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While your kitchen base cabinets at home are typically
24 inches deep (front to back), for commercial applications they
should be 30 inches deep, and 33 inches if an under counter re-
frigerator is to be inserted. Also, when specifying the size of an
open bay to accommodate under counter refrigeration, be sure
to allow a couple of inches more than the physical dimensions of
the equipment, so that it can be easily inserted and removed for
daily cleaning.
For dimensions plan, you will need to create a floor plan
showing all the critical dimensions for new partitions, doors, cabi-
nets, and fixtures. This will, of course, help make sure that every-
thing ends up where it is suppose to be, and will be the right size.
A final thought about design; you will have to make sure
that all the features that you are considering keeping, will be ac-
ceptable with your local bureaucracy. Many older buildings were
not designed to present codes. If the business type remains the
same (your space was occupied by a food service establishment
before you), then sometimes any non compliant features will be
grandfathered-in, meaning you don’t have to bring them up to
current requirements. But don’t count on this! You need to check
with your bureaucracies to make sure. More and more bureaucra-
If cutting trenches in the floor will be necessary to cies are requiring new business owners to remodel, so that all
install porcelain floor sinks, a grease interceptor, and run drain features are compliant with codes. This means you may have to
lines, then establishing a few general purpose floor drains at this rip-out bathrooms and hallways, add fire sprinkler systems, and
same time behind the counter, and in the back of the house, will provide ramps where there are only steps. Better you know all
prove useful. Floor drains will allow you to squeeze liquids away these things before you begin your store design!
when spills occur, and when washing floors. I always tell my consulting clients, that if I produce
Finally, if you added some new walls during your re- a perfect design and layout for them, they will never notice...
model, you may need to have the fire sprinkler system for your because everything will be exactly where you would logically
space reconfigured. expect it to be. Unfortunately, if you create a less than optimal
Cabinet Elevations Drawing cabinet elevations, (the design for your coffee bar, you probably won’t realize it until you
view you would have if you were standing in front of your cabi- start working in it. Changing design mistakes or inadequacies
nets), will be necessary for your cabinet maker to understand after the fact, can be extremely expensive. Not correcting those
all the features they will need to incorporate into your cabinet mistakes may even cost you more in lost potential sales. For this
designs. reason, I strongly suggest using an experienced coffee business
These elevations are not meant to be shop fabrication space designer to create your layout for you, or at very least, to
drawings for your cabinetmaker, but to merely serve a reference, review the design you have created. Doing so will payoff with
showing needed features and desired configuration. Where do dividends.
you want drawers, and under counter storage space; and, where
do you want cabinet doors on that under counter storage? Where
should open space be left for the placement of under counter
refrigeration and trashcans? Will cup dispensers be installed in
the cabinet face under the counter top? These elevations will Ed Arvidson has been a leading consultant to the Specialty
provide your cabinetmaker with a clear understanding of all Coffee Industry for over 20 years. His company, E&C Consulting,
these features. can be found at www.coffeebizconsultant.com