Kitchen Equipment, Tools and Maintenance
Kitchen Equipment, Tools and Maintenance examines selection, safe operation, cleaning and the planned maintenance that keeps a kitchen productive. Questions often present a breakdown or a damaged item and ask for the cause and the correct response.
Selection and materials
- Choose on purpose, capacity to match peak service, energy use, ease of cleaning, durability, spares and after-sales support.
- Stainless steel (food-grade 18/8 or 304) resists corrosion and is standard for food contact surfaces; aluminium reacts with acids; cast iron needs seasoning; copper tarnishes and is costly.
- Knives: carbon steel takes a fine edge but rusts; stainless holds up better in wet kitchens.
Safe operation and maintenance
- Daily cleaning before and after use; deep cleaning on a schedule; descale steamers and kettle elements.
- Clean refrigerator condenser coils and check door seals; record temperatures at least twice a day.
- Honing realigns an edge; sharpening removes metal. Use a steel for honing and a stone or grinder for sharpening.
- Calibrate probes regularly; keep a maintenance log for both first-line and specialist repairs.
- Never use a machine with a damaged plug, frayed lead or missing guard.
Worked example
A probe reads 3 °C in an ice slurry of crushed ice and water, stirred and left for a minute. The true reference is 0 °C, so the instrument reads 3 °C high; subtract 3 °C from every subsequent reading, or adjust the unit and re-check. The ice point is used because it does not vary with altitude - unlike boiling point, which in Nairobi is around 95 °C rather than 100 °C.
Traps that cost marks
- Leaving knives to soak in a sink where they are invisible to the next person.
- Calling a sharpening steel a sharpener and blaming the knife when it stays blunt.
- Overloading a fridge so cold air cannot circulate, then trusting the display.
- Recording maintenance that was never carried out.