What size walk-in cooler do I need?
A sizing method, the real interior dimensions of our standard boxes, rough capacity estimates and the sizes buyers actually choose, from more than 23,000 quotes since 2012.
Size your walk-in cooler from what you need to hold in your busiest week, then fit that into your room and the route the panels take to get there. Restaurants and bars most often pick something from 6x8 to 8x12; an 8x10 at the standard 7'6" height holds roughly 150 cases of 24-pack cans on shelving (a planning estimate), while kegs on the floor, heavy weekend stock or pallets push you to 10x10 and up.
We offer six standard cooler sizes, 6x6 to 10x12, all 7'6" high with matched refrigeration, and any other size is built to order. Every box gets a dimensioned approval drawing to sign before your order goes in, so you see the exact size before anything is built.
Size it in three passes
Most sizing goes wrong because buyers start with the room. Start with the product instead, then check the room, then check the route in.
- What you store in your busiest week. Count cases, kegs, crates, buckets or pallets at peak, not on an average Tuesday. Then add shelving depth and an aisle you can actually walk and turn in.
- The room. Measure the footprint and the clear height, and decide where the door and the refrigeration will go.
- The route in. Panels are built to your dimensions, so the real limit is usually the narrowest doorway, the tightest hallway turn and the lowest ceiling obstruction on the way to the room.
Our six standard cooler sizes are 6x6, 6x8, 8x8, 8x10, 10x10 and 10x12, all 7'6" high. Any other size is built to order: L-shapes, low ceilings, tall boxes and boxes around a column are normal work. The packages themselves are on our walk-in coolers page.
Standard walk-in cooler sizes
What the nominal size means on the inside, where your product actually goes.
| Nominal size | Interior floor (approx.) | Interior volume (approx.) | Inside height, no floor | Inside height, with floor | Standard cooler refrigeration |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6x6 | 27 sq ft | 190 cu ft | about 86 in | about 82 in | 1/2 HP |
| 6x8 | 37 sq ft | 265 cu ft | about 86 in | about 82 in | 3/4 HP |
| 8x8 | 51 sq ft | 370 cu ft | about 86 in | about 82 in | 3/4 HP |
| 8x10 | 66 sq ft | 470 cu ft | about 86 in | about 82 in | 1 HP |
| 10x10 | 84 sq ft | 600 cu ft | about 86 in | about 82 in | 1 HP |
| 10x12 | 102 sq ft | 730 cu ft | about 86 in | about 82 in | 1 1/2 HP |
Interior figures are approximate. Volume uses the 86 inch inside height of a box without a floor. Refrigeration is for the standard indoor cooler package held at 35°F.
Standard sizes are nominal. A standard 8x8 is quoted as 7'10" (8'0" nominal), about 2 inches under the nominal size each way. The 7'10" is the outside dimension. Take off two 4 inch walls and the inside ends up about 10 inches under nominal in each direction.
Change the width, length or height of a standard size and it becomes a custom walk-in, and the price changes. That is normal; it just means the standard package no longer applies. Freezers always include an insulated floor, so plan on the 82 inch inside height; see walk-in freezers.
How much a walk-in actually holds
Rough, conservative planning numbers, not guarantees. Your shelving and product will change them.
| Nominal size | Interior floor | Interior volume | Shelving (linear ft) | 24-pack cases on shelving | Half-barrel kegs, floor, single high | 48x40 pallets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6x6 | 27 sq ft | 190 cu ft | 9 | about 60 | about 4 | not practical (34 in door) |
| 6x8 | 37 sq ft | 265 cu ft | 11 | about 70 | about 5 | not practical |
| 8x8 | 51 sq ft | 370 cu ft | 18 | about 120 | about 10 | not practical |
| 8x10 | 66 sq ft | 470 cu ft | 22 | about 150 | about 12 | not practical |
| 10x10 | 84 sq ft | 600 cu ft | 24 | about 170 | about 12 | 1 or 2 with a wide door |
| 10x12 | 102 sq ft | 730 cu ft | 28 | about 190 | about 14 | about 2 with a wide door |
| 10x20 | 176 sq ft | 1,260 cu ft | 44 | about 310 | about 24 | about 4 with a wide door |
| 12x20 | 214 sq ft | 1,530 cu ft | 46 | about 320 | about 24 | about 8 with a wide door and pallet aisle |
Each column is a separate scenario. Mixing shelves and kegs splits these numbers.
What these estimates assume
- The box. Standard 7'6" height without a floor, interior about 10 inches under nominal each way and about 86 inches tall inside.
- Shelving. 18 inch deep shelving, 4 tiers, on the back wall and one or both side walls, with an aisle of at least 30 inches.
- Cases. 24-packs of 12 oz cans, about 16 x 11 x 5 inches, stacked 2 high per shelf.
- Kegs. Half-barrels, about 16 inches across and 23 inches tall, single high on the floor with no shelving. Two-tier keg racks roughly double the count.
- Pallets. Standard 48 x 40 inch pallets, with an aisle for the pallet jack.
Why pallets need a wide door
Our standard door opening is 34 x 76 inches. A 48 x 40 inch pallet will not pass through it either way, so pallet traffic needs a 48 or 60 inch door opening or a sliding door. Wide doors and sliding doors are quoted with the box (the door types are shown on our walk-in doors page). Settle the door before the footprint, because the pallet aisle eats floor space.
What sizes buyers actually choose
Aggregates from more than 23,000 quotes since 2012, about 15,400 of them with a size we could read.
Across all those quotes the most common footprints are 8x10, 8x8, 6x8, 6x6, 10x10, 10x12 and 8x12. The most common height is 7'6", then 8'0", then 12'0". More than half are coolers, about a quarter freezers, and about 1 in 6 is a cooler and freezer combination. About 1 in 7 boxes goes outdoors.
