Supermarket Refrigeration Fit-Out Guide

Fitting out a supermarket starts with the floor plan, not the equipment list. Where customers walk, where the back door is, and where the power and drainage already run will decide your cabinet mix more than any spec sheet will. Get that order right and the refrigeration falls into place. Get it backwards and you end up paying to run cabinets that are in the wrong place.

This guide walks through how a supermarket refrigeration fit-out actually comes together in Australia, from first floor plan to opening day. It is the supermarket version of our butcher and deli fit-out guide, and the sequence below is the one we use on real store projects in Brisbane, Sydney and regional Queensland.

Start with the store, not the cabinets

Walk the floor plan the way a customer will. Fresh produce and grab-and-go lines belong where people enter and where they pass on the way to the checkout. Dairy and frozen sit deeper in the store, because customers will walk for them. Meat and deli need a service face and a back-of-house path that does not cross the customer flow.

Three things on that plan decide the refrigeration before you choose a single model. Where three-phase power is available. Where the floor waste and drainage already run. And where the back-of-house cool room can sit without a delivery trolley crossing the shop floor.

Sorting those three first is what keeps a fit-out on schedule. Reworking power or drainage after the cabinets arrive is the single most expensive change you can make.

The cabinet mix, department by department

Most Australian supermarkets end up with four or five distinct refrigeration types, not one.

Fresh produce and chilled grab-and-go run on open multideck cases. Open fronts sell — customers reach in without thinking about it, and turnover on those lines is high enough that the running cost is usually worth it.
Dairy and long-shelf chilled lines suit doored multidecks. Same shelved merchandising, sliding or hinged glass doors, materially lower running cost. Customers are already looking for milk; a door does not cost you the sale.
Drinks and impulse lines run on glass-door display fridges near the checkout and along the walk-in path.
Meat and deli need a serve-over case with a proper service face, and the back-of-house space to support it.
Frozen is its own decision — upright glass-door freezers along a wall, or island wells if your floor plan can carry them.

The mistake we see most often is one cabinet type repeated across the whole store because it was simpler to quote. It costs more to run and it merchandises worse.

Open cases or doors — the decision that sets your power bill

This is the single biggest running-cost decision in the store, and it is worth making department by department rather than store-wide.

An open multideck pulls in warm shop air continuously, so the compressor works harder for the same shelf temperature. A doored cabinet holds its air. The gap is large enough that it shows up on the quarterly bill, not just on paper.

The practical rule: open cases where turnover is high and the reach-in matters — produce, grab-and-go, the impulse run near the registers. Doors everywhere the customer is already committed to the purchase — dairy, long-life chilled, frozen, drinks in the main aisle. Night blinds on whatever open cases you keep will claw back a meaningful share of the overnight load.

We walk through the full comparison in our open multideck versus glass-door post, including what changes for a store that trades late.

How much back-of-house you actually need

Shop-floor cabinets are merchandising. The cool room is storage, and undersizing it is a slow, permanent tax on the store.

Size it against delivery frequency rather than floor area. A store taking produce three times a week needs far less cold storage than one taking a single weekly drop, and regional stores on a weekly run need the most. Add the seasonal peak, not the average week.

Chill Pro supplies cool rooms in twenty and forty foot configurations across a temperature range that covers both chilled and frozen storage, including a solar-powered option for sites where grid capacity is the constraint. The cool room page has the configurations and the temperature ranges.

Power, floor and drainage

Before anything is ordered, get these confirmed in writing by your electrician and builder.

Three-phase supply and available capacity at the board — most multideck runs need it, and adding capacity later is a switchboard job, not a plug change.
Floor loading and levelness along the intended cabinet run. A run that is out of level will not seal, and the case will sweat.
Floor waste within reach of every case that needs drainage, and a condensate path for the ones that do not.
Ambient conditions on the shop floor. Cabinets are rated to a climate class, and a store that runs warm in a Queensland summer will not hold temperature in a cabinet specified for a cooler room. Ask for the climate class on every quoted unit and match it to the store, not to the catalogue.
Ceiling height and door widths on the delivery path. A three-metre multideck run that cannot get through the roller door is a problem best discovered on a drawing.

Sizing the run to the space

Cabinet runs are sold in modules, and the modules rarely match the wall you have. It is worth resolving this on paper before a quote is issued — sizing a cabinet run to your floor space covers how to work back from the wall length and the aisle clearance you need to keep.

Leave the aisle clearance a trolley actually needs past an open case, not the minimum. An aisle that measures fine on the plan and jams in practice will cost you more in lost basket size than the extra metre of cabinet was worth.

Staging the rollout so you keep trading

Almost no store can close for a fit-out, and it does not need to.

Refrigeration goes in by department, usually starting with the areas furthest from the entrance so the front of the store keeps trading. Each department comes on, gets pulled down to temperature and holds it for a full trading day before the stock goes in. Frozen is normally staged last, because it has the longest pull-down and the least tolerance for a false start.

Build the lead time into the plan from the first conversation rather than the last. Stock ordering, shelving and signage all hang off the refrigeration dates, and freight to a regional site adds to the front of the schedule, not the end of it.

Our project gallery has completed store and department fit-outs you can look through for how the staging worked in practice.

What it costs to run, and what it costs to buy

We quote per store rather than publishing prices, because two stores with identical floor areas routinely need different equipment once the power supply, delivery frequency and trading hours are on the table.

What is worth comparing before you commit is the running cost. Ask every supplier for kWh per day on every cabinet, at the climate class your store actually runs at. Over a ten-year life that number will usually move more money than the purchase difference did. Our guide to energy-efficient supermarket refrigeration goes through what to compare and how.

Chill Pro Trusted Finance Partners offer competitive rates in the market — ask us about it, and our services page sets out what is included.

Frequently asked questions

How long does a supermarket refrigeration fit-out take?
It depends on the equipment lead time and how much electrical work the site needs, not on the installation itself. Get your electrical scope confirmed early, because that is usually the step that sets the date. Freight to a regional site needs to be built into the front of the schedule.

Can I fit out a store in stages?
Yes, and most stores do. Refrigeration goes in department by department so the store keeps trading, with each department pulled down to temperature and held for a full trading day before stock goes in.

Do I need three-phase power for supermarket refrigeration?
Most multideck runs do. Have your electrician confirm both the supply type and the spare capacity at the board before equipment is ordered, because adding capacity afterwards is a switchboard job.

Should I use open cases or glass doors in a supermarket?
Both, by department. Open cases where reach-in drives turnover — produce, grab-and-go, impulse lines near the registers. Doors where the customer is already committed — dairy, long-life chilled, frozen and main-aisle drinks. Doors cost materially less to run.

What size cool room does my store need?
Size it against how often you take deliveries rather than against floor area, and allow for the seasonal peak rather than the average week. A store on a single weekly drop needs considerably more cold storage than one taking produce three times a week.

Planning a store fit-out?

Send us your floor plan with the wall lengths, ceiling height, power supply and delivery frequency, and we will come back with a department-by-department equipment plan and a delivered quote. We supply across Australia, with our closest support in Brisbane and Sydney.