We’re excited to highlight the Temporary Kitchen and Dining Facility that we recently completed at Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford. This facility, designed by Apicella + Bunton Architects, has allowed Choate to provide a high level of dining services to their students and faculty during the renovation and expansion of the school’s main kitchen and servery.
When renovations at the school’s main kitchen and servery required a nine-month shut-down of food preparation and dining services, Choate was faced with the challenge of maintaining food service for their 860 boarding and day students. After exploring various options, Choate’s solution was to renovate a former student activity center into a dining hall and to utilize modular kitchen units for food preparation.
This project marked our first time working with modular kitchen units. A series of seven modular units were designed and fabricated by Kitchens-To-Go to meet Choate’s specific requirements. These units included:
- Two cook lines
- Food prep areas
- Dishwashing stations
- Walk-in refrigerator and freezer
- Receiving and storage areas.
The fully equipped units were built off-site while preparatory work was underway and then delivered to the site. In just three weeks, the temporary kitchen was set-up and ready for use.
Due to the increased electrical demands of the kitchen units, a new temporary electrical service was required, utilizing a repurposed transformer and rented switch gear.
The cost of the temporary kitchen units, and the service upgrades that were required on this project, are not insignificant. However, the units have proven to be a viable option for temporary food service and they have allowed Choate to continue to maintain seamless dining services to their student body.