Heavy Duty Vs. Light Duty Cooking Appliances
Cooking and kitchen appliances are categorized into four divisions, normally for the purposes of commercial operations that need the designations for insurance and tax deduction purposes. The types of oven hoods required by fire and safety regulatory agencies also depend on the categories into which different types of ovens fall. Does this Spark an idea?
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Heavy-Duty Cooking Appliances
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This group includes appliances that are used daily and require the most energy to operate. Stoves considered heavy duty include open-burner gas ranges with or without ovens and gas and electric ranges used exclusively for wok cooking. Heavy-duty broilers in the category include salamanders, a high-powered broiler used to quickly brown surfaces and melt cheese on restaurant foods; upright gas and electric models; gas and electric under-fired or charcoal broilers, and conveyor belt broilers, both electric and gas-powered types.
Light-Duty Types
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Ovens that are more conventional fall into this category. These include all kinds of gas and electric ranges that bake and roast foods, convection ovens, ovens that combine both convection cooking and steaming and deck style pizza and pastry ovens. Gas and electric kettles equipped with steam jackets, gas and electric cheese melters and steamer systems that keep foods warm or pressure cook them with either gas or electricity are also considered light-duty cooking appliances.
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Other Appliance Categories
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Less common kitchen appliances are categorized as either medium-duty or extra heavy duty. Medium-duty appliances commonly perform only one function and include both gas and electric-powered stand-alone range tops, hot plates, griddles, deep fryers, rotisseries, conveyor pizza ovens, braising pans and pasta cookers. The extra heavy-duty appliance category is only for appliances that use solid, non-traditional heat sources, such as mesquite, charcoal or wood.
Hood Requirements
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To efficiently and safely ventilate commercial kitchens, the hoods required above appliances must meet specific standards. All medium-, heavy-duty and extra heavy-duty appliances require Type I ventilation hoods that have maximum power to eliminate smoke and odors from restaurants. Light-duty appliances, including self-contained pizza ovens that revolve or use convection, deck or proofing methods for baking require only Type II hoods that are smaller and have less power than Type I models. Artisan pizza ovens must be inspected before the hood type is designated as their individual designs and fuel sources have varying ventilation requirements
Residential Appliances
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Kitchen appliances used in home kitchens are sometimes labeled as heavy duty and are made to withstand heavier than normal use. They typically have more powerful motors and sturdier parts and include stand food mixers, blenders and food processors.
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References
- Photo Credit cook man image by Andrey Kiselev from Fotolia.com
