A walk-in cooler and a row of reach-ins in a restaurant back room.

Start with what you own

Commercial appliance
types,
told apart.

Four groups of commercial equipment, four very different ways to fail. Cold storage moves heat out of a box with a compressor, an evaporator and a condensing unit that may sit on the roof; cooking equipment makes heat with gas burners, electric elements or steam, guarded by thermostats and high-limits; a dish machine heats, sprays and sanitizes with pumps, a booster and chemical feeds; and laundry equipment spins and tumbles heavy loads with big drive motors and a coin or card system. Naming the group in the booking tells the technician which tools, parts and trade to bring.

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4 types
Serviced in place
What each one costs

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Four types,
each its own job.

Each one is built, reached and repaired differently. Open yours for what fails on it and what the work involves.

A row of three stainless steel reach-in cabinets with solid doors along the wall of a working restaurant kitchen, the reach-ins clearly the subject, one door open showing sheet pans of prepped vegetables on wire shelves, a walk-in cooler door with a clear strip curtain visible at the far end, a cook seen only from behind in a white jacket passing in the soft background, bright even kitchen light.

Commercial cold storage

Reach-in and pass-through cabinets, walk-in coolers and walk-in freezers, prep and sandwich tables, undercounter units and blast chillers that hold a kitchen's food at safe temperatures.

A working restaurant cooking line under a stainless ventilation hood, two stainless gas fryers with baskets hanging above the oil, a flat griddle and a combi oven with a glass door beside them, the equipment clearly the subject, a cook seen only from behind and shoulders down at the far end of the line, warm kitchen light, small blue flames visible under the griddle.

Commercial cooking equipment

Fryers, griddles, charbroilers, restaurant ranges, convection and combi ovens, steamers, kettles, holding cabinets and toasters, on gas or electric, that make up the hot side of a kitchen line.

A stainless door-type dish machine in a busy restaurant warewashing station, its hood half raised with steam rising, a green plastic rack of clean white plates sliding out onto the clean-side table, the dish machine clearly the subject, a worker seen only from behind and shoulders down in an apron at the soiled side, bright even kitchen light.

Commercial dish machines

Undercounter, door-type and conveyor dish machines with their booster heaters and chemical feeds, the warewashing station that washes and sanitizes every rack before it goes back on the line.

A clean modern laundromat with a long row of stainless front-load commercial laundry machines with round glass doors, a row of large stacked tumblers along the opposite wall, one machine door open, the laundry machines clearly the subject, a customer seen only from behind folding towels on a counter in the soft background, bright daylight through a storefront window.

Commercial laundry equipment

Coin, card and app-paid front-load machines, washer-extractors, stacked units and tumble dryers in laundromats, multi-housing laundry rooms, hotels, gyms and on-premise laundries.

Not sure which you have?

Start from what it is doing

If the commercial appliance in your back of house does not obviously match one of these, work from the symptom instead. It reaches the same answer from the other end.

17 problemsIn order of costWhat to check first Go to the problems

Which one
is yours?

One look at the commercial appliance usually settles it. The first sign of each type is on the right; its page has the rest, and what that type means for a repair.

Repair or replace

Cold storageCommercial cold storage

The unit has a stainless or coated steel cabinet, heavy self-closing doors and a digital or dial thermometer on the front, and it runs on a dedicated circuit.

Cooking equipmentCommercial cooking equipment

The equipment sits under a ventilation hood on a gas manifold or a heavy electrical supply, usually on casters with a restraint cable at the back.

Dish machinesCommercial dish machines

The machine is stainless, fed from the hot water line and a drain, with racks going in on one side and coming out clean on the other.

Laundry equipmentCommercial laundry equipment

The machine has a coin drop, a card reader or an app sticker on the front, or it is a large extractor bolted to a concrete pad or standing on a spring base.

What a repair
usually costs.

Weigh a repair against what a replacement truly costs the business, not just the catalog figure for a new unit. A new walk-in condensing unit, fryer battery, combi oven or dish machine also means delivery, the gas, water, drain or electrical connection, sometimes a hood or permit check, staff learning a new controller, and the shifts the station is down while you wait for it. Set beside that, gaskets, fans, thermostats, pilots, door locks and fill valves are small, and most mid-size repairs still win. The balance turns when a unit has had several major repairs in a year, runs on a refrigerant or a controller the maker no longer supports, or has a tank, shell or drum that is failing; then the technician writes out both sums, with the downtime each one costs, and the choice is yours. A preventive maintenance plan is the cheapest way to move repairs off the busy nights.

Commercial appliance diagnostic visit: Commercial equipment is priced after it has been tested on site.

