and cooking. So start with the workflow - how the kitchen will actually work. So the workflow and cooking come first. This is general information.
Equipment and services
From the workflow and cooking, the physical kitchen takes shape: the equipment is chosen and placed, and the services designed to serve it. The equipment is selected for the menu and volume (the right cooking appliances, prep equipment, refrigeration, wash-up) and placed according to the workflow (the cooking line where the cooking happens, prep areas feeding it, refrigeration accessible, wash-up positioned sensibly) - so the equipment supports the flow. Getting the equipment right (suited to the cooking, not over- or under-specified) and well-placed is central to a kitchen that works.
The services - gas, electricity, water, drainage - are then designed to serve the equipment: sized for the loads (enough gas and power for the cooking equipment, water and drainage where needed) and routed to reach the equipment sensibly. So the services are planned around the equipment layout, which is planned around the workflow. This is the physical build-up of the kitchen: workflow, then equipment, then services - each layer serving the one before. And crucially, the ventilation must be planned as part of this, not after it - because the extraction is integral to the cooking line, as the next section explains. So equipment and services - the kitchen takes shape around the flow. So the kitchen builds up around the workflow. This is general information; equipment and services design is for competent designers.
Ventilation as a core system
A crucial principle in designing a kitchen from the ground up is to treat the ventilation - the extraction and its make-up air - as a core system, designed in from the start, not squeezed in at the end. The extraction is integral to the cooking line: the canopy sits over the cooking, sized and positioned for the appliances and the heat, smoke and grease they produce; the ductwork must be routed sensibly through the building; the fan located and sized; and the make-up air balanced to the extraction. All of this has to be planned together with the cooking line and the building - it can't sensibly be retrofitted around a finished layout.
An extraction designed in early - as part of the integrated design - performs well (correctly sized and positioned for the cooking, with balanced make-up air) and fits the building (sensibly routed). An extraction bolted on at the end, around a design that didn't account for it, tends to perform poorly (wrong size or position, a compromised route, unbalanced make-up air) and to be hard to clean and maintain (poor access forced by the leftover space). So the difference between designing the ventilation in and bolting it on is large - and it's a core system, so it deserves to be designed in. This is why a good kitchen design treats the ventilation as a core system alongside the equipment and services. So ventilation as a core system - design the extraction in, don't bolt it on. So design the extraction in as a core system. This is general information; ventilation design is for a competent designer.
Perform and be maintainable
Within the ventilation design, two things matter for the whole life of the kitchen and should both be designed in: the extraction's performance and its maintainability. Performance: the extraction must effectively clear the cooking's heat, smoke and grease (sized and positioned for the appliances and volume), with the make-up air properly balanced (so the system works and the kitchen is comfortable). This is the day-one requirement - a system that ventilates the kitchen properly.
Maintainability: just as important over the kitchen's life is that the extraction can be cleaned and maintained - because it needs regular cleaning (to the TR19 Grease standard, for fire safety) and servicing for as long as the kitchen operates. So the design should build in adequate access panels throughout the ductwork, a fan that can be safely reached and serviced, and sensible routing - so the system can be looked after easily and thoroughly (as covered in briefing a ventilation designer and designing for maintenance access). A system designed only for day-one performance, with no thought to cleaning access, becomes a fire-safety and maintenance headache. So design the extraction for its whole life - to perform and to be maintainable. Both are part of getting the ventilation right in a ground-up design. So perform and be maintainable - design the extraction for its whole life. So design it to perform and to be maintained. This is general information; design is for a competent designer.
An integrated whole
So designing a commercial kitchen from the ground up is about integrated design - planning the whole kitchen as one system (the workflow, equipment, services and ventilation together, around the cooking) so everything works together - with the extraction given its proper place as a core, maintainable system rather than an afterthought. Design from the workflow and cooking; build up the equipment and services around them; and design the ventilation in as a core system, to perform and to be maintained. So an integrated whole - everything designed together, extraction included.
The value of doing it from the ground up is precisely this integration: because you're designing everything together, you can get it all right at once - a kitchen whose workflow, equipment, services and ventilation all support each other, with no bolted-on compromises. The extraction, designed in as a core system, performs well and can be cleaned and maintained for its life. So the kitchen works well, safely and manageably from day one and for years - which is far harder to achieve if the pieces (especially the ventilation) are designed separately or added late. This is a job for competent kitchen and ventilation designers, but the principle to hold to is integration with the extraction in its proper place. So design a commercial kitchen from the ground up as an integrated whole - everything together, the extraction included as a core, maintainable system. So an integrated whole, extraction included. This is general information; design is for competent designers.
