A commercial kitchen needs several kinds of sinks, each kept for one job, and the FDA Food Code, which health departments adopt in their own versions, sets the basics. Handwashing sinks: at least one, and enough for convenient use wherever staff prepare food, serve it and wash dishes, plus in or right beside the restrooms, each with water at 85°F or more, soap, paper towels or a dryer, a sign, and nothing else in it, ever. A three-compartment sink for washing, rinsing and sanitizing, big enough for your largest pan. A service sink, or a curbed area with a floor drain, for mop water, which can't go down a toilet or a food sink. Many health departments also ask for a food prep sink for washing produce, and the plumbing rule behind it matters: equipment that holds food can't drain straight into the sewer; it drains through an air gap to a floor sink, unless your local law allows a direct connection for that sink. Places that scoop ice cream keep scoops in a dipper well with running water. In the example below, an ice cream maker's plan review finds two sink problems before opening. Below are the sinks, the rules, the example, and a free checklist.
The short version
- Handwashing sinks: where staff prep, serve and wash dishes, and at the restrooms.
- Hand sink water: 85°F or more, through a mixing faucet, at least 15 seconds a push on a metered tap.
- Hand sinks get soap, towels or a dryer, a sign and a trash can, and are used only for hands.
- A three-compartment sink big enough for your largest pan, with drainboards.
- A service sink or curbed floor drain for mop water.
- A food prep sink, if your health department asks, draining through an air gap.
- Ice cream scoops: a dipper well with running water.
- TaroStack keeps your production and cleaning records on the batch. More below.
The sinks
| Sink | Where | What it needs |
|---|---|---|
| Handwashing | Prep, serving and warewashing areas; at restrooms | 85°F or warmer water, soap, towels or dryer, sign, trash can |
| Three-compartment | Warewashing | Compartments for the largest pan; drainboards; sanitizer test strips |
| Food prep | Where produce is washed or food thawed | Used only for food; an indirect drain with an air gap |
| Service (mop) | Utility area | Mop water and similar waste only |
| Dipper well | Where ice cream is scooped | Running water that flushes to the drain |
The three-compartment sink's temperatures and sanitizer numbers are in three compartment sink requirements.
The rules
| Rule | Food Code 2022 |
|---|---|
| How many hand sinks | At least 1, and enough for convenient use in the areas below, and no fewer than the law requires (5-203.11) |
| Where | Convenient to food preparation, dispensing and warewashing areas; in or next to toilet rooms (5-204.11) |
| Water | At least 85°F through a mixing valve or combination faucet; a self-closing tap runs at least 15 seconds (5-202.12) |
| Use | Accessible at all times, used for nothing but handwashing (5-205.11) |
| Supplies | Soap; disposable towels, a towel system or a dryer; a sign telling employees to wash (6-301.11, 6-301.12, 6-301.14) |
| Other sinks | Food prep, utensil and mop sinks don't get handwashing supplies (6-301.13) |
| Three compartments | At least 3, large enough for the largest equipment (4-301.12) |
| Mop water | At least 1 service sink or curbed cleaning facility with a floor drain; not toilets (5-203.13) |
| Drains | No direct sewer connection from equipment holding food or utensils, unless law allows it for a warewashing or culinary sink (5-402.11) |
| Dipper wells | Scoops for moist food like ice cream in running water that flushes to the drain (3-304.12(D)) |
All from the FDA Food Code 2022. Some health departments still enforce an older version, and the plumbing code adds its own rules on traps and grease interceptors. What else a kitchen needs is in commercial kitchen requirements, and the inspection in commercial kitchen inspection checklist. This is general information, not legal advice.
An example: an ice cream maker's new kitchen
Ironwood Pint Co., the made-up ice cream maker in Birmingham, Alabama, I use in these examples, is building a production kitchen behind its scoop window, and the health department's plan review went through the sinks:
| Sink | Where | Needed | Installed | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Handwashing | Kitchen prep and warewashing | 1 | 1 | OK |
| Handwashing | Scoop window | 1 | 0 | Add one |
| Handwashing | Restroom | 1 | 1 | OK |
| Three-compartment | Warewashing | 1 | 1 | OK: base buckets fit, drainboards both sides |
| Food prep | Mix-in prep | 1 | 1 | Fix: drain connected directly, needs an air gap |
| Dipper well | Scoop window | 1 | 1 | OK |
| Service (mop) | Utility closet | 1 | 1 | OK |
The reviewer's point about the window: scoopers can't walk back to the kitchen to wash after taking cash, so the window gets its own hand sink. The prep sink's drain goes to a floor sink with a gap above it, so a backed-up drain can't flow into the sink where berries are washed. Both were cheaper to fix before the walls were closed. What the kitchen costs overall is in ice cream business plan.
Get the template
Download the commercial kitchen sink checklist. One sheet: each sink, where it goes, the rule behind it, how many are needed and installed, the features to check and whether they're all there; the status says add one, fix the features, or OK. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
The sinks pass plan review once. After opening, the questions an inspector asks are daily ones: what was made, what was cleaned, and who checked it.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps production and its checks together, batch by batch.
Each run a batch. Each run of ice cream is a batch with its own lot and date, recording the base and mix-in lots it used.
Your own fields on the batch record. A batch record can carry fields of your own, such as the base temperature at receiving, the sanitizer reading at the start of the shift, and who signed off.
Where it went. Each grocer's order records the lots it got, so if a batch has to come back, one recall report shows every store it reached.
| The job | Clipboard | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| The day's checks | A sheet by the sink | Fields on the batch record |
| Which base went into a run | A note on the bucket | Lots on the batch |
| Records for the inspector | A binder | Printable batch records |
| Which grocers got a run | Invoices | One recall report |
Batches, lots, batch records with your own fields and recalls are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.