Questions on Overkill kitchen build

I would suggest putting the fridge on casters as a commercial type fridge is hard to move and clean behind. I also notice the sink(water access) is on other side of kitchen > Why not a water line connection near stove (like Chinese Stoves) so you don't have to schlep water across kitchen?

That stove is going to throw a huge amount of heat into the room, especially with an open broiler or if you're using the ovens.  A hood, even running full blast, isn't the greatest when it comes to pulling out heat.

With four fans, your hood's going to be very noisy.  I'm not sure what you can do about the noise, othen than to run the hood fans as little and as low as possible. 

Also, cooking on a commercial gas range is going to put a lot of grease in the air if you use the stove top to its capacity.  As long as you hood's a custom, do what you can to make it as easy to clean (inside and out) as possible.

Noise and heat are two of the reasons commercial kitchens aren't the best places in the world for social gatherings.  If you want a kitchen in which you can hang out and have a conversation, you'll want to run your hood fans just enough to suck out the smoke.  

Make darn sure your AC is up to the task.  Consider additional an AC vent or two in the kitchen, especially near the stove. 

Remoute mounting the fridge compressors is a good idea -- although it pretty much scotches Ed's idea of rolling the fridge around easily.  Use enough flexible duct so that you can move the fridge enough to clean behind and under it.  No matter where you put the compressors, they're going to be noisy.  Whatever you're planning on doing in terms of sound insulation for the compressor(s) in their actual mounting place, do twice more.

Nice design by the way,

BDL

I agree with BDL

That stove is great but indoor....ya better get proper ventilation....( that stove would be great for a cabana room kinda 1/2 outdoors if ya know what I mean with a pizza oven too)

and I agree nice layout.....good for you cause I know renos can be a real headache and a half!

best of luck

Gypsy

There is no mechanical problem so difficult nor so complex it cannot be solved with the application of brute force and ignorance.  Me. 

Or...  If it won't fit, force it.  If that won't work, use a bigger hammer.

BDL

PS.  Make sure you're trying to install the shelves right side up.

I said it funny but was serious about muscling it back in place.  After checking for right side up, force the shelves in.  The whole fridge is probably slightly wracked. 

It's easy enough to check for squareness with a tape measure.  If the fridge itself is square diagonals will be the same from side to side and top to bottom.  Measure at several different levels.

Whether it's the whole reefer or just the interior, With luck when the shelves straighten that out, the interior walls should "pop" straight.  The pressure of the shelves against the walls should take the bow out of them as the structure squares up.  If not, cut a 2 x 4 to length and use it as a spreader if you can't get the first shelf in without it.

If the problem doesn't resolve itself in a couple of days, pull out the shelves and repace them with two or three spreaders -- cut them a bit longer than the shelves are wide, so they generate a little more force.

Obviously, you have to be careful not to crack the interior walls when you force them outwards with your shelves and/or spreaders.

Finally, what if anything were you thinking when you loaded the reefer on its side?  If it's any consolation, I've done stupider things.

BDL

Last time.  Either the exterior and interior are both out of square (wracked), or just the interior.   You can use a tape measure and/or a square to check.

In any case, you're going to have to use force to wrack things back to true.

The refrigerator's shelves are the best tools you have for doing that.  They're all the same size and will insure that the opposite sides of the structure will be parallel.  Once you get a couple of shelves in, put a level on them to check on your progress.

Believe it or don't,

BDL

SPRAY WITH WD-40 AND TAP IN 

Traulsens...Well i have always love their design and quality, but because my designers said i should remote them to the roof to decrease noise in a 6000 qu ft loft, i did.  Not a bad idea but didn't run the lines thru their own and separate chases, so after 12 years condensation behind the walls and in the ceiling began to leak into the ceiling.  To make a long story short, it was the freezer that was doing the most leaking, and so we replaced that this year with a free-standing 1 unit freezer (traulsen) because the weather on the roof in Chicago is so bad, and of course it works fine.  It is noisy however.  Not so bad in a 6000 sq ft loft, but not so much to guests, but to owners, we notice it when were alone.  could have remoted to the frieght elevator shaft 6 ft away for $7000 but seemed too high just for sound relief.  We live with it.  Love their capacity and quality.

Anyway, why is it that Sub Zero with almost the same capacity can be so quiet?  Of course it's not as big a compressor and a lesser duty cycle; but have they really thought about this?  What do you techs think about this.  Is there a design possible (might not be profitable, i understand) that would insulate the sound, reduce it, and yet give the same quick cooling??

Really want to know why not.

Fred Shick

A few things you might consider

1. Over insulate your refrigeration lines. You don't want condensation in your cavities and whats more it can only get worse once it starts. Also because of this you might want to reconsider the flex hoses so you can't move it.

2. You can install small ducts that go down the sides of the cooker so it moves air. A smart pneumatic dynamics engineer will make suggestions to help with this so you can piggy back the exhaust hood fan.

3. Fridges warping...nah doesn't happen if it's any good. If it has, the insulation in the fridge itself is most likely no good and I promise you that you are better off to ditch it now no matter how in love you are with it. You will do motors and compressors and then you will have to remodel the kitchen in 2 years cause your over the cost of maintaining your love affair. Average insulation efficiency is only for 10 years, after that it simply gradually loses efficiency. The lack of efficiency is offset by the motor and running gear working harder (more electricity and wears things out even quicker. Might want to make double sure your oil is absolutely the best you can get, I learnt the hard way.

4. Maybe a series of ceiling exhaust fans, They are going to remove much of the heat that escapes the exhaust hood but they are going to cool your room down as you need to have fresh air intake from some where.

I built a mobile food processing trailer 2 years ago, I thought of every thing....until I fired up the cooking equipment, I had the exhaust hood, but the fans were way too small. In less than 2 minutes, inside trailer the temp was 46*C and climbing. I shut the systems down and.....well.....you can imagine.

what about swapping out the Traulsen compressor for a "variable speed compressor" that is quieter?

hello

do you like your traulsen in your home kitchen?  i have the opportunity to buy one for my remodel, and it's almost new and a great deal, but everyone warns me of the noise factor.  how do you find the noise?  i really do not want to cough it up for the sub zero -pro 48 but that is the look that i want.  the traulsen fits the bill perfectly, but i can not do remote compression... would you recommend it ?  

thank you

katie stenson