This mostly comes down to what's already available at your site and how your kitchen likes to cook. Gas equipment, such as gas cooktops, chargrills, and wok burners, tends to offer instant, adjustable heat that many chefs prefer for high-heat, fast-paced cooking, and it can keep running during a power outage as long as there's a gas supply. Electric equipment, including electric fryers, griddles, and induction cooktops, often gives more consistent, even heat and can be easier to install in venues without existing gas lines, though it does rely entirely on power. If you're fitting out a new kitchen, checking what gas and electrical infrastructure is already on site (or what it would cost to add) is worth doing before choosing equipment. If you're weighing up gas versus electric for a specific appliance, our team can talk through what suits your site and cooking style.

These three cook food quite differently, even though they're often used together in the same kitchen. A chargrill uses direct flame or radiant heat from below to sear food and create classic char marks, making it popular for steaks, burgers, and grilled vegetables. A griddle uses a flat, even cooking surface to fry or sear food like bacon, eggs, and pancakes, giving consistent results across the whole surface without direct flame contact. A salamander sits above the food and uses top-down heat, mainly for browning, melting cheese, or finishing dishes just before service rather than cooking from raw. Many commercial kitchens run all three side by side to cover different stages of food prep and presentation. If you're building out a cook line and aren't sure which combination suits your menu, get in touch and we'll help you plan it out.

Sizing comes down to how much food you're cooking during your busiest service period, not your average day. For fryers, this means looking at oil capacity and basket size relative to how many serves of chips, schnitzels, or other fried items you push through in your peak hour. For bratt pans and tilting kettles, capacity is usually measured in litres, and getting this right matters for batch cooking sauces, soups, or braises efficiently without needing multiple batches that slow down service. Undersizing equipment for your volume typically means longer wait times and more strain on the unit from constant use, while oversizing can waste energy and bench space. It helps to map out your busiest period and typical batch sizes before deciding on capacity. If you're not sure what size suits your throughput, send us your service volumes and we'll help you land on the right unit.

Energy efficiency varies quite a bit across commercial cooking equipment, and it depends on factors like burner design, insulation, heat recovery, and how well a unit holds temperature under load. Induction cooktops, for instance, transfer heat directly to the cookware rather than heating the surrounding air, which can make them more efficient than traditional gas or electric cooktops for certain applications. Combi ovens and modern fryers often include features designed to reduce energy use during idle periods between cooking cycles. That said, actual running costs will depend on your usage patterns, how many hours a day equipment runs, and your site's energy rates, so we can't quote a fixed running cost that applies across the board. Each product page lists relevant specifications so you can compare options. If reducing running costs matters for your kitchen, let our team know what you're running and we'll help you compare.

Yes, Cater Central delivers commercial cooking equipment to businesses right across Australia, from major capital cities through to regional and remote areas. We warehouse stock in the major capital cities, so metro deliveries are often quick, with next-day delivery available in some cities depending on stock availability at the time of order. Regional and remote deliveries will generally take a bit longer to arrange, and freight costs vary depending on your destination and the size of the equipment, since this range spans compact benchtop items through to large ovens, cooktops, and bratt pans that need specialised freight handling. We'd recommend confirming freight costs and delivery timeframes before finalising your order, especially for larger equipment or a tight fit-out deadline. If you need gear by a specific date, whether that's a kitchen opening or an urgent replacement, get in touch with our team and we'll give you an accurate timeframe for your postcode.