Drop In Fridges

It goes into the benchtop, which means the decision belongs at the joinery stage. The cut-out is made to the unit, so pick the model before the counter is drawn, not after the cabinetry is standing. Once the top is cut, changing to a longer unit means a new top.

Venues fit them for the floor space they save and for the look of the counter. A servery can run one continuous top with cold wells set into it, and staff serve from the front with nothing standing behind them. Cafeteria lines, hotel buffets, convenience counters, sandwich bars and sushi counters are the usual buyers.

A refrigerated well is open at the top with no glass on it, so staff and customers reach straight into the pans. Emainox wells run from 800mm to 2105mm long at 700mm deep, and a sneeze guard is fitted separately if the counter is self serve.

A refrigerated display bar is the same cold section with a glass superstructure over it, so the food is shown and protected at once. Roband builds them in 6, 8, 10 and 12 pan widths. A Roband refrigerated bain marie holds half size pans in a double row instead of a single row, which fits more pans across a shorter length of bench and suits a salad or sandwich line where staff reach across the unit.

It means the cabinet is built and insulated but there is no compressor in it. The refrigeration lines are run through the body, the body is foamed, and a licensed refrigeration mechanic connects the unit to a condensing unit mounted elsewhere. Roband lists these as the EFX, SFX and CFX models.

Order a remote unit when you don't want compressor noise and warm air coming out of the front of a counter, which is the usual reason a cocktail bar or a fine dining servery specifies one. It costs more because you're paying for pipework, a condensing unit and the mechanic. The self contained ERX, SRX and CRX models plug in and need nothing except air.

Count pans first, then check the millimetres. Roband bars and bain maries are sold by how many gastronorm pans fit across the front, so count the products you want on show at the same time and allow one spare pan for a change of menu. Emainox wells are sold by length instead, from 800mm up to 2105mm.

Check the 700mm depth on the Emainox wells against your bench early, because a standard bench is often shallower and the counter then has to be designed around the unit. Take the cut-out size and the overall dimensions off the product page for the exact model number and give both to the cabinetmaker with the drawings.

All three hold the same pans and the difference is the look of the counter and the headroom over the food. Curved glass is the traditional deli and patisserie shape and gives the most clearance over a tall pan. Square glass has flat panels and sharp corners and lines up with square edged joinery. Straight glass leans back at an angle, which brings the face of the glass closer to the food so the display reads as fuller from the customer side.

Cleaning and replacement are the practical differences. Flat panels wipe down in seconds. A curved panel is made for that model, so it is slower and dearer to replace if it's ever broken, and it has to be cleaned around the curve in one movement to avoid streaking.

No. Roband refrigerated bain maries are listed as pans not included, and that's normal across drop-in refrigeration. Gastronorm is a standard size, so a pan from any supplier will physically go into the opening.

REO still recommends buying the pans from the same supplier as the unit they go into. Small differences between brands mean a cross brand pan may not seat properly on the rails, and a pan sitting proud lets warm air past the lip. Commercial gastronorm trays covers the pans and lids.

Four things: the cut-out size, how far the unit hangs below the bench, where the power or the refrigeration pipework comes in, and how a technician gets to the unit once the counter is finished. All of it is on the product page for the model you have chosen.

Ventilation is the one most people miss. A self contained unit has a compressor and a condenser under the bench and both need air moving across them, so the cabinet below needs a vented panel or an open back. A sealed timber box around a compressor starves it of air and the unit will struggle to hold temperature on a hot day.

Airflow is the most common fault. Dust builds up on the condenser under the bench where nobody looks, the unit stops shedding heat and the well drifts warm through the afternoon. Brush the condenser clean on a schedule and keep the vent in the cabinetry clear of stored boxes.

The drain and the seals are next. A cold well collects condensation and spills, so the drain has to be plumbed and kept clear or water sits in the base. Gaskets perish over time, and loading pans above the top edge of the well lets warm air pour across the surface, which frosts the evaporator and pushes the temperature up.

Yes. The Silverking SKFDI is a drop-in ice cream freezer, built to sit in a counter the same way a cold well does, and made for holding tubs at scooping temperature.

Freezing and chilling are separate jobs and a refrigerated well won't do both, so decide which the counter needs before the top is cut. A run that has to show frozen product and chilled product means two units and two cut-outs.

Price follows the length, the glass and whether the unit is self contained or remote. A remote unit also carries the condensing unit, the pipework and the refrigeration mechanic, and none of that shows on the product page.

Alongside the unit, budget for gastronorm pans and lids, the joinery, and a refrigeration mechanic if you've gone remote. If the same counter needs a hot section, heated wells covers the drop-in hot wells. If the food will sit on the surface instead of down in a pan, refrigerated display shelves covers the chilled flat tops.

Take the packaging off and look the unit over on the day it is delivered, even if the benchtop is not being cut for another month. Drop-in units are often parked on site while the joinery is built, and a dent in the flange or a chipped glass panel found six weeks later is too late to claim.

Check the unit for transit damage as soon as it arrives and tell us within 24 hours. Not two days, not two weeks. REO offers a 24-hour replacement guarantee on transit damage, and it only applies if you tell us inside that window. Photograph the carton as well as the unit, because the state of the packaging is the first thing the freight company asks about.

Buy on best value for money, not the lowest price on the day. The unit worth having is the one with the longest warranty and the lowest total cost of ownership over its life, because a well that needs a mechanic twice costs more in the end than the dearer model that runs. Ask us for the warranty term on the exact model before you order and weigh that against the price. REO quotes at every price point, with Roband and Emainox at the premium end and Thermaster and FED-X where the budget is tighter, and those two are worth asking about because their warranty and after-sales support are unbeatable for that price point.

Through Silverchef Rent-Try-Buy a venue can rent the unit, keep its cash for the rest of the fit out, claim the rental payments as an operating expense, and buy it out or move up to a longer model as the business grows.