Florists size around bucket height and stem length rather than cases; that is covered on our flower coolers page.
How to measure your space
- Floor footprint. Measure wall to wall in both directions and note anything in the way: columns, drains, floor sinks, steps in the slab.
- Ceiling height and obstructions. Measure to the lowest point, not the ceiling tile. Sprinkler heads, beams, ducts and light fixtures all count.
- Clearance around the box. Leave room on the sides and above for air and for the refrigeration. Leave at least 3 to 5 inches between the box and any wall, and room above for the refrigeration.
- The door. Decide which wall the door goes on and which way it swings, and check that it clears equipment, aisles and traffic.
- The refrigeration. Indoor condensing unit, outdoor condensing unit on a roof or pad, or self-contained. Note the distance from the box to where an outdoor unit would sit.
- Electrical. Note what power is available near the box and near the condensing unit location.
- The delivery route. Narrowest door, hallway turns, stairs and the elevator size, from the truck to the room.
Send a rough sketch with the measurements and photos of the room and the route. Upload them with the quote form or text pictures to 954-237-6753. What happens on install day is in our installation guide.
Sizing mistakes to avoid
- Sizing for an average week. The box has to hold the holiday weekend, the Friday delivery and the event order. If it only fits the average, product ends up stacked in the aisle or blocking the evaporator.
- Forgetting the aisle. Two walls of 18 inch shelving plus a 30 inch aisle already use 66 inches of interior width. Plan shelving and aisle first, then pick the footprint.
- Forgetting door swing. The door swings out, so it needs open floor in front of it, and on the inside the shelving nearest the door has to clear the opening.
- Tall product. Long-stem flowers in buckets and stacked kegs need height. The evaporator hangs from the ceiling and takes some top space, and a floor lowers the inside from about 86 to about 82 inches.
- Planning a freezer inside a cooler budget. A freezer of the same footprint needs an insulated floor, a heated door frame, a pressure relief vent and more refrigeration. Decide early which box is which.
- Ignoring the delivery route. The box fits the room on paper and then the panels cannot make the turn in the hallway. Measure the route before you sign the drawing.
When a combination makes sense
If you need both cold and frozen storage, a cooler and a freezer side by side can share one wall as a single combination box. One shared wall means fewer panels and less floor than two separate boxes. If you enter the freezer through the cooler, the freezer door opens into cold air instead of a warm kitchen.
The freezer side always gets an insulated floor, because a sub-freezing box over bare concrete freezes moisture under the slab and causes frost heave. The cooler side can go with or without a floor; our floor or no floor guide walks through that choice. Layouts and options are on the combination cooler freezer page, and if the box is going outside, read indoor vs outdoor first.
Get a real number for your size
Send us your measurements, what you store and where the refrigeration can go through the free quote form. You usually get a real number back the same day, with free shipping on every walk-in we quote.
Before anything is ordered, you get a dimensioned approval drawing with plan and elevation, door and evaporator callouts, and you sign it. You can see what those look like in our approval drawings. If you are still weighing options, read what drives walk-in cooler cost and how delivery works, then request your quote.
Frequently asked
What is the most common walk-in cooler size?
8x10 is the most common footprint in our quotes, followed by 8x8, 6x8, 6x6, 10x10, 10x12 and 8x12. The most common height is 7'6".
How much does an 8x10 walk-in cooler hold?
An 8x10 has about 66 sq ft of floor inside and about 470 cu ft of space. As a rough planning estimate, that is about 150 cases of 24-pack cans on 22 linear ft of 4-tier shelving, or about 12 half-barrel kegs single high on the floor with no shelves.
If you mix kegs and shelving, the numbers split between the two.
How tall is a standard walk-in cooler?
Our standard height is 7'6" outside. Inside that is about 86 inches without a floor and about 82 inches with one. We also regularly build 8'0", 8'6", 9'0", 10'0" and 12'0" boxes.
Can I get a walk-in shorter than 7'6"?
Yes. Panels are made to your dimensions, and low ceilings are normal work. A non-standard height makes the box custom.
Keep in mind the evaporator hangs from the ceiling inside, and a self-contained drop-in system needs room above the box, so tell us your exact clear height.
What size walk-in cooler does a small restaurant need?
Most restaurant quotes we see fall between 6x8 and 8x10, with 8x12 and 10x10 for busier kitchens. Count your peak delivery, not an average week.
About 1 in 4 restaurant quotes is a combination cooler and freezer. More on restaurant walk-ins.
Do I need a bigger box for kegs?
Kegs live on the floor, so floor area matters more than shelving. Roughly, an 8x8 holds about 10 half-barrels single high and a 10x12 about 14. Two-tier keg racks roughly double that, using height instead of footprint.
See brewery and bar walk-ins for keg layouts.
Will the walk-in fit through my doors?
Usually, because the box ships as flat panels and goes together on site with cam locks. The narrowest door, tightest turn, stairs and elevator still decide the largest panel that can get in, so measure the route. See walk-in cooler kits.
Also worth a look
What drives the cost
There is no single price for a walk-in, because the same footprint can be built many ways.
Read moreWalk-In Coolers
Six standard indoor packages with refrigeration, or your dimensions.
Read moreWalk-in cooler kits
A complete prefab walk-in cooler or freezer: insulated cam-lock panels, door, hardware and matched refrigeration, built to a standard size or to your dimensions.
Read moreSend your size, get a same-day quote
Tell us what you store, your room measurements and the route in. We send back a real number, usually the same day, with free shipping, and a dimensioned approval drawing before anything is built. Call or text 954-237-6753.