Building restaurants in Criciúma: what the industrial kitchen requires before the project begins

Updated on 07/06/2026 by EZA Engenharia

Building restaurants in Criciúma has a particularity that a store or office project doesn't: the kitchen dictates the rest of the project. There's no point in designing a beautiful dining room if the exhaust system isn't done right, if the plumbing can't handle the volume of hot and cold water an industrial kitchen demands, or if the team's workflow runs into obstacles at every corner. We've seen projects grind to a halt, budgets blow up and corrective work happen months after the opening simply because these points weren't considered in the plans.

Exhaust: the system that decides whether the kitchen works or suffocates

The hood and exhaust duct are not a finishing item, they are structure. In a commercial food-service project, the sizing of the exhaust system must enter the design before the masonry is closed, because the duct usually crosses the slab, the ceiling and sometimes the façade. When this is decided later, the only way out is to drill into a finished wall or run an exposed duct where it should not be, and the visual and functional result falls short of what the client expected.

There is also the matter of air flow. A kitchen with a griddle, fryer and oven working together generates heat and grease in a volume that a household exhaust hood cannot handle. EZA always calculates the exhaust according to the type of kitchen, not based on a generic table. A grill restaurant calls for a different system than a coffee shop with a combi oven, and that changes ductwork, motor and even the position of the machine room.

An industrial kitchen's plumbing calls for its own system, not an adaptation

A commercial kitchen uses hot water in volumes that a residential installation cannot deliver. Industrial dishwashers, pre-rinse stations, pot-filler taps for large pots — all of this draws pressure and flow that require a network sized from the plumbing design onward, with a boiler or heating system compatible with the expected demand.

Another point we always insist on in EZA projects is the grease trap. A restaurant without a well-sized and well-positioned grease trap becomes a headache within a few months, with clogged piping and trouble with the sewage utility. The trap must be in a location accessible for periodic cleaning, and that is a design decision, not a last-minute one. Drains with a proper trap and grate throughout the preparation area also prevent flooding and odor, and are a requirement that health inspectors check during the inspection.

Acoustics: the neighbor and the client seated at the table matter too

An industrial kitchen is noisy. The hood running, the industrial blender, the clatter of pans, it all adds up. If the dining room sits right next to the kitchen without any acoustic barrier, the customer seated near the passage eats while hearing the noise of the stove, and that ruins the experience even with good food.

In commercial buildings with other units on the same floor, as happened in projects EZA has already delivered, acoustics also become a matter of getting along with the neighbor. A double wall, ceiling insulation, and choosing material that absorbs noise instead of reflecting it make a real difference. It's an investment that doesn't look pretty in a photo, but it prevents recurring complaints once the restaurant is up and running.

Flow: a well-designed kitchen saves steps and prevents accidents

Kitchen flow is about distance. The fewer steps the team takes between receiving goods, prep, cooking and sending dishes out to the dining room, the faster the service comes out and the lower the chance of crossing raw meat with a finished plate. This is called unidirectional flow, and it is one of the first things the health inspectors look at during an inspection.

Before finalizing the floor plan, we always ask the client how the kitchen's day-to-day will work in practice: where the supplier's truck pulls in, where the freezer goes, where the waiter comes in and out. A common mistake is designing the kitchen thinking only about the available space, without considering the movement of whoever will work there eight, ten hours a day. That turns into fatigue, bottlenecks and rework in the rush of peak hours.

Structure and cladding: details that support everything else

Industrial kitchen equipment is heavy. Cold room, industrial stove, dishwasher, all of this requires flooring and sometimes structural reinforcement that can bear the weight without cracking or giving way over time. In existing properties, this is even more delicate, because the property's existing structure was not always designed for this type of load.

Finishes have their own rules too: washable walls up to a certain height, non-slip flooring with the correct slope for water drainage, rounded corners where the code requires. These are requirements that cost a little more when included in the design and cost much more when they turn into corrections after the project is finished.

A restaurant that works in the kitchen is a restaurant that was thought out before becoming a project. EZA has been in Criciúma for more than 35 years building and expanding commercial spaces, from clinics to offices, from stores to hotels, and knows where each technical detail turns into a real problem when it is ignored at the start. If you have a restaurant, bar, café or any dining space project coming off the drawing board, or already under construction and stuck at some technical point, talk to EZA on WhatsApp (48) 99191-2018 or by email at [email protected]. We sit down, look at the plan and talk about what really needs to be done.