GN 1/1 or 60 × 40 – which oven should you choose?

Professional ovens are typically designed for either GN 1/1 trays or 60 × 40 cm baking sheets. The basic rule is relatively simple: GN 1/1 is primarily used for cooking, while 60 × 40 cm is the standard for professional baking.

However, if you both bake and cook, the choice becomes a bit more interesting.

GN 1/1 is the standard in professional kitchens

GN 1/1 measures 53 × 32.5 cm and is used in restaurants, canteens, hotels, catering kitchens, and many other professional kitchens.

The advantage is not just the size. The GN system is used throughout large parts of the kitchen. The same type of tray can be used for preparation, storage, cooling, cooking, and serving.

If the kitchen already works with GN trays, it will therefore usually be natural to choose an industrial oven for GN 1/1.

60 × 40 cm is made for baking

In bakeries and for larger bake-off production, 60 × 40 cm is usually the obvious choice.

An important reason is the larger baking area. A 60 × 40 cm sheet has approximately 39% more area than a GN 1/1 tray.

This is important when many individual items need to be placed on each sheet. Rolls, croissants, and other products must have space between them so there is room for rising and for air to circulate around them.

If, for example, there needs to be about 4–6 cm between the items, the larger 600 × 400 sheet will typically be utilized significantly better than the GN 1/1.

With many sheets a day, the difference in capacity quickly becomes noticeable.

Also look at the equipment you already have

The choice should not just be about the oven itself.

A bakery may already have a large number of 60 × 40 baking sheets, dough trays, and rack trolleys. A restaurant kitchen may similarly have many GN trays in different heights and materials.

If you change format, it may therefore mean that much of the existing equipment no longer fits the new oven.

This is one of the things we ask about when we help you choose an oven.

What if you both bake and cook?

This is particularly relevant for cafés, bakeries, and other places that both have baking production and serve hot food.

If production is large in both areas, two separate ovens will often be the best solution. That way, you can bake in one oven and cook food in the other at the same time.

It is not just about capacity. You also don't necessarily want to bake cakes in an oven chamber while roasting meat and other strongly scented products, for example.

If, on the other hand, baking primarily takes place in the morning, and the oven is only used for food later in the day, one oven can be a good solution.

A BAKERTOP can be used for both formats

If baking is the primary task, but the oven also needs to be used for cooking, a UNOX BAKERTOP can be an interesting middle ground.

The BAKERTOP is built for 60 × 40 cm baking sheets, but on relevant models, a special combi-rack can be mounted that can handle both 60 × 40 cm and GN 1/1.

Thus, the oven can, for example, be used with baking sheets in the morning and GN trays during lunch production.

This is especially interesting in places where the production of both food and baked goods is not so large that it pays to have two separate ovens.

Why not just choose GN 1/1 for everything?

You can do that in some smaller productions, but you lose baking area.

If you bake a few croissants or rolls a day, it may not mean much. However, if you produce many hundreds of items, the utilization of each individual sheet matters for the total capacity.

In addition, professional bakery ovens are typically designed with baking as a starting point. On the UNOX BAKERTOP, for instance, there is more space between the racks than on many comparable gastronomic ovens.

Can you use 60 × 40 sheets in a GN 1/1 oven?

In principle, no. A standard GN 1/1 oven is not wide enough for a 60 × 40 cm baking sheet.

It is therefore important to choose the right format from the start if 60 × 40 cm is central to the production.

Can you use GN 1/1 in a 60 × 40 oven?

Not necessarily with the oven's standard racks.

On some bakery ovens, however, there are special racks that make it possible. UNOX, for example, has a combi-rack for selected BAKERTOP models that is designed for both GN 1/1 and 60 × 40 cm.

It must be selected as the correct configuration for the oven – you should not just assume that a GN tray fits because the oven chamber is large enough.

What should you choose?

In principle:

• Restaurant, canteen, and catering: GN 1/1
• Bakery and larger bake-off production: 60 × 40 cm
• Café with primarily food: typically GN 1/1
• Café with primarily baked goods: typically 60 × 40 cm
• Bakery with minor food production: 60 × 40 cm with the option of GN 1/1 racks can be a good solution

If large quantities of both baked goods and food are produced, we would normally start looking at two separate ovens instead. It provides greater capacity and makes it possible to run different temperatures, humidity levels, and products at the same time.

You can see our selection of professional bakery ovens or combi ovens for GN 1/1.