Commercial utensils give professional chefs the ability to bring menus to life; from stirring to serving, the right tools can aid your chefs in making masterpieces. The variety of restaurant cooking utensils is mind-boggling though, and you may find yourself overwhelmed when it's time to buy smallwares for your new restaurant.

First you have to consider your menu. Determine which commercial cooking tools you'll need to make those dishes, then figure out how many of each you'll need, taking into account the number of services you have in a day. Include both utensils needed for prep and for the service itself. Then consider these commercial cooking utensils types and styles:

1. Use stainless steel utensils when durability is a factor. Metal commercial cooking supplies include spoons and other utensils, measuring spoons, strainers and graters.

2. Buy some inexpensive plastic utensils if you're on a budget and for specific applications. Spatulas and spoons are the most popular plastic professional cooking tools.

3. Consider using wood tools if your restaurant specializes in Asian cuisine. Wooden industrial kitchen utensils are used mainly for stirring and serving and are great for meats and rice.

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Get a long life out of metal industrial cooking utensils

Metal utensils are great because they won't melt and will last forever. Other accessories, like measuring spoons, also work great in stainless steel form because of their durability. The drawbacks, though, include heat conduction leading to kitchen accidents as well as scraping up the bottom of pots while stirring. Even though these drawbacks exist, stainless steel remains a favorite among chefs and restaurateurs.

I recommend: Galasource offers a nice selection of assorted stainless steel spoons. Check out the variety of metal spatulas and turners at Food Equipment International. You can find assorted measuring spoon sets and long-handed measuring spoons at The WEBstaurant Store.

Save money or gain flexibility with plastic professional cooking utensils

Plastic utensils work well for restaurants that are just starting up. They are relatively inexpensive but don't last as long as metal utensils do. Plastic utensils are also good for flipping delicate items in a griddle or pan, as they have the flexibility to get up and underneath the product and support it without tearing it up. As long as your chefs don't accidentally leave the utensils sitting on a heat source, you should be fine for months to come.

I recommend: Browse through the nylon utensils at Central Restaurant Supply. You can also find a variety of plastic serving spoons at Citisco Food Service Equipment.

Consider using professional cooking utensils in lightweight wood

Wood utensils are frequently used in Asian cuisine and in general for stirring meats and serving products like salad and rice. A big draw to these is that they are lightweight and won't scratch up your pots and pans. One downside is that they are porous and must be sanitized between uses to ensure that bacteria like salmonella are removed; harder woods can decrease this problem. Also consider metal products with wooden handles, as this helps prevent hands from being burnt due to heat conduction.

I recommend: Able Kitchen & Restaurant Supplies has a huge selection of wooden spoons in assorted sizes and lengths. Protect your chefs' hands from heat with the wooden-handled scrapers at FoodServiceWarehouse.com.

Commercial cooking utensils are essential in a smooth-running kitchen. While it is necessary to have a wide array of professional cooking utensils on hand for your cooks, this may be an area where you could choose to skimp on quality in order to save money.

Whether you choose to buy commercial utensils made from stainless steel, aluminum or silicone, you will find varying quality and price ranges for each material. You will not deal with bent handles or stained and melted utensils when you purchase stainless steel for your kitchen, but you will pay a higher price for high quality goods.

1. Determine the type of professional cooking utensils that are best suited for your cookware and menu.

2. Evaluate your budget for purchasing commercial cooking tools to determine the material and quality of utensils to buy.

3. Look for stainless steel kitchen utensils when aesthetics and high quality are important.

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Purchase a variety of industrial kitchen utensils for your kitchen

Keep your cooks happy and your kitchen running like a well-oiled machine by having a tool for every need on hand. Find a variety of utensils in stainless steel, aluminum and silicone from these companies.

I recommend: Shop at Tundra Specialties for a wide array of commercial kitchen utensils. Tundra Specialties offers spoons, ladles, spatulas and much more. Shop Able Kitchen for value-priced stainless steel spoons, silicone scrapers and aluminum scoops.

Select high-quality stainless steel industrial cooking utensils.

Stainless steel utensils are heavy duty and have a longer life span than most silicone items and aluminum food prep tools. Heat and food stains will not be an issue when you purchase stainless steel cooking tools.

I recommend: Shop at Global Sources for a huge variety of commercial utensils made from stainless steel. AMCO Houseworks also supplies a large variety of stainless steel restaurant kitchen utensils.

Seek out lower-priced wholesale cooking utensils

Low-priced utensils are key to sticking to your restaurant's budget. Locate professional cooking tools that are lower priced without sacrificing too much quality when your budget does not allow for high-end cooking utensils.

I recommend: Look through several pages to find a large variety of wholesale cooking utensils at Chefs Catalog. Royal Industries Inc., also has a large variety of wholesale cooking utensils. Find everything you need from portion servers to stainless steel forks at wholesale prices.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Purchase more expensive utensils up front to save money in the long run. If you can't purchase the higher quality utensils up front, consider purchasing less expensive items first then replacing them with higher quality stainless steel utensils as they wear out. Keep spare cooking tools on hand in the event that something breaks during business hours.

