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The equipment needed in a commercial kitchen invariably varies depending on the type of cuisine the kitchen is specialising in. One piece of equipment however goes hand in hand with the catering industry, and one would be hard pressed to find a kitchen or restaurant without one; the ice machine. Ice makers are commonly thought to have come into existence in 1948; after the Second World War the boom in the catering industry led one individual to believe there was a hole in the ice storage market. He was inspired to develop a storage unit that could store large amounts of ice, and then developed this yet further to devise machines that could also make the ice as well as store it.

Ice makers today are used in supermarket industries, hospitality sectors and healthcare industries as well as the obvious application within food service industries. The domestic demand for ice makers is still growing. In certain countries, such as the United Kingdom, the popularity of having ice at home for making drinks is still low compared to that of it’s American cousins. The use of small ice trays and specially manufactured ice cube bags have sufficed as far as the British public are concerned. In recent years however, even the British have become fond of adding a cube or two to a beverage, with some households considering purchasing a small cube maker for the kitchen.

This popularity has seen the rise in sales of large American type fridge freezers with built in ice makers. Consumers are attracted to the lack of effort involved in machine supplied ice, and this interest is reflected and multiplied in the commercial catering industry. If an establishment has a capacity of two thousand, for example, a large night club; or even a large restaurant that can seat a hundred covers in one sitting, the investment in technology to assist with the forming of ice cubes can be understood as utterly convenient.

There are only a couple of considerations that need to be made when purchasing an ice machine for domestic or commercial use, and the first is the size of unit, which is dictated by the amount of ice is needed based on production rates and storage bin capacity, which will in turn dictate whether the unit will be a portable machine, a built-in under the counter machine or a table top version. The type of ice you want produced, such as flaked, crescent shaped, cubed, bullet and whether you require it to be super hard will affect the price and type of machine you eventually purchase.

The portable type is obviously favoured by the domestic user, with its portability making it popular for use on boats, holiday cabins and seasonal home use. These units are not plumbed in, and therefore require manual maintenance, such as supplying the water and taking care of unit drainage. These machines have a slow rate of production with supply rate being in the region of one cube produced every minute.

For a small bar, restaurant or cafe, a table top machine that does not require plumbing and therefore remains portable to some degree will keep up with a moderate demand. The machine will produce ice at a faster rate than a portable ice maker, and has a larger storage facility, probably in the region of two kilos. To buy one of these, expect to pay something in the region of 200 GBP. For much larger consumptions, industrial units that need to be plumbed in are available that can produce a massive 10 kilos of ice an hour and has a one hundred kilo storage capacity. For one of these you could be expected to pay something in the region of 3000 GBP.

Dominic Donaldson is an expert in the recruitment industry.
Find out more about ice makers and how to choose the right one for your kitchen opr restaurant at Commercial Kitchens Online.