Start with the temperature, then the size
Cold rooms split into two duties. Positive rooms hold goods above 0 °C: meat, dairy, bakery, and fruit and vegetables at about +2 to +12 °C depending on the crop. Negative rooms hold frozen goods at about -18 to -25 °C, and blast freezing goes lower. Everything else follows from that choice: panel thickness, door heating, evaporator type and the size of the condensing unit.
Modular walk-in or engineered store
A modular room is a kit of pre-cut polyurethane sandwich panels that bolt together. It suits restaurants, hotels, butchers, small processors and stock rooms, and it can be taken apart and moved. An engineered store is designed around the pallet count, forklift traffic, temperature zones and building. Several rooms can share one shell.
| Option | What it is | Size basis | Suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Modular walk-in cold room | Cam-lock PU panels, hinged door, evaporator and condensing unit | 2,180 x 2,580 x 2,200 mm outside, about 9-10 m³ inside | Back-of-house, small food businesses |
| Custom cold and freezer rooms | Designed envelope, doors, shelving, evaporators, monitoring | Per project, set by pallets or tonnes | Processors, distribution stores, mixed-temperature sites |
Numbers worth comparing
Our modular room is listed with 75-100 mm panels for chilled use and 100-120 mm for frozen, a core density of about 40 kg/m³, and a refrigeration unit of roughly 2-5 hp on 220 V single phase or 380 V three phase. Our engineered rooms use 75-100 mm panels chilled and 100-150 mm frozen, with pull-down from ambient to set point typically in the 4-12 hour range. A thicker panel costs more up front and loses less cold; in hot climates it usually pays back sooner.
| Duty | Set point | Panel thickness | Defrost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chilled | 0 to +5 °C | 75-100 mm | Air or electric |
| Fruit and vegetables | +2 to +12 °C | 75-100 mm | Air |
| Frozen | -18 to -25 °C | 100-150 mm | Electric or hot gas |
What decides the refrigeration unit
Capacity comes from the heat load, not from floor area: how warm the product is when it arrives, how much enters per day, how often the door opens, lighting, people and the outside climate. For a worked metric example with stock weight and cooling load, read our walk-in cold room sizing guide. Buyers who also need very large capacity should look at industrial refrigeration.
Mind the electrical side too. Confirm your supply voltage, frequency and phase before the unit is chosen; a 50 Hz and a 60 Hz network need different compressor motors. In hot regions, ask for a condensing unit rated for your peak ambient, not an average day.
What to send for a quote
- Goods stored and the target temperature
- Peak quantity in kg or pallet positions
- Daily intake and door-opening pattern
- Site or building dimensions, and floor type
- Peak ambient temperature
- Supply voltage, frequency and phase
Send these and we will propose either the standard module or a project layout with the equipment list.