About Residential Purchases

While Restaurant Equippers’ stocks items primarily intended for commercial kitchens most items can also be shipped to residential customers. However residential customers should consider the following before placing an order:

Commercial Restaurant Cooking Equipment and Refrigeration

The demands of a commercial kitchen and one in your home are different, and the expectations of professional chef are different from even the most seasoned home cook. That means equipment designed for a commercial environment may not meet your expectations for consumer-level products.
Commercial cooking equipment is designed for repeated heavy use and functionality, often at the cost of aesthetics and ease-of-use.
Commercial equipment is usually much louder than items designed for home use.
Because commercial equipment is designed to work harder, it usually uses more energy than residential models.
Some equipment may be too large or heavy to fit into your home.
Commercial cooking equipment is not insulated as thoroughly as residential equipment, generating more heat. Many local building and fire codes require a ventilation hood system more powerful than the exhaust hood often found in homes as well as fire-suppression systems for this level of equipment.
Using commercial restaurant equipment in your home would likely void your homeowner’s insurance and the equipment’s warranty.

Restaurant Equippers reserves the right to deny shipment for residential usage. You’ll be notified as soon as possible if this occurs.

If you want to make sure a specific piece of equipment is suitable for your home, chat or call our National Order Office at 1-888-430-1655.

Residential Shipping Charges

Most of the items Restaurant Equippers sells can be delivered by a parcel carrier like FedEx to a residential address. However, larger items are shipped by freight carriers who often charge more to deliver to residential addresses than commercial addresses.

Preparing for Shipment Arrival

FedEx (i.e., small package) shipments are normally easy to coordinate. However, larger and heavier freight and common carrier shipments often require additional considerations.

Make sure you have sufficient and proper equipment and personnel to receive, sign for, and unload your shipment. Customers with loading docks will receive shipments there. If there is no loading dock, freight, and common carrier shipments are delivered curbside. Deliveries to a residence or residentially-zoned business locations will be dropped off between 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday without prior notification. You are responsible for unloading and moving the shipment inside. If you do not select Lift Gate at check out, you are also responsible for getting the item off the truck without lift gate assistance. Freight and common carrier drivers are not required to assist in unloading your order from the truck.

Receiving Your Freight Delivery

Exterior Inspection

Check

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Photograph

A black smartphone with a flash going on off as a picture is taken.

Take Notes

Accept/Decline

A drawing of a green check mark in a green circle, and a drawing of a red X in a red circle.

When your order is delivered by freight, you should inspect your items for damage before the driver leaves. After the driver leaves, you are responsible for reporting damage to the delivery company. Restaurant Equippers cannot be held accountable for those damages.

Before you accept the delivery, do the following:

Do an Exterior Inspection of your order. Keep all the original packing materials, including pallets and boxes, until you are satisfied with the entire order. Check that what's been delivered is what you ordered. Use the following tips to help determine if your items may be damaged or missing before opening the boxes:
- Check the Bill of Lading to see how many boxes should be in your delivery. Make sure the shrink wrap on your delivery is intact. If it is not, note it on the delivery receipt.
- Check each carton for punctures, dents, cuts, holes, and broken pallets. Note any on your delivery receipt and ask the driver to open the box. If they refuse, call our National Order Office, or refuse the box, noting it on the delivery receipt.
- If the boxes look undamaged, accept the package, and write "subject to inspection" along with your signature. After the driver leaves, you have five days to report damaged or missing items.
Check every item you ordered. After the driver leaves, go over everything you purchased from top to bottom. Look for obvious damage or more difficult-to-find interior damage. Hidden or concealed damage must be reported, and an inspection must be requested within five days of delivery. Be sure to keep all the boxes, packing materials, and pallets in case you need to return items.
Take pictures. Before the driver leaves, note all the damage you see and take pictures. Make sure to note any damage to your items or the packaging on the delivery receipt or Bill of Lading.
After you've inspected your delivery, you have three options:
- No damage. Sign off and accept the shipment.
- Minor damage. Note any damage you see on the shipping receipt or Bill of Lading. If you don't want to be stuck with a damaged item, refuse that item, and call our National Order Office in case the carrier does not want to participate in a freight claim. Ensure you have a written and signed note from the driver saying you refused the damaged item.
- Unusable items. If any of your items are so damaged that you don't want them, refuse delivery. Note the damage, take photos, and contact our National Order Office as soon as possible.