Questions
Start with the workflow and cooking, build up the equipment and services around them, and design the ventilation in as a core system - so everything works together as an integrated whole. A ground-up kitchen design starts with how the kitchen will work: the workflow (food moving from delivery through prep, cooking and service to wash-up, laid out logically) and the cooking (the menu and volume, determining the equipment). From there, the equipment is chosen and placed to support the flow, and the services (gas, electric, water, drainage) designed to serve it. Crucially, the ventilation (extraction and make-up air) is designed in as a core system from the start - integral to the cooking line - not squeezed in at the end. So the whole kitchen is planned together, around the workflow and cooking, with the extraction in its proper place. This is a job for competent designers. So design it as an integrated whole, starting from the workflow, with the extraction designed in. So start from the workflow, integrate everything. This is general information.
Because the extraction is integral to the cooking line - its size, position, ductwork routing and make-up air must be planned with the kitchen - and an extraction bolted on at the end performs poorly and is hard to clean. The extraction has to suit the cooking (the canopy sized and positioned for the appliances and their heat, smoke and grease), fit the building (the ductwork routed sensibly, the fan located and sized), and have balanced make-up air - all of which needs planning together with the cooking line and building. An extraction designed in early performs well and fits; one squeezed in at the end (around a finished layout) tends to be the wrong size or position, poorly routed, with unbalanced make-up air, and hard to clean and maintain (poor access forced by leftover space). So the extraction is a core system that must be designed in, not an afterthought - to work well and be maintainable. So design it in early because it's integral and bolting it on works badly. So because it's core and can't be retrofitted well. This is general information.
Neither exactly - the workflow comes first; the equipment and layout follow from how the kitchen needs to work, so they support the flow rather than being fixed in advance. It's tempting to start a kitchen design with an equipment list or a given layout, but the better starting point is the workflow: how food should move through the kitchen (delivery, storage, prep, cooking, service, wash-up, waste) logically and efficiently. From that, the equipment is chosen (for the menu and volume) and placed to support the flow, and the layout emerges. So the workflow drives the equipment and layout, not the other way round - which is what makes the kitchen work well (efficient flow, no bottlenecks or cross-flows). The services and ventilation are then designed around this. So the workflow comes first, and the equipment and layout follow from it. So the workflow first, then equipment and layout. This is general information.
With the kitchen - the ventilation is a core system integral to the cooking line, so it should be designed in as part of the integrated design, not separately or afterwards. The extraction and make-up air are integral to the kitchen: the canopy sits over the cooking line, the ductwork runs through the building, and the make-up air balances the extraction - all of which interacts with the equipment layout, the building, and the cooking. So the ventilation must be designed as part of the whole kitchen design, together with the equipment and services - not designed separately or bolted on after the layout is fixed. Designing it in ensures it suits the cooking, fits the building, performs well and can be maintained. Designing it separately or late risks a poor fit, poor performance and poor cleanability. So the ventilation should be designed with the kitchen, as a core integrated system. So with the kitchen, as a core system. This is general information; ventilation design is for a competent designer.
Design cleanability in - both the kitchen surfaces and layout and, importantly, the extraction (access panels, a reachable fan, sensible routing) - as part of the design, covered further in designing a kitchen for easy cleaning. A kitchen that's easy to clean is one designed to be - and that should be part of a ground-up design. It covers the whole kitchen (cleanable surfaces and finishes, a layout without awkward inaccessible corners, sensible drainage) and, importantly, the extraction (adequate access panels throughout the ductwork, a fan that can be safely reached, sensible routing - so it can be cleaned to TR19 Grease). Designing this in from the start is far better than trying to clean a kitchen that wasn't designed for it. This is covered in detail in how to design a kitchen for easy cleaning. So make the new kitchen easy to clean by designing cleanability in - surfaces, layout and the extraction. So design cleanability in from the start. This is general information.
Yes - designing a commercial kitchen (and especially its ventilation) is a job for competent kitchen and ventilation designers, who can integrate the workflow, equipment, services and ventilation properly; this guide is general orientation. Designing a commercial kitchen well - integrating the workflow, equipment, services and ventilation, sizing and positioning everything correctly, meeting the regulations, and designing for performance and maintainability - is a specialist task. It's best done by competent professionals: a kitchen designer for the overall layout and equipment, and a competent ventilation designer for the extraction and make-up air (a core, specialist system). So while understanding the principles (integrated design, the extraction as a core maintainable system) helps you brief and engage them, the actual design should be done by professionals. This general guide is orientation, not a substitute for professional design. So yes - use competent kitchen and ventilation designers. So yes - it's a job for professionals. This is general information.
A kitchen designed with the extraction as a core, maintainable system - properly sized, sensibly routed, with good access - performs well and can be kept clean to TR19 Grease for its life. We clean such systems thoroughly, and good design is what makes that possible. Ask us about keeping your extraction clean. This is general information; design is for competent designers.
