Ok I think I have said something similar to this before, but would anyone mind sharing the layouts of their kitchens PLEASE!!! I know what I need to have in there LEGALLY, but the overall design of the place is up to me! I am interested in knowing how cakers who have their business set up already like or don't like about their kitchen layout. What works and doesnt work? My kitchen will be what was potencially going to be our garage when we build our house, so a very large, 24x24ft space, one door, and one garage door (keeping one garage door for easy loading/unloading!)
http://s1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc462/confectionscustomcakes/?start=all
Link to Photobucket, let me know if it doesnt work! but I would love feedback from those who are already doing this professionally!! ANY feedback, whether you love it, HATE IT, or think somethings would work in a different way, I WANT TO KNOW! 
Oh, and FYI this is a home design program, so I did the best I could making it look commercial!
I am lucky and can work out of my home kitchen... but i have worked in a couple of commercial bakeries before.
The very first thing i noticed is that your handwashing sink should be closer to your door that you walk in. Right now you have to walk through the work area and storage to get to it, then walk back across the room to start working on the baking etc....
The only other advice i can give is to really pay attention to how you work, and your process. Make sure that you have organized it for you to be efficient and are taking the least amount of steps during all of your processes. I see your ovens are on the opposite side of the room from your mixers, this may or may not be a problem for you. I can play devils advocate all the way around on this one.
Also in your decorating area, where are you planning on working in the "u"? on the outside or inside? If the inside of the U then you should have it open towards your sink instead of the storage i think. When you have things to go in the sink, or need to wash your hands (of course that could be covered with your handwashing sink) you don't want to walk around the tables to get there, trust me i have an island in the middle of my kitchen and i hate being on the otherside and have to walk around just to get to the sink.
Any place to sit down or pull up stools for client consultation/tastings? I don't have a business, but I was trying to look at it from a consumers perspective. Lucky girl! Good luck on your business 
I am doing the same thing, with a slightly smaller area, but I am putting all the plumbing on one wall to save money. I assume you don't want to spend more than you have to? The closer the existing pipes are, the less you will have to spend. Other than that, I am still making up my mind. I have a similar post if you want to look through my topics. There was some pretty good info in it.
Have you inquired with your local authorities (code enforcement, board of health, state health department) as to what they require? That's where I would start.
Also, inquire with them about grease traps, which are the newest requirement for food establishments here. It would be better to install one right away, rather than spend the $10,000 it cost a local business to rip up their concrete floor to install one later on.
Theresa
Lucky girl!!! It's a beautiful set-up, although it does look more like a residential kitchen than a commercial one. Assuming you've done the health code footwork, your work flow is of the utmost importance. Search for "work triangle" and you will find several great articles on good kitchen layouts. leily outlined it well and I would suggest looking at a commercial kitchen first hand if you can. Some bakeries and restaurants have open kitchens that you can simply view from afar, or see if you can stop by a rental kitchen near your area to get a real feel for what you need. I was a Chef for several years and from what I see, you will run out of fridge space in a day, even for a one person caking operation. Your shelving is awesome though and I love the range & hood!
Thanks for the replies! Ok first off, yes, checked with the health dept, all required elements are present in the current design! As for the placement of sinks, Hand washing sink would be nicer to have closer to the door, however, this is a garage plan, so no plumbing will go in the wall where the garage doors will be in case we do one day turn it back into a garage. I wanted the cooking appliances to be near each other, and the fridge/freezers to be opposite those...the mixers closer to the ovens...didn't think of that one! My original thought is I mix things near my fridge, but I suppose more dry than wet or cold ingredients, so that would work! Ill move them The tables I still have not figured out how those will work yet, I was thinking the u shape because I can spread out while still having things close at hand...move around while I work on different items. I think its possible to get a larger fridge/freezer! As far as tastings go, I haven't figured that one out yet! They aren't a big thing around here, that one might have to wait for when I open a store front, can I do that out of my dining room in the house, or does that have to be done in the kitchen?
The U-shape of the tables caught my eye also. It doens't look like much walking but walking around tables all day DOES add up on the PITA scale.
Overall the flow looks good to me with one exception: food items are going from refrigerator to mixer .... oh wait, we gotta jump over that sink there .... then to the oven. My HD explained it that I didnt' want food to cross over the contaminated (dirty) sink area, even if I was just walking past it.
An ideal flow would be from refrigerator to mixer to oven (then take the cakes out of the pans and the dirty pans go) to the washing sink, to the rinsing sink, to the sanitizing sink.
The space looks really great! I'm happy to see lots of shelving! That's the part we always need more of than we think we will!
