Picking the right Hoshizaki underbench
There are 34 units on this page: 16 fridges and 14 freezers built to slide under a bench, plus four sushi display cases that sit on top of one. All 30 underbench cabinets stand 815 mm high, so the real choices are depth, doors or drawers, and how many pillars you want between the doors.
600 mm deep: commercial and pillarless
Twelve cabinets are 600 mm deep, for kitchens where the walkway behind the line is tight. They come in 1,200 mm, 1,500 mm and 1,800 mm widths holding 231 L, 318 L and 401 L, as fridges (RT) or freezers (FT). Each size has a standard version and a pillarless ML version. Pillarless means no fixed post between the doors, so with both open you can slide in a full tray or a wide container without fighting a centre mullion.
700 mm deep: gastronorm counters and pillarless
Eight more cabinets are 700 mm deep and built around gastronorm pans: two door models holding 265 L and three door models holding 412 L, again as standard counters or pillarless ML versions. The extra 100 mm of depth is there for gastronorm pans, so trays go from the prep bench straight in without decanting.
Drawer units
The ten drawer units are also 700 mm deep, on castors, at 900 mm, 1,250 mm and 1,670 mm wide. Each width comes with 150 mm deep drawers or more of the shallower 100 mm drawers, up to nine on the RTC-167DEA-GN-9D. On a cookline, drawers save bending to reach the back of a shelf. Choose 100 mm drawers for many small mise en place items and 150 mm for bulk.
Sushi display cases
The four HNC cases sit on a counter, 270 mm high, with LED lighting, from the 42 L HNC-120 at 1,200 mm long to the 87 L HNC-210 at 2,100 mm. They hold about 5 °C and are rated only for rooms from 10 °C to 30 °C, so keep them out of the hot side of a kitchen and treat them as service display rather than storage.
Checks before ordering
- Room heat. This is the biggest difference in the range. The 18 cabinets 700 mm deep are rated for rooms up to 43 °C, while the 12 cabinets 600 mm deep are rated to 38 °C. Under a bench beside fryers and a grill in a Perth summer, the deeper models give you more margin.
- Temperature range. The fridges adjust from -6 °C to 12 °C, so set them at 5 °C or below for chilled food. The freezers go to -23 °C on the 600 mm models and -25 °C on the 700 mm models.
- Bench height and fit. At 815 mm tall, check your benchtop clears the unit with room for air to move, and that doors or drawers can open fully past table legs and other equipment.
- Refrigerant and power. The underbench cabinets use R134a or R404A and the sushi cases R600a. Every model is listed on single phase power with a 10 A plug.
Installation and after-sales service
Sam delivers the unit, positions it under the bench, levels it, checks doors and drawers run and seal properly, and confirms it has pulled down to temperature before leaving. Ask Sam if you want the old unit removed. Sites outside the metro area can have Hoshizaki underbench units sent by courier anywhere in WA.
Underbench units live in the hottest, greasiest part of the kitchen, so their condensers clog faster than most. Regular condenser cleaning and gasket checks prevent most breakdowns. Sam services and repairs Hoshizaki underbench fridges, freezers and sushi cases; call-out is $75 + GST and labour $180 + GST an hour plus parts, with a set price before work begins. See commercial fridge repairs, preventive maintenance, Hoshizaki ice machine repairs or the Hoshizaki range in Perth.
