Ranges

The professional range: the heart of the kitchen, and the one purchase you do not repeat every year

The range — the cooking suite, the piano — is the equipment a brigade physically organises itself around. It sits at the centre of the pass, it sets the working height, it decides how many pans can run at once on a Friday night. It is also the most structural purchase in a kitchen: a fryer is replaced in a morning, a range is chosen for a decade, and a sizing mistake is paid for at every service.

This page brings together gas and electric ranges, with or without an integrated oven, from the two-burner countertop model to the six-burner suite on a base. Before comparing prices, here is what actually matters.

How many burners? Size by covers, not by ambition

The burner count always comes up first, and rightly so. A burner is not only for cooking: it is for holding. In a real service, one burner carries the sauce base, another the blanching water, a third holds the pasta or the rice — and often only one or two burners are genuinely free for à la minute work.

A two-burner range suits a snack bar, a food truck, a secondary station or a back-up kitchen. It copes as long as the menu stays short and the cooking is prepped ahead.

A four-burner range is the most sold format, for a simple reason: it is the first one that lets you run two à la minute cookings while two bases simmer. It is the format of a brasserie, a neighbourhood restaurant, a caterer.

A six-burner range earns its place beyond a hundred covers, or as soon as two cooks work the piano at the same time. Below that, it costs floor space and energy for nothing.

A useful reflex: count the preparations that must stay permanently hot during service, then add two free burners. That figure is more honest than the number of covers.

Gas or electric: not a matter of taste

Gas still dominates professional kitchens for three concrete reasons: the heat comes up instantly, the flame is visible and therefore controllable by eye, and the range keeps working during a power cut — which, in a business, is not a detail. It also heats round-bottomed pans and woks, which no flat plate does properly.

Its drawback is thermal: a large share of the heat goes into the room, not into the pan. A gas kitchen is a hot kitchen, and it demands a properly sized extraction hood and ventilation — not negotiable, and a real line in the installation budget.

Electric ranges — solid plates or ceramic glass — need no gas supply, produce no combustion by-products and clean up better. They are slower to come up and, above all, slower to come down: an electric plate holds inertia, which forgives timing mistakes less readily.

If your premises have no gas supply and you are hesitating, look seriously at induction hobs: they react as fast as gas, they do not heat the room, and they sit on a worktop with no building work. They do not replace a full suite, but they often replace a two-burner range.

Power: read the kilowatts, not the sales sheet

Total power is expressed in kilowatts. It is the sum of the burners, and it does not tell the whole story: what counts is the spread. A range with four identical 3 kW burners is less versatile than one that mixes a strong burner for searing with a gentle burner for holding a sauce without splitting it.

As an order of magnitude: an auxiliary burner sits around 3 kW, a standard burner between 4 and 6 kW, a strong burner above that. On a four-burner suite, a total of 14 to 20 kW is normal ground. Below, you wait for the water; above, you pay for gas you never burn.

Voltage: the mistake that blocks a delivery

This is where we see the most orders come back. An electric range, or a gas range with an electric oven, is often wired for 400 V three-phase. Many small businesses — snack bars, food trucks, bar kitchens — only have 230 V single-phase. The appliance arrives, it is perfect, and it cannot be used without electrical work.

Check your board before ordering. We made voltage filterable directly in the listing above: one click on "230 V" and you only see what your premises can actually feed. It is the most useful filter on this page.

Integrated oven, or hob only?

A range with an integrated oven is a space solution: it stacks two functions on the same footprint. That makes sense in a small kitchen, for a service oven — reheating, browning, finishing a cut. It is not a production oven.

As soon as the menu calls for oven cooking in volume — roasts, pastry, long cooking — a separate oven gives a completely different result. Depending on the use, look at convection ovens for dry forced air, combi ovens for steam and humidity control, or low temperature ovens for overnight cooking and large cuts.

A range without an oven, on an open base or a cupboard, frees valuable storage under the hob and pairs better with a column of ovens beside it. That is the layout of kitchens that produce.

The base: open, cupboard, or countertop

The type of base changes daily use more than people expect. An open base can be hosed down, lets air circulate and gives access to everything — which is what kitchens facing an inspection prefer. A closed cupboard stores and protects, but it has to be emptied to be cleaned. A countertop model sits on an existing stainless steel table: the answer for constrained kitchens, provided the table takes the weight and the heat.

Gas connection: propane, butane or natural gas

Ranges are delivered set for one gas type and convertible to another with a set of injectors. An appliance set for propane running on natural gas without conversion heats poorly and clogs. Conversion is simple, but it has to be done — and in Belgium, a commercial gas installation must be carried out by a qualified professional. Budget for it from the start, not after delivery.

Maintenance: cast iron, stainless steel, and what actually kills a range

Cast iron pan supports take the weight and the heat, but they rust if left wet. They lift out, brush off and dry — an end-of-service habit, not a maintenance operation. The stainless steel top is cleaned while still warm: once cold, baked-on grease becomes a project.

What really kills a range is two things: sugary spillages that carbonise in the burners and eventually block them, and water sprayed onto the control components. A well-kept range comfortably passes ten years; a range washed with a hose dies in three.

Completing the cooking line

A range never works alone. Alongside it usually sit a fryer for everything fried to order, a griddle plate for searing without dirtying a pan, a salamander for browning and glazing at the pass, and a hot holding station for what is ready and waiting.

For specific cooking, also see wok burners, gas burners for large stockpots and bases, or gas barbecues for outdoor and event work.

Ordering in Belgium

All prices shown are professional prices excluding VAT. Ranges are dispatched within 24 to 48 hours and delivered anywhere in Belgium. A range is heavy and bulky: plan an unloading access, and check the appliance fits through your doors before ordering — exact dimensions are on every product sheet.

A question on sizing, voltage or gas type? Call us before you order rather than after: ten minutes on the phone prevent a blocked installation.

Delivery, warranty and after-sales service

At Horeca Mat Pro, every range is delivered throughout Belgium and Luxembourg within controlled lead times, with packaging suited to transporting professional equipment. Our equipment comes with the manufacturer's warranty and responsive after-sales service: when needed, we support you with spare parts and maintenance to extend the life of your investment. We know a breakdown mid-service is costly, which is why we favour reliable, easily repairable brands.

Equip your kitchen with confidence

Whether you are opening a new establishment or renewing your equipment, our catalogue lets you build a coherent set-up, from the smallest accessory to the central station. Feel free to contact us for tailored advice on choosing your range and complementary products: we help you size your kitchen according to your menu, volume and budget.

Do you deliver to professionals across Belgium?

Yes, we deliver throughout Belgium and Luxembourg, with order tracking at every stage.

Do you offer advice before purchase?

Absolutely: our team guides you to the model best suited to your use and space, with no obligation.

Related categories

Complete your kitchen equipment with our other categories: Induction hobs, Griddle plates and Fryers.