Cleaning and Renewing Used Restaurant Equipment

[TheStarvingArtist]

Hi!

So I lucked out and purchased my whole cafe's equipment used/at auction. It's all just what I need and in really good shape, but it needs some serious cleaning on many cosmetic levels. Not having had to do this before....

Tips on grease-removal? Some of this stuff is pretty gunked...

What about renewing a S/S worktable? The top is nice and shiny, but the unfinished bottom shelf has that crusty whitish deposit....how do I shine it up?

Cleaning the inside/outside of a S/S cooler?

I'm mostly in the need of advice re: which cleaning products to use/avoid, and any special tips/tricks. Thanks!

[glepore]

Went through this when I bought a tavern a few years back. I found that a good automotive degreaser was the bomb-I like the purple concentrated stuff-in a sprayer (I like the pump type sprayers for yard use from wallyworld or the hardware store) -work outside, spray well, let soak scrub with a chore-boy pad or similar, repeat. Wear gloves. Rinse very well when done. When in use, be aware that these chemicals are not food friendly, so don't use them on equipment in the kitchen-simple green contains stuff that is nasty to eat as well.

[Mjx]

Any polymerized fat/muck is best scraped off with an oven/ice scraper (depending on the surface), if you can manage it without damaging the surface beneath.

[judiu]

Component parts can be put into an electric oven on the self clean cycle. Be sure to rise extremely well after using stainless steel scrubbies; they've been known to leave splinters in whatever you're scrubbing...