# Commercial kitchen layout checklist for a café or QSR

To plan a commercial kitchen, measure the usable room, map the menu workflow, select exact equipment variants and check access before ordering. Kitchen Studio helps you draw and review that concept; installation, building services and approvals need qualified review.

Reviewed 2026-10-15.

## 1. Capture the room you actually have

Record internal wall lengths, ceiling constraints, doors and their swings, columns, windows and existing service points. Keep a measured distance as the reference when importing a floor-plan image. A screenshot with no known dimension is not a reliable scale.

- Use one unit throughout the working plan; Kitchen Studio uses millimetres.
- Separate fixed obstacles from features that a landlord may allow you to change.
- Record uncertain measurements and confirm them on site before equipment decisions.

## 2. Map what the menu asks the kitchen to do

List receiving, storage, prep, cooking, finishing, pickup and washing. Trace the movement of ingredients, finished food, dirty equipment and people. For a café, check the back-bar and dish return as carefully as the cook line. For delivery, include packing materials and the pickup handoff.

- Identify the busiest process and the equipment that depends on it.
- Show where containers, packaging and dirty utensils wait.
- Treat expected order volume as an input to review, not proof that a layout can achieve that throughput.

## 3. Select the exact equipment variant

Use a manufacturer, model and market or electrical variant rather than a generic rectangle. Record width, depth, height and the source document. Body dimensions do not establish the space needed for a handle, an open door, maintenance, ventilation or installation accessories. Unknown data should stay unknown until the supplier confirms it.

## 4. Inspect the working space

Check door access, people passing, loading and unloading, landing space beside equipment and the route to washing. Review countertop units together with their supporting tables or stands. Sketch the full installed arrangement for ovens, stands and accessories. A visual fit or a software overlap check does not establish code compliance or a workable shift.

- Open equipment doors in the review, using the actual supplier information.
- Ask the installer to confirm hood coverage, extraction and service access.
- Have the design team establish the required aisle and access dimensions for the actual project.

## 5. Build the concept in Kitchen Studio

Open the editor, set the room dimensions or calibrate and trace the floor plan, place relevant equipment and fabricated items, then inspect the plan and available views. Make an intentional save or export and verify the result. Start with your own room rather than treating an untouched example as a finished plan.

- [Open the studio](/app/)
- [Read the product documentation](/docs/)

## 6. Review the handoff before ordering

Send the concept, numbered equipment schedule and open questions to your supplier or fabricator. Ask them to confirm exact models, installation requirements, utilities, clearances and the drawing revision. Resolve their corrections before using the documents for a purchasing or fit-out decision.

- [Prepare the equipment schedule](/guides/equipment-schedule/)

Open Kitchen Studio: https://kitchenstudio.design/app/