The Fit-Out Decisions You Can’t Undo: Gas, Water and Drainage
Most kitchen fit-out conversations start with the shiny stuff: combi ovens, underbench fridges, coffee machines and stainless benches. But the decisions that cause the most pain sit under the floor and behind the walls. Gas, water and drainage are the hidden skeleton of every café, restaurant, pub and bakery. Get them right early and the kitchen works. Get them wrong and you are chasing leaks, blocked drains and compliance headaches long after the doors open. This guide is for hospitality operators planning a fit-out who want to avoid the expensive rework that comes from leaving services until last.
Why services planning belongs at the start, not after the equipment list
The equipment list should never be the first document you finalise. Before you commit to a cooking line, a dishwasher or a bank of sinks, you need to understand what the building can actually support. Gas pressure, water volume, hot water recovery and drainage falls all have limits. A kitchen that looks efficient on paper can become a nightmare if the existing services cannot carry the load.
Start with a simple workflow map across prep, cook, plate and wash zones. Then ask what each zone needs. A wok burner, a chargrill and a pasta cooker may all be gas, but they may not need the same pressure or flue arrangement. A glasswasher and a pot sink may sit side by side, but they have different water temperature and drainage requirements. Planning services around the menu and the workflow — rather than around a stock layout — is how you avoid a kitchen that fights your team every service.
This early stage is also when you need to involve the right trades. Gas fitters, plumbers and ventilation specialists should see the same drawings as the equipment supplier and the builder. Too many fit-outs fail because the plumber sets drainage to a different bench height than the one the stainless fabricator is working to. Or the gas line is run before the cooking line is finalised, leaving a metre of extra pipe and a service that cannot be isolated safely. A coordinated approach is not a luxury; it is the cheapest insurance you can buy.
Council and food authority requirements also come into play here. Food premises need hand wash basins, adequate potable water, and drainage that does not create a contamination risk. Grease traps, floor waste and access panels are not glamorous, but they are part of the approval process. If your fit-out partner can plan these services alongside the layout, you reduce the risk of back-and-forth with inspectors. That is why many NSW operators now look for a single team that can handle design, equipment supply and installation, rather than stitching together five separate vendors who never speak to each other.
Gas planning: match the load to the menu, not the other way around
Gas is often the first service to become a bottleneck. A café moving from a small domestic-style range to a commercial cooking line can suddenly need much more than the existing meter and pipework can deliver. The mistake is to order equipment and then ask the gas fitter to make it work. The better sequence is to calculate the load first, then select equipment that fits the available supply or budget for an upgrade.
Work through the cooking line appliance by appliance. Max gas input, connection size and isolation valve location all matter. So does the position of the rangehood and the make-up air. A canopy that is sized without reference to the gas load can fail to capture smoke and heat, leading to complaints and re-inspection. The live fit-out process should coordinate canopy sizing with the gas cooking load, rather than bolting on ventilation at the end. That is why a joined-up approach to commercial kitchen fit-out design matters: the gas fitter, plumber, canopy supplier and equipment installer should all be working from the same set of drawings.
Think about future flexibility too. If you plan to add a fryer or a second oven in two years, the gas line and isolation points should be able to accommodate that without ripping up the wall. This does not mean oversizing everything wildly; it means leaving sensible capacity and access. A gas fitter can advise on pipe sizing and pressure testing, but they need the equipment schedule to do it properly. Give them the model numbers, the gas input ratings and the connection locations before the first pipe is run.
Safety and compliance are non-negotiable. Gas installation must be carried out by a licensed gas fitter, and the completed work needs to be documented for council and the food authority. Do not accept a verbal “she’ll be right” from a trade who is not prepared to provide compliance paperwork. The same applies to ventilation: if your canopy and ductwork are part of the fit-out, they need to meet the relevant standards and be installed in a way that can be inspected. Planning gas and ventilation together at the design stage is far cheaper than discovering a problem after the kitchen is tiled and the equipment is in place.
Water and drainage: capacity, grease and access
Water is the quiet workhorse of a commercial kitchen. You need it for hand washing, food preparation, pot washing, dishwashing and glasswashing. You also need it at the right temperature. A small underbench hot water unit may struggle to keep up with a busy dishwasher and a pot sink running at the same time. Before you choose equipment, check the hot water capacity and recovery rate, and think about whether a tempering valve is needed for hand wash basins.
Drainage is where many fit-outs come unstuck. Floor waste, grease traps, sink outlets and dishwasher connections all need to be planned with falls in mind. Water has to flow away quickly, without pooling, and without creating a slip hazard. Grease traps need to be accessible for cleaning — not buried under a fixed bench or behind a sealed panel. If your menu includes heavy frying, a properly sized and accessible grease trap is essential. Council requirements vary, so check what applies to your site before the slab is cut or the floor is screeded.
Access is the other big issue. Pipes leak. Drains block. Valves fail. If the only way to reach a shut-off valve is to remove a tiled bench or pull apart a dishwasher, a minor problem becomes a major repair. Plan service access panels and isolation points in sensible locations. A plumber should be able to test the system, isolate it and maintain it without dismantling the kitchen. This is especially important for hotels, pubs and clubs running multiple services a day, where downtime is measured in lost covers.
For bakeries and cafés with high water use, consider the drainage needs of proofers, combi ovens and glasswashers. These appliances often need specific drain connections and air gaps. Do not assume a single floor waste will handle everything. Work with your equipment supplier and plumber to map every connection point, then confirm the drainage layout before the equipment is ordered. A supplier such as Atlantic Equipment, which designs and supplies commercial kitchens across NSW, can help coordinate the equipment schedule with the services plan so the plumber and gas fitter are not guessing. The goal is simple: a kitchen that drains properly, delivers hot water reliably and gives your team safe, compliant gas equipment from day one.
Marseille street-photographer turned Montréal tech columnist. Théo deciphers AI ethics one day and reviews artisan cheese the next. He fences épée for adrenaline, collects transit maps, and claims every good headline needs a soundtrack.
Théo Legrand
Marseille street-photographer turned Montréal tech columnist. Théo deciphers AI ethics one day and reviews artisan cheese the next. He fences épée for adrenaline, collects transit maps, and claims every good headline needs a soundtrack.
