I am looking into renting a commercial kitchen at a local church - the rate they are looking at currently (not in stone yet) is $100.00 for an 8 hour day, which would be $12.50 an hour. I have not been able to find any other kitchen in the area that is for rent on an hourly basis. This seems like a reasonable rate to me, but I am just getting started and have nothing to compare it to.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Sounds like a great deal to me..But I'm in CA..so I'm not sure what the going rate would be there.

oops! I submitted twice

Yes, that is a very good deal. You want to stay around $15.00 or $20.00 per hour and if you can get under $15.00 that is wonderful. Just make sure any special fees or costs are included and use the following link to download the Incubator / Commercial Kitchen Rental Questionnaire
http://homebasedbaking.com/peek-inside

I just received info on a new shared use kitchen in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Here is the link if you want to take their survey and get on their mailing list. Opening soon.
http://therandomkitchen.com/

Plus:

Entrepreneurial Test Kitchen Groundbreaking Set next week for Hillsborough, NC. The Piedmont Food and Agricultural Processing Center will rent out commercial kitchen and refrigeration space to Hillsborough area farmers and food processors. You may see products being processed in early 2011 since the facility is set to open in March. More than $1.2 million have been raised so far. I will post more detailed info in Jan. 2011.

Who can use it?
Farmers and food entrepreneurs within a 75-mile, 22-county radius of the facility are welcome to use the facilitys resources.

thanks for the feedback! The church president called me back yesterday right after I posted this and confirmed that the church counsel had approved the renting of the kitchen, AND they wanted to order cupcakes from me for Wednesday!! I am so happy, I can't even stand it! this has been a life long dream for me. I finally decided to go for it and stop being afraid of failing - and I am getting orders left and right now.

And today I bake my first real wedding cake

Ok, now I'm just rambling.

Go, Go, Go... Good Luck to you annathefoodie.

Houston's best rate (NO peak hours) is $15.00 just so you have an idea. CONGRATS!!!

$100/day is a great deal, you should check to see if that includes on-site storage of your ingredients and equipment.

And if you haven't already done so, be sure to take out liability insurance to protect yourself and your personal assets.

Once again, thanks everyone!