Read the full cost guide

Repair	Relative cost	Notes
Walk-in evaporator fan, defrost heater or drain line heater, door gasket, frame heater, expansion valve, leak repair, compressor or condensing unit	moderate to highest	An evaporator fan motor, a new door gasket or a defrost termination switch is the lighter end. A defrost heater set, a frame heater or an expansion valve sits in the middle, and a leak found, repaired and recharged, or a compressor or a whole condensing unit on the roof, is the top of the scale.
Reach-in, pass-through or prep table gasket, hinge, fan motor, thermostat or controller, defrost heater, leak repair or compressor	moderate	A cleaned condenser, a gasket or a hinge cam is modest. A fan motor, a thermostat or a controller with its probe comes next, and a leak repair with a recharge or a compressor in a self-contained cabinet is the fuller job.
Fryer pilot assembly, thermopile, thermostat or probe, high-limit, gas valve, ignition module, element, contactor or filter pump motor	low to moderate	A thermopile, a pilot assembly or a high-limit is the small end. A thermostat, a probe or an ignition module is a step up, and a gas valve, an element set or a filtration pump motor sits at the top.
Convection or combi blower motor, door switch or gasket, igniter or element, core probe, level probe, steam generator or controller	moderate to highest	A door gasket, a door switch or a probe is the lighter work. A blower motor, an igniter or an element comes next, and a steam generator, a descaling job that has gone too far or a main controller on a combi is the largest repair on this page.
Cooking line pilot, thermocouple, burner or orifice, safety valve, griddle thermostat, regulator or quick-disconnect hose, leak-checked	low to moderate	Cleaning a pilot or a burner and replacing a thermocouple is modest. A safety valve, a griddle thermostat or a regulator is in the middle, and several sections of a line, or a new hose with its restraint cable, make the fuller job.
Dish machine tank heater or booster element, thermostat, fill valve, float switch, drain valve, wash pump seal or motor, conveyor drive	moderate	A fill valve, a float switch or a drain valve is the small end. A tank heater, a booster element or a pump seal is a step up, and a wash pump motor, a booster tank or a conveyor drive on a long machine is the top of the band.
Laundry machine door lock, belt, bearings and seal, drain valve, inverter or motor; tumbler igniter, flame sensor, gas valve coil or airflow switch	moderate	A door lock, a belt, a drain valve cleared of coins or a tumbler igniter is the lighter end. An airflow switch, a gas valve coil or a payment reader sits in the middle, and bearings with the tub seal, an inverter or a drive motor is the fuller job.
Controller, touch panel, probe or sensor, relay, contactor, power supply, door switch or interlock, tested before anything is changed	moderate	A probe, a door switch or a contactor is modest. A relay board or a power supply is in the middle, and a main controller or a touch panel, set back up with your setpoints and cycle values, is the dearest part here.
Scheduled maintenance visit: coils and drains cleaned, gaskets and doors checked, thermostats calibrated, gas leak check, temperatures logged	lowest	A routine maintenance visit per unit is the smallest item on this page. Worn parts found along the way are quoted as their own repair, and nothing is replaced during the visit before you agree.

A restaurant team working a busy commercial kitchen line. — For the heart of your home.

Questions about
the types.

Which commercial equipment does this site cover?

Commercial cold storage, cooking equipment, dish machines and boosters, and laundry machines, in restaurants, bars, cafeterias, hotels, schools, clinics, laundromats and on-premise laundries. Ice machines belong to our sister ice machine site, and pizza ovens, deck and conveyor alike, to the pizza oven site.

Is a walk-in repaired like a reach-in?

Partly. Both move heat with a compressor, an evaporator and a condenser, but a reach-in carries all of it in one cabinet, while a walk-in splits it between an evaporator inside the box and a condensing unit that may sit on the roof or in a mechanical room. A walk-in also has panels, a door heater, a floor and a drain line that a reach-in does not.

What goes wrong most with dish machines and laundry machines?

Heat, water and motion. A dish machine loses rinse heat to a scaled booster or heater, drains slowly through a clogged strainer, or starves its chemical feed; a washer-extractor wears its bearings, drive belt and door lock, and a tumbler its igniter, belt and lint path. Most calls come down to one of those.

What about our unit helps the technician most?

The group it belongs to, the make and model from the data plate, roughly how old it is, gas, electric or steam, the voltage, how many hours a day it runs, and whether it has been moved or converted. With that, the truck is packed for your unit and the window is sized to the job.

Back to your everyday

Let’s get your commercial appliance working again.

Three short steps online, or one call. Tell us what you are seeing and pick a window that works.

Schedule a repair Call (844) 571-4566

Commercial appliancetypes,told apart.

Four types, each its own job.