Essential Equipment For An All-Ventless Commercial Kitchen

Going with a completely ventless commercial kitchen sounds like an impossible task. Doesn’t foodservice equipment need vents and ductwork to provide the most cooking power? Can ventless cooking equipment execute on a variety of menu options? Many may think a ventless kitchen is unachievable, but the success story of The Nest Kitchen & Cafe in Hanover, NH, proves that a full ventless commercial kitchen is within reach.

The Nest’s History

The Nest opened its doors several years ago as the sister restaurant to another successful business. Having found the perfect location near Dartmouth College, they could not have vents or ductwork installed due to local regulations. That didn’t stop the team from their goal of creating a community-oriented café with a diverse menu full of locally sourced ingredients. They realized an all-ventless kitchen concept was possible with some ingenuity and a little help from Middleby.

Serving breakfast sandwiches and quesadillas, smashburgers, meatless options, and many choices of cold and hot sandwiches, The Nest serves students and professionals in a community space. They provide catering as well, so their equipment had to keep up with demand and cook quickly and consistently to grow their customer base.

Ventless Kitchen Layout

On the main level, the kitchen has an Evo EVent griddle, a TurboChef Double Batch oven, and a TurboChef ECO ST oven. The EVent is large enough to make multiple burger and steak sandwiches simultaneously. It’s also perfect for grilling sandwich buns or sautéing vegetables. The Double Batch and the ECO ST cook faster with impinged air, fit directly on a countertop and are stackable, helping save space without sacrificing power. 

The cafe’s basement is for prep work and where the remaining ventless kitchen equipment lives. Equipped with a Blodgett Mini Combi and a Blodgett CTB Double Stack half-size ventless convection oven, baking fresh pastries and prepping lunch proteins is a breeze. The ventless ovens are a perfect complement to the ventless lineup upstairs, and together serve customers quickly and efficiently.

However, don’t assume you’re limited to breakfast fare and sandwiches when it comes to ventless cooking. While this lineup is perfect for the Nest’s café-style menu, there’s other ventless options available to support any concept. If you’re considering an all-ventless kitchen, here are a few other options:

• • Wells Universal Ventless hoods—use almost any electric commercial cooking equipment without the need for traditional Type-1 ventilation.
  • TurboChef El Bandido—doubling as a panini press and rapid cook oven, cook both Cubans and quesadillas in under 90 seconds.
  • TurboChef PLEXOR—cook an entire menu from one piece of equipment. Plexor serves up three cooking technologies in one appliance; choose from high-speed convection, impingement or superior rapid cook and control all three oven chambers with one user interface.

The Benefits of Ventless Restaurant Cooking Equipment

Using ventless commercial kitchen equipment allows The Nest to utilize space that fits their business while also providing a full menu to customers. Not only does ventless equipment offer a solution for restaurants located in historic or regulated spaces, it also allows for creating meals wherever there’s space. The oven no longer needs to be under the hood to meet safety requirements. Ventless cooking also moves if the business moves, so there’s no investment in a building that doesn’t belong to the foodservice owner.  

Discover how versatile ventless cooking equipment can be.