There’s a moment in every new restaurant fit-out when the spreadsheet stops being a fun exercise and starts feeling like a problem. Equipment is usually where it happens. A new six-burner range with oven, salamander, and prep tables either side comes in around £8,000. A proper twin-door upright fridge is £2,500. A walk-in chiller, properly installed, is £6,000 to £12,000 depending on size. And that’s before the dishwasher, the ice machine, the bain-marie, and the prep counters.
Most operators end up doing some kind of mix. New for the things that have to be bulletproof, used or refurbished for the things where a few years of life left will do the job. Knowing which is which is the bit that saves real money.
What’s worth buying new
Refrigeration that runs 24/7. This is the controversial one because used fridges are everywhere on Gumtree at a quarter of the new price. The problem is that the compressor is the expensive part of any fridge and you can’t see how worn it is. A used walk-in that fails six months in will cost you the original saving plus a load of stock plus a service call. Buy refrigeration new where you can, or buy used only from a specialist with a warranty.
Dishwashers. They run hard, scale up, and the seals go. Used commercial dishwashers are a known false economy in the trade.
Anything that touches gas. Used gas equipment needs a gas safety certificate before it goes back into service, and old units often fail the cert. Sometimes the saving disappears the moment the engineer arrives.
What’s fine to buy used
Stainless prep tables, sinks, shelving, and trolleys. None of this has moving parts. A clean used set runs at 30 to 40 percent of new. Restaurant clearance auctions are full of them.
Ovens and ranges, with caveats. A well-kept used six-burner from a closing site is usually fine. Get it pressure-tested and serviced before you switch it on.
Mixers, slicers, blenders. These are workhorse items with simple mechanics. A used Hobart mixer that’s been looked after will outlast most new ones.
Furniture, lighting, decor. Obviously. Buy this used and put the saving into the kitchen.
The hidden cost in cheap refrigeration
The single biggest mistake new operators make is going cheap on the cold side of the kitchen. The numbers look like a saving and the reality plays out differently.
A budget undercounter fridge costing £700 vs a quality one at £1,400 looks like a £700 win. Over a five-year life, the budget unit typically uses 30 to 40 percent more electricity, which on a 24/7 piece of equipment adds up to roughly £600 to £900 across that five years. The cheap unit also tends to need more callouts and more part replacements, increasing the need for Commercial fridge Repair far sooner than expected. By the time you’ve added the energy gap, two repairs, and the eventual early replacement, the saving has flipped into a loss.
This is why the operators who’ve been around long enough usually buy refrigeration once, properly, and then service it. Quarterly maintenance contracts with specialists like Be Cool Refrigeration across London and the South East cost less per year than a single emergency callout, and a properly serviced fridge holds its efficiency for the full life of the unit instead of degrading year on year.
What refurbished actually means
There’s a category in the middle worth understanding. Trade refurbishers buy fridges and ovens from closing sites, replace worn components, recertify them, and resell with a 6 or 12 month warranty.
A good refurbisher is a real saving. A bad one is just a polish-and-flip job that lasts six months. The way to tell them apart is the warranty. Anything sold with under a six-month warranty isn’t really refurbished. Anything with a 12-month warranty has usually been done properly because the seller is putting their own money on the line.
How to budget the kitchen
For a 60-cover independent restaurant fit-out in 2026, a realistic equipment budget runs:
- £35,000 to £55,000 if mostly new
- £22,000 to £35,000 with sensible used and refurbished sourcing on the right items
- £12,000 to £20,000 if everything is used, which is achievable but usually means breakdowns in year two
The middle option is where most experienced operators land. New refrigeration, new dishwasher, new gas. Used stainless, used furniture, used minor equipment. Refurbished ovens and mixers from a known supplier with a real warranty.
The mistake isn’t buying used. The mistake is buying used in the categories where used always loses, and the categories that always lose are the ones running 24 hours a day.
