Ice Cream and Gelato Shop Counters: Custom Display From the Factory

An ice cream shop is a fit-out with a hard deadline on both ends. The counter has to be ready before the season starts, and it has to be built around refrigeration that arrives from someone else. Get the sequence wrong and the cabinets sit in a corridor while the shop is being painted.

We build ice cream and gelato counters, dipping cabinet surrounds and display joinery in our own factory. The refrigeration unit is supplied by a specialist, and we build the carcass to its cut-out so the two arrive as one counter.

The counter is a temperature problem

Gelato is served warmer than ice cream and that difference decides the whole layout. A gelato display sits at around minus 12 to minus 14 degrees and is worked from the front, so the operator needs a 1000 mm reach zone and a top that stays cold when it is open. Ice cream dipping cabinets run colder and open from the top, which means the counter height around them has to let staff see in without bending. We set the counter top at 900 mm for scooping and drop the cabinet surround so the glass line sits at 1050 mm from the floor.

Sightlines and the two-metre read

A customer decides at two metres, from the pavement, usually in under three seconds. We put the product glass at 1050 mm to 1150 mm so it catches the eye of an adult standing outside, keep the menu band above it at 1600 mm, and keep the till away from the display so the queue does not stand in front of the product. Where the shop is only three metres wide, the display runs along the wall and the transaction top sits at the door.

Wet, cold and washable in one piece

An ice cream counter is washed down daily, so the material rules are strict. We build with a stainless or compact laminate top, a sealed coving at the wall joint, a 40 mm upstand behind the display, and no open chipboard edge anywhere within splash distance. Drainage trays sit under the scoop wells, and the cabinet surround gets a service gap at the rear for the condenser so the unit can breathe.

Power, drainage and the services drawing

Half of the delays on a frozen dessert fit-out come from services that were planned after the joinery. We send a services drawing with the quotation showing the power points, the drainage position and the ventilation gap, so your contractor can prepare the floor before the counter ships. Where the unit has to move, the counter is built on castors rated for the loaded weight with a bolt-down kit for trading hours.

Ordering from the factory

Send the shop plan or a measured sketch, the refrigeration cut-out dimensions, the menu and the delivery city, and we return a 3D layout, a finish board and a fixed quotation within two working days. Production takes 25 to 35 days, and we quote DDP so freight, duty and clearance sit inside one price rather than arriving as a second invoice at the port.

Send us four things and the quotation comes back faster: counter run length and ceiling height, the cabinet cut-out and power rating, the delivery city and country, and your opening date.

Start with a free 3D design of your ice cream or gelato counter, quoted DDP to your door, through our contact page.