Cooking is the largest single ignition source in occupied buildings, and the equipment provided for it splits sharply between commercial and domestic settings. The commercial answer is a specified provision with training behind it. The domestic answer is a blanket and an instruction to leave. Confusing the two produces both over equipped homes and under equipped kitchens.
The commercial provision
A wet chemical unit for the class F risk at the range, sited so it can be reached without passing the fryer. A class A unit for the ordinary combustibles in the rest of the kitchen. A fire blanket for a small contained pan fire. Carbon dioxide where there is substantial electrical equipment. Where a fixed suppression system is fitted over the range, the portables complement it rather than replace it.
Why the fryer changes everything
Oil held at working temperature is already above the temperature at which it will ignite unaided, so the fire relights unless the surface is sealed and held while the oil cools. That is what wet chemical does and nothing else in the cupboard does. This single fact is why kitchen provision is specified separately from the rest of a building.
The domestic answer
A fire blanket near the door rather than behind the hob, and the instruction to turn the heat off, cover the pan and leave it alone. Domestic pan fires are the archetypal case where doing less is better, and where reaching for a water unit under the sink causes the injury.
Siting, which is where most provisions fail
Equipment mounted on the wall behind the cooker is unreachable at exactly the moment it is wanted. Everything in a kitchen provision belongs on the escape side of the risk, which usually means beside the door.
Where a fire suppression system kitchen install changes the extinguisher provision
A suppression system in the canopy covers the appliances under it and nothing else, so it narrows the extinguisher question rather than removing it. What is still wanted is a wet chemical unit for a fire at the appliance that starts outside the protected zone, a carbon dioxide unit near the electrical intake, and whatever the rest of the premises needs on its own risks. What changes is the training and the shut down: staff have to know the system exists, that it will cut the gas or power when it goes, and that the kitchen does not reopen until it has been recharged and recommissioned. A provision written before the system was installed is usually wrong in both directions at once.
Health and safety fire extinguishers paperwork, and who keeps it
Three records and one of them is not a contractor's. The annual service schedule for every unit. The monthly check sheet, signed by somebody on site, confirming each unit is in place, unobstructed, undamaged and in the green. And the training record showing who has been shown how and when. The assessment ties them together by saying what provision the premises needs and why. An estate with a full service file and no monthly sheet is the commonest finding, because the visit is bought and the walk round is nobody's named job.
Questions people ask about kitchen fire extinguishers
What fire extinguisher kitchen provision does a small cafe need?
That is a risk assessment question, and the usual answer is wet chemical at the cooking line, a blanket, and class A cover for the seating area.
Is a fire blanket enough on its own?
In a domestic kitchen it often is. In a commercial one it is not, because the quantities of hot oil are beyond what a blanket can cover and hold.
Can a domestic kitchen use a wet chemical unit?
It can, and it is rarely the right spend. The domestic risk is a pan, which a blanket handles, and an untrained person under stress does better with the simpler tool.
What can CO2 fire extinguishers be used on in a kitchen?
Electrical equipment, and that is the reason to have one: the fryer's controls, the extract motor, a socket or a piece of plant. It is not for the oil itself, because the gas discharges with enough force to spread burning fat and does nothing to stop it reigniting once the gas disperses. Two practical points. The horn gets extremely cold in use, so it is held by the handle only. And a carbon dioxide unit in a small closed kitchen displaces oxygen, so the person using it leaves as soon as the fire is out rather than staying to check.
Are water mist fire extinguishers any use in a kitchen?
They cover a wider range of fires than water alone, including some rated for cooking oils, and they are attractive in a small premises that would otherwise carry three different units. Read the label rather than the sales sheet: the rating for cooking oil fires is what matters and not every mist unit carries it. Where one does, it can reduce the number of cylinders on the wall, which is a real gain in a tight kitchen. Where the assessment has identified a deep fat fryer, a unit specifically rated for it stays the safe answer.
What are the legal requirements for fire extinguishers in the workplace UK wide?
The Order requires appropriate firefighting equipment, easily accessible, simple to use and indicated by signs, with people trained to use it where the assessment says they should be. It names no number per floor and no product, because the appropriate provision is whatever the risk assessment identified. That is why a supplier who quotes a unit count before asking what the premises does is selling rather than advising, and why an assessment that says two units per floor without saying which risks they answer is not evidence of anything.