Gas to Electric Commercial Kitchen: What Your Old Gas Kit Is Actually Worth

If someone has told you gas is being banned in commercial kitchens, it has not happened. There is no UK ban on gas cooking in a commercial kitchen, and nothing currently in force says you have to pull out a working range. The Future Homes and Buildings Standard published in March 2026 raises the bar for new homes in England. It is not a rule about your kitchen.

Plenty of operators are switching anyway, and the reasons are worth knowing whether you are the one buying the induction or the one left standing in the yard with a perfectly good six burner.

What Is Actually Driving the Switch

Efficiency. UKHospitality puts induction at around 90% efficient against 40% to 60% for gas. Most of what a gas burner produces goes around the pan and into the room, which is why your extraction works so hard.

The room itself. Gas cooking releases nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide indoors, and electric runs cooler with no open flame. That changes what a kitchen is like to stand in during a July service.

Maintenance and compliance. Electric needs no flue and no annual gas safety check. Every gas appliance you run needs a CP42, the commercial catering gas safety inspection record, issued by a Gas Safe registered engineer and valid for a year. That is a fixed annual cost electric does not carry. More in our guide to second-hand catering equipment gas safety.

Where the energy goes. Carbon Trust figures put cooking at about 40% of kitchen energy, ahead of refrigeration at 28%. It is the biggest single line, which is why it gets looked at first.

Then the other side of it. Induction hobs and commercial electric ovens cost more up front, and the route UKHospitality recommends is phased: replace gas kit as it wears out, run a hybrid line, trial one section before committing the whole kitchen. Nobody sensible rips out a working range in a weekend, which is exactly where the used market comes in.

Seller Advice: Your Old Gas Kit Is Not Scrap

The person who advises the switch is never the person who has to move the old kit. A six burner range, a salamander, a gas fryer, all with years left in them, and they end up round the back because nobody had a plan for them.

• Sell it while it is still connected and working. A machine dragged outside and photographed in the rain is worth a fraction of the same machine photographed hot in a working kitchen. Take your pictures before the electricians arrive.
• Keep the paperwork. The last CP42 and any service records travel with the machine and they change the price. Documented gas kit sells to buyers who would not otherwise touch it.
• Photograph the data plate. Gas type matters more than anything else in the listing: natural gas or LPG, and which injectors are fitted. An LPG unit, or a convertible one, has a second audience in mobile catering.
• Do not roll it into the new deal blind. If a supplier offers to take the old line away with the package, price it first. You may be handing over more than you think.

Photograph the data plate and CaterBot fills in the specs and the delivery details for you, so listing a range does not mean typing out a spec sheet.

Buyer Advice: This Is a Good Window for Gas

• Mobile catering is not switching. A trailer or a van runs LPG and will keep running LPG. Every gas range coming out of a fixed kitchen is a candidate for someone building a unit.
• A category falling out of fashion is a category getting cheaper. The same argument runs through our guide to new vs used catering equipment: condition and parts support decide value, not fashion.
• Check your supply before you buy anything electric. A full induction line is a serious load and the answer often is not single phase. Read 3-phase vs single-phase catering equipment first, and get a figure from your network operator rather than a guess.

Moving It Without Ruining It

Disconnection is a job for a Gas Safe registered engineer, not a mate with a spanner, and the cap has to be right before anything moves. Palletise on a proper base, strap it upright, shrink wrap heavily, and check the collection address has tail lift access before you agree a price. A range that arrives with a bent leg and a cracked burner cap is a dispute.

The Checklist Before You Sell

• Photograph it working, in place, before disconnection
• Photograph the data plate clearly, and note whether it is natural gas, LPG or convertible
• Find the last CP42 and any service history
• Check burner caps, crowns and pan supports are all present
• Measure it properly, and weigh it if you can
• Arrange Gas Safe disconnection before the buyer arrives

Nobody has banned your gas. What has changed is that a lot of good gas kit is coming loose at the same time, and that is a market on both sides. Buy. Sell. Save.

Ready to Move Your Old Gas Kit?

List it on CaterBids and keep every penny of the sale. Zero final value fees, no cut of what you sell it for, and you pay to list from £5. Post your listing and let it find the buyer who still wants gas.