Ok, so I fixed the layout of the tables, made more of a T shape than U but still have that U...Can't explain, have to post more pic lol! Fridge and freezer are in the same place,but MUCH larger...sink, moved it down towards the fridge but on same wall, moved mixers closer to stove and ovens...Not a whole lot I can do about the hand washing sink, still its close to my decorating tables, so I will at least get easy access while decorating lol! My husband works with someone who's wife works in an architecture firm that does commercial spaces like school and restaurants...I may ask a favor of her help since she does have much more experience than I do! I still have about 3 months left before we take it to our builder to get started on...The house is in front of this building, building it at the same time
..... who's wife works in an architecture firm that does commercial spaces like school and restaurants...I may ask a favor of her help since she does have much more experience than I do!
OH if you have access to someone like that, grab it!!
When we began putting our floor plan together, we realized early on this part was way above our head. We had a friend who was a VP in an architectural firm that did nothing but comm'l buildings, specializing in schools and churches and such. He referred us to a kitchen design firm they worked with and omg they saved us THOUSANDS of dollars in equipment and build out Because they did comm'l kitchens they were familiar with what the HD needed and required, making the whole process a no-brainer all the way around.
Wow! I guess I wanted to do it myself, but I am now realizing I do not have know how to tackle something this big! I did design our entire house from the ground up..but this is much different than home design! Ill ask my hubby tonight if he can get her phone #, pray she will help me out in return for cake lol! BUT if not, I hope its not too terribly expensive to pay for her work!
Does anyone know if the mop sink HAS to be inside, or can I have a place for it outside? Its a rather ugly thing, a mop sink...
Does anyone know if the mop sink HAS to be inside, or can I have a place for it outside? Its a rather ugly thing, a mop sink...
I'll take a wild guess that it needs to be indoors close by somewhere with the mop. How you gonna have it outside? Have a drain outside? I'm almost positve you have to have it enclosed at least. I guess you don't have to worry about it freezing though.
Yes they are ugly.
Just checked, It can be outside! Just so you know, I live on the MS Gulf Coast, we don't know what freezing is! LOL Its 70 degrees outside today! Any ways, I completely started over with my design from scratch. My father in law owns a restaurant he rents out so he helped me a little today with the HD stuff, and told me a few other tips that seems to work well for the restaurant. SO in just a bit, I will have another sketch posted! And please use your imagination a bit, its a residential home design software, I try to make it look as commercial as possible! indydebi could you take pictures of your place and show me please? I get that it needs to have a flow to it, or a video showing me why things work where they are would be so great! IF you ever get the time of course!
Ok, think I got a rough layout now! Took everyones advice...Still needs decorating in some parts and a little tweeking with table positions, but mainly trying to get the structure, appliance and plumbing laid out! Let me know what you think of the new design PLEASE!!!
http://s1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc462/confectionscustomcakes/cakery/
The current flow is about what mine was. Here's my flickr site with photos (click on "kitchen" on the right): http://www.flickr.com/photos/55969028@N00/ These photos were near the end of the build out stage and I added some shelving later.
Sometimes it was a pain to have the sinks on the opposite wall, but it kept all the pipes and drains on one side (cheaper - trenching thru concrete is EXPENSIVE!) and it kept all the dirty dishes on one side of the room.
Here's a pic of the mixer installed on it's own table (man, was I FAT then! Yay for Weight Watchers!): http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=594870&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=red&&start=15
The current flow is about what mine was. Here's my flickr site with photos (click on "kitchen" on the right): http://www.flickr.com/photos/55969028@N00/ These photos were near the end of the build out stage and I added some shelving later.
Sometimes it was a pain to have the sinks on the opposite wall, but it kept all the pipes and drains on one side (cheaper - trenching thru concrete is EXPENSIVE!) and it kept all the dirty dishes on one side of the room.
Here's a pic of the mixer installed on it's own table (man, was I FAT then! Yay for Weight Watchers!): http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=594870&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=red&&start=15
bwhahahahaha I just love the "strip tease" joke about the thread
what page are you talking about the kitchen? so many beautiful cakes to look at, which I am looking at now, but my hubby wants to see real quick before he heads to bed
Thank you so much! Absolutely wonderful information I have gotten today! PRICELESS!! Esp since I read a post recently that said new business owners are annoying 
LOL!!! But really, THANK ALL OF YOU that posted today, the information obtained from people already in the business helps SO INCREDIBLY much! Now I will go to bed with he image of indydebi and her racy little picture with her mixer 
Just keep moving everything around until you love it! I have all my equipment so I measured it all and made a scale model in paintshop pro and I keep moving it around. I think I have it now, but I had to make some compromises I didn't want to do. I think I will have to cut a hole in the brick side of my garage, when I was wanting to cut the hole in the aluminum siding side of my garage! (I have no outside access except for the garage door the car goes in. A regular door is mandatory.) I think it will cost quite a bit more this way.
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