The cooking range is the traditional heart of a kitchen. They can be run on electricity, natural gas or LPG. There is little that can’t be cooked in one and there are four types of cooking range.

Open top burners

Open top cooking ranges are either gas burners or electric radiants with an oven underneath. The burners or radiants come in an array of configerations and like a domestic cooker their big advantage is fuel efficiency. Almost all of the heat is directed at the cooking pan so direct contact with the heat source means pans can be heated very quickly.

Solid Tops

Solid top ranges have a solid cast iron top heated underneath either by strategically placed gas jets or electric elements. They will have an oven underneath the same as an open burner range. Their advantage is that size for size, they can accommodate more pans than an open burner range and pans can be moved around from fierce direct heat to a cooler part of the top.

Boiling tables

Boiling table ranges tops are exactly the same as a standard cooking range, but with a boiling table there is no oven below. This is useful for reducing purchase cost when there is already sufficient oven capacity in the kitchen. The space below is also a convenient storage area for pans.

Island Suites

These combine a cooking range with other prime cooking units such as a salamander grill, deep-fat fryer, pasta boiler, griddle and char grill. Their reputation is for withstanding the most punishing of cooking demands in busy kitchens. The closeness of cooking functions saves on space and allows chefs to control several cooking functions close to hand. While they are mostly an “island” situated in the centre of a kitchen allowing chefs to work from both sides of the range, they can be wall-facing so that all the cooking stations are in a line.

Look After It!

All professional catering equipment is engineered to take hard use and to be easy to use, but there are few items as simple to operate and look after as the cooking range. There is just one golden rule to keep performance high and unnecessary maintenance costs low – keep it clean.

Any major spillages on gas jets should be cleaned immediately, minor spillages should be cleaned at the end of shift. A useful tip for gas cooking ranges is to have tin foil spread underneath the burners so spillages can be binned and wiping down made easier.

Cleaning behind and underneath cooking ranges is as important cleaning the surface. Having a cooker on castors with a flexible gas connection hose makes this easy, a point to consider when buying a cooking range.

When a service engineer calls for scheduled routine maintenance part of the service call will be ensuring that the oven cavity and the burners are clean. The engineer will do this, but the cost will far higher than if the kitchen staff had done the cleaning first. The cooking range may be simple to use and work with, but needs the same level of operational care as any other item of prime cooking equipment.