Food for Thought – The Ideal Food Tech Space

When designing food technology spaces, there are different points to consider:

Design
The Food Technology Room needs to promote pupils’ practical cooking, teacher demonstration, and written/theory work for a safe and inspiring learning environment. The design of the space requires thoughtful consideration and knowledge because if it is not designed properly, can potentially be a dangerous area.

Pupil workstations are designed for students to work in pairs and each workstation should include an oven, hob, wash-up sink, drawer unit, cupboard, workstation, double plug socket and cooker switches.  The worktop should be made from a durable material, such as our Capacity Storage range with SGL worktops that has anti-scratch properties and is resistant to chemicals, water, hot objects and abrasion.

Cupboard doors and stools can add a pop of colour to the space and can incorporate a school’s corporate colours for continuity through the different areas of a building. Fridges for student’s ingredients are conveniently located near the entrance area, allowing students quick access when they leave food at the beginning of the school day and collect cooked items later.

Safety
With health and safety being paramount to the design of the food technology space, all possible risks of accidents must be mitigated.

To reduce the risk of accidents, walkways and workstations should be kept clear to allow for the flow of students navigating through the room. A storage area for coats, bags, aprons should be added near the room entrance but away from the food preparation areas can help promote a clean workspace.

Ovens also come with different safety considerations, as hobs are available as gas, ceramic or induction. Induction hobs are best practise to include in a space because they heat the pan rather than heating the hob. Therefore, induction hobs can be safer to use but they do require specific pans for the hob. Equally, some schools prefer half ceramic and half gas which helps students learn on two different hobs.

Our Key Food Technology Spaces:
Over the years, we have served up an array of professional and functional food technology spaces. Here are some of our favourite examples below:

Lady Eleanor Holles School

– We fitted nonslip vinyl flooring and hygienic full height acrylic wall cladding
– Through the food technology spaces, we completed the refurbishment of all mechanical and electrical services such as the ventilation and air conditioning.
– For the staff we installed a bespoke teacher pod and demo desks for storage facilities.

Tomlinscote School

– Pinnacle built practical workstations using our durable Capacity Storage range and added solid grade laminate (SGL) for the worktops and for the back of the workstations to prevent hot pans being accidentally knocked off.
– For each workstation, we fitted in integrated multi-functional fan-assisted oven with an electric grill and electric induction hob.
– We created a handy bag storage system to ensure that walkways and workstations were kept clear.

Slough and Eton School

– Purple is one of the main colours within the School’s crest, so our Design Team wanted to include splashes of the colour in each area
– Pinnacle installed bold purple Capacity Storage units in the food technology room creating practical workstations, complete with integrated ovens, hobs, power modules, sinks and taps.
– At the front of the room, we fitted a TeacherWall and a large demonstration station for the teacher.

If you would like to view more of our practical and creative projects, browse our inspiration pages here.

To speak to a member of our helpful Team, call us on 020 8641 4444 or fill in a contact form here.