What’s the first thing you do when you think you may need/want to make a big purchase like a Commercial Reach-in Refrigerator? According to all the sales training out in the world, the first step in the purchasing process is research. And if you’re like most people, the first step in research is Google. A long time ago, in the 1990’s, you had to talk to actual people and go to stores or even have people come to you – but those days are over. Pretty much everything you need to know is available with a few well chosen words in the search bar.
The interesting thing about Google is that it records all the words and phrases that are entered into the search bar and has a function called ‘People also ask’ which are the top questions/searches people enter related to those keywords. Since millions of people use google everyday to answer most everything, those questions are a great indicator of what people want to know. That’s our topic for today; here are the top questions people are asking about Reach-In Refrigerators and our answers.
What is a Reach-In Refrigerator?
Reach-in Refrigerators and Reach-In Freezers are floor model, upright refrigeration equipment units that are utilized in back-of-the house commercial or institutional foodservice applications. They are considered back-of-the house because the doors are solid, a glass door merchandiser would be more appropriate for a front-of-the house application or area where customers see the equipment. The term reach-in indicates that these are not walk-ins, rather, you reach inside to get what ever you need, and a Reach-in unit is typically around 32”D. They are also different than a Pass Through Refrigerator which has a door on the front and a door on the back, so you can pass items through the unit. Reach-In Refrigerators are also upright units, which is different than an Undercounter Refrigerator which is a shorter unit, which you can also reach into, is less than counter height so that it can be placed below a counter, potentially in a prep line or front-of the house application.
What is the difference between a Walk-In and a Reach-In Refrigerator?
As mentioned above, a Reach-in Refrigerators is an upright floor model refrigerator. Walk-In Refrigerators are also floor model units , and they are large enough for a user to walk into. The most obvious difference between the two is the capacity. A walk-In is typically larger than most reach-in units, but walk-in refrigerators don’t really serve the same function as a reach-in. A reach-in unit is designed for easy access to foods that need to remain cold, where a walk-in refrigerator is usually for storing larger amounts of cold foods for longer periods of time. Most foodservice operations can manage with reach-in units only, but not with walk-in units only. The walk-in is often considered cold storage that is accessed a few times daily where the reach-in is a working appliance that has the door open dozens of times a day if not more.
Another commonly searched question is Which is better; a refrigerator with a bottom mount compressor or a refrigerator with a top mounted compressor? To learn more about the pros and cons of top mount vs. bottom mount compressors, you can read our previous blog post Comparing Top Mounted Vs Bottom Mounted Commercial Refrigerators.
At Cook’s, we carry Reach-in Refrigerators from top brands including Continental, Everest, Foodservice Essentials, True Manufacturing and more.
