What is the difference between the design of a commercial kitchen and your own personal kitchen? With a commercial kitchen, the design is about functionality and size to accommodate more foot traffic. A home kitchen is more about style and how well it blends with the house. Furthermore, a commercial kitchen has to be much more sanitary and cost-effective than a personal kitchen. Commercial kitchens are meant to serve many people at a single time, therefore it would have utilities that you probably wouldn’t find or even want in a normal everyday kitchen. For example, commercial kitchens are made to support 30 gallons of water being boiled at a single moment, your personal kitchen, not so much.
With commercial kitchens, there’s also a higher standard of cleaning. This means that a commercial kitchen needs to be as simplistic and easy to clean as possible. The more time needed to clean, the more room for error, leading to potential bacteria build-up and health code violations.
Commercial kitchen designs need to keep in mind how many people are working in the space, how equipped it needs to be, and how the equipment would be used in tandem. Given all of these considerations, painting your commercial kitchen to be both functional and visually appealing is important.
In this article, we will share five tips you should know for painting (or repainting) your commercial kitchen.
1. Food Safe or Hygiene Coated
One of the first questions you have to consider when thinking about repainting your commercial kitchen is whether the paint should be “food safe” or if it should be a “hygiene coating.” At first, you might think “food safe” paint would be your best option but that’s not actually true, and rather “hygiene coat” paint would fit the job more appropriately.
Food safe paint is the paint you would apply when any food or ingredients would come into direct contact with the walls. Rather than kitchens, think of silos or other storages for food.
Chances are if you’re running your kitchen in a sanitary fashion, the food probably isn’t touching any walls. That’s where “hygiene coated” paint comes in.
Paint that is hygiene coated would better suit a commercial kitchen. This is because if the food does come in contact with the walls, the stains will be easy to clean off. Being hygiene coated, it should also have antibacterial properties, making it easier to have a sanitary regulation-accommodating environment.
2. Materials and Finishing
The one seemingly unimportant factor that should not be overlooked is the material in the paint. Of course, the single most valuable trait out of a paint material for a commercial kitchen is the level of hygiene that it provides. As we said before, hygiene is very important to any kitchen but most importantly a commercial one, especially for meeting regulation levels.
Deciding on paint material is important because of both cost and hygiene. You probably have a lot of space to cover so it is a good idea to look at all of your options and how those options would be supplied to you. While saving money is important, going with a cheap paint option that fails to meet the industry standards can cost you much more in the long run.
One other thing to look at is the finish on your walls. Ideally, your walls should be both waterproof and invulnerable to grease/food particles you may encounter. It’s also important for the walls to be smooth and seamless, meaning there shouldn’t be any cracks, imperfections, and it should be even
3. Color and Visual Appeal
This one is more based on preference and on the theme of the kitchen or building. If the kitchen is hidden behind closed doors and can only be seen by staff, then the colors should probably be silvers and grays; the colors you would normally see in commercial kitchens.
However, if the kitchen has more of an open layout where it can be seen by customers, the colors should fit the theme of the interiors. Most food and hygiene safe paints come in a variety of colors to fit your situational needs.
4. Floor Paint and Design
One of the things that might go unnoticed when you are thinking about painting your commercial kitchen is the floor. Just like the walls of the kitchen, the floor of the kitchen will be dirty, it will be wet, and it can lead to accidents. Having the right type of floor ensures that any risk is minimized based on material and coatings.
Floors are constantly surrounded by food and contaminants that can affect both the kitchen and the building itself. These contaminants can interact with the floor and corrode it while also increasing the amount of bacteria present, which can lead to the bacteria spreading to unfavorable areas such as counters or even the food itself. This is why it’s important to consider coating your floors when also thinking about repainting your walls.
5. Consider Working With a Professional Contractor
This probably doesn’t come as a surprise if you have experience running a commercial kitchen but there’s a lot of thought that has to go into the kitchen to make it clean, functional, and attractive. If you aren’t confident in your abilities, then you should consider working with the professionals.
Professional contractors can help you identify issues with your commercial kitchen, plan your budget for a painting or renovation project, and execute the project to keep your business open and operating.
Repainting Your Commercial Kitchen
There’s a lot that goes into painting your kitchen walls and floors. Making sure that you get it right the first time is key to keeping your business safe, your employees
Ready to get started on your kitchen? Perhaps painting is only part of the bigger project? Check out this Kitchen Remodeling Toolkit to help you build out your kitchen remodel budget and make your project a success!