Gone are the days when restaurant staff relied upon a handful of commercial cooking utensils. Today's restaurants depend upon a wide assortment of kitchen tools, ranging from the bare necessities to novelty items that cooks can live without but prefer not to. Many sites offer deals when you purchase sets of cooking utensils.

Commercial cooking utensil suppliers offer wide assortments of kitchen prep, industrial cooking and specialty utensils at prices that even mom-and-pop stores can afford. The trick is to start with the most obvious necessities, like utility knives, vegetable peelers and cooking spoons, and then experiment with a few specialty tools that help you achieve certain flavors in your cooking or allow you to present foods in more creative ways. Learning about commercial cooking utensils pricing and costs is easy when you follow these steps:

1. Get prices on industrial kitchen utensils you need for food preparation.

2. Find affordable prices on professional culinary tools used for cooking.

3. Consider spending modest amounts on specialty commercial cooking supplies that enhance flavor and presentation.

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Find prices on industrial cooking utensils for food preparation

Knives are perhaps the most commonly used kitchen prep tool, followed by vegetable peelers, cutting boards and can openers.

I recommend: Food Equipment sells a variety of what utility knives, at prices ranging from $4 to $20, depending on size and use. Vegetable peelers at Nextag range in price from $3.50, for the manual Y-shaped variety, to more than $1,000, for electric potato peelers. Cutting boards are available from Mission Restaurant Supply in prices ranging from $3 to $25. The heavy duty can openers at A Best Kitchen cost between $70, for manually operated models, and $520 for automatic openers.

Know price ranges for the most widely used professional cooking tools

Invest wisely in affordable commercial cooking tools like cooking forks, cooking spoons, tongs and turners so that you'll always have a dependable supply on hand.

I recommend: Cooking forks at Gala Source range in price from $20, for pasta forks in cases of 24, to $70 for cold buffet meat forks in cases of 12. Commercial cooking spoons, like stainless steel basters and slotted spoons, sell at Cooking.com for prices between $7 and $9.

Consider the costs of professional cooking utensils for special jobs

As you survey commercial cooking utensils pricing and costs in preparing a kitchen budget, take into account the fact that some utensils are handy but not absolutely necessary. These include steak weights, egg rings and injectors.

I recommend: Steak weights at Instawares come in cast iron, heavy duty cast iron and aluminum. They range in price from $4 to $55. Chrome and stainless steel egg rings at Food Service Direct run between $4 and $14, depending upon the number of eggs they can hold at one time. At The Barbecue Store, a turkey fixins injector costs around $5 while a commercial Cajun injector for meats and poultry can run as much as $43.

As any professional cook or chef will tell you, there is a varied array of kitchen utensils available for commercial kitchens. Although well-known basics are usually the best tools for restaurants and other food service businesses, sometimes specialized equipment can save you time and money. Understanding commercial cooking utensils key terms can help you determine which utensils work best for certain tasks and in some cases can help you identify the purpose for the tool.

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Mandolin

A mandolin is a type of food slicer. Typically, it's rectangular in shape, with a piece of sharp metal in the center that acts as a knife. Chefs use a mandolin to slice vegetables and fruits.

I recommend: Fantes Kitchen Ware Shop offers a bit of history on the mandolin and describes how you can best use it.

Pastry cutter

A pastry cutter is a tool shaped much like a pizza cutter. It has a small, round blade attached to a handle. You can use pastry cutters to cut out dough, to create a decorative edge on dough or to crimp pie crusts.

I recommend: The Pampered Chef illustrates and describes the uses of a pastry cutter.

Pastry blender

Often incorrectly referred to as pastry cutters, pastry blenders are an entirely different kitchen tool. Pastry blenders consist of a series of U-shaped metal wires attached to a handle, and chefs use them to help blend fat, such as butter, into flour for making pastry.

I recommend: WiseGEEK explains what a pastry blender is and tells you how to use one.

Frothing thermometer

Although frothing thermometers, sometimes called steaming thermometers, are commonly thought useful only for making coffee, you can use them to take the temperature of milk in any recipe, particularly when it should be hot and frothing.

I recommend: 1st In Coffee offers a tutorial on using a frothing thermometer when making espresso.

Cream whipper

Cream whippers are small, hand held, stick-like devices used not just to quickly whip cream, but also to make mousses, sauces and similar recipes.

I recommend: Serious Eats explains why cream whippers can save you time and how best to use them.

Egg ring

An egg ring is a metal circle attached to a handle. To use one, a cook places it on a griddle or frying pan, breaks an egg and pours it inside the ring. This creates a perfectly round, even-edged, cooked egg.

I recommend: RecipeTips.com explains what an egg ring is and how to use one.