Daylight Centre Kitchen Refurbishment Project

The Daylight Centre’s kitchen had been used to support hundreds of clients experiencing a range of complex needs since the early 2000’s, and the equipment in the kitchen was beginning to show its age. With a rising demand for this vital service, and the need for new equipment to cope with the demand, The Daylight Centre commenced with the Kitchen Refurbishment Project.

Thanks to the incredible support from Cummins, B&Q and Neighbourly, Food4Heroes, and the Margaret Giffen Foundation, the Daylight Centre was able to proceed with their ambitious plan to build a fully functional commercial kitchen with modern equipment and technology that would be capable of providing nutritious meals to our clients for years to come.

The catering equipment and kitchen design was provided by WhitCo, a Northamptonshire based catering and bakery equipment specialist. The kitchen construction and installation was provided by SP Marks, a local building contractor who also completed the refurbishment of the client toilets and showers in 2021.

The Daylight Centre’s first objective was to remove all of the kitchen utensils, cleaning supplies, food supplies, and equipment that would be used in the newly refurbished kitchen. This left behind the old equipment that would later be removed in perperation for construction work to begin.

Once all of the equipment had been removed, the kitchen space felt much bigger and we could begin to visualise where all of the exicting new equipment would go. The biggest challenge at this stage of the project was the removal of the large ventilation canopy that was above the old gas oven. The contractors worked all afternoon trying to remove the canopy and it finally came down with a big bang.

Once all of the old equipment had been taken away, and the mess had been tidied up, the kitchen was finally ready for the much needed makeover that it deserved. This was definitely the messiest stage of the project. All of the old outdated tiles were removed from the walls and the old flooring was ripped up. This allowed for the contractor to begin work on the new walls and ceiling to match the new kitchen design.

Wooden beams were fixed to the walls and ceilings to support the new walls and to hide the pipes and electrical cables needed for the new equipment. On the left hand side of the picture below, you can see the pipes and cables that were needed for the new coffee machine which can produce freshly ground coffee for our clients. At this stage we had no electrical or lighting supply in the kitchen because we were installing the new cables for the new equipment.

Once all of the walls had been plastered and set, we installed hygenic cladding and everything was tapped together to allow for the glue to set. Meanwhile, the floor was leveled out and the room was starting to feel more like a modern commercial kitchen. The pipes and electrcal cabling had been placed specifically to match the location of the new kitchen equipment. At the back of the kitchen in the image below, you can see the power supply socket for the new Combi Oven and Electric Range Oven that would soon be installed.

Once the walls and ceiling were set, the kitchen was ready for its new flooring. This was completed before the new catering equipment had arrived from WhitCo. In the image below, you can see the new shelving and work benches fitted, along with the brand new coffee machine that our clients were very excited about. We were at the final stage of the project and we just needed to install the remaining equipment and add some finishing touches.

Once all of the equipment had been installed, including the brand new lighting, the kitchen was ready to be filled with the utensils and food supplies that John, our Community Cafe Chef, would need to use to cook delicious fresh hot meals for our clients.

Once the kitchen was live and we completed all of the finishing touches, we invited Danielle Wallinger, the Facilities & Community Involvement Team Leader from Cummins Ltd to see the kitchen live in action. Cummins provided a great deal of support towards this refurbishment project, and we are all very thankful for everything they have done.

Danielle Wallinger, Cummins Ltd Community Involvement Team Leader (Left) with Carina Fisher, Daylight Centre CEO (Right).

The Fully equiped Daylight Centre Kitchen.