Commercial Dry Age Fridges

It lets you make meat products you would otherwise buy in, which adds menu items and counter products. It preserves meat and, depending on the setting and the cut, makes it more tender. Aged product is also worth more than the cut you started with, because the process takes time — anywhere from 30 days for a more intense flavour in steak to almost a year for some cured products.

Dry age fridges run controlled humidity and temperature, which is what intensifies the flavour of a steak before you sear it on the gas cooktop, and what lets a butcher make salami, prosciutto or ham in house.

Most of it. Smaller items like salami can be sliced once they are done — slicers also turn up in our refurbished kitchen appliances — or you can go large with dry-aged steaks or ham. Bone-in and boneless both go in the cabinet, at temperatures just above freezing with high humidity, which is what slowly tenderises or preserves the meat.

Tell us how much meat you want to age at once and where the cabinet is going, and we will point you at the models that fit. We stock the main commercial brands, and the capacity, dimensions and controls for each model are on its product page.

Temperature control, as with any fridge or freezer, and humidity control, which is the part a standard fridge does not have. Humidity is what lets meat sit in the cabinet for the long periods curing and ageing need, and you can typically set it anywhere between 60% and 90%.

Many models also have sterilisation features and active carbon air filtration, which keep the meat in good condition while it ages.

From compact biltong fridges that hold up to 25 kilos of sausage through to large dry age fridges that hold 200 kilos of meat. The volume each fridge holds, along with its dimensions, is listed on the individual product pages. If you want a personal recommendation, contact our team.

Most dry age fridges have a digital temperature and humidity display with buttons to set exactly how cold and how humid you want the cabinet. Many are pre-set, so the ageing process is not disrupted by accident.

Humidity varies with what you are making, though it is typically held at around 85% to 90%. The temperature stays low, usually between 1℃ and 3℃. The insulation of the cabinet is what keeps those conditions steady over the long periods the meat is in there.

Yes. Along with charcuterie like salami and prosciutto, you can age cheese in a dry age fridge, and it does the same thing for flavour. It suits hard cheese like parmesan or gouda best, though soft cheeses can go in to intensify the richness.

Size and brand, mostly. Extra functionality lifts the price too, and as with any kitchen appliance, the larger and higher-spec models cost more.

You will see commercial dry ager and commercial dry age refrigerator used for the same kind of equipment. The name changes with the supplier and the region, not the job it does. Compare models on capacity, construction and the specification on each product page, and check the full dry age fridges range to see every option side by side.