Category
A combi oven is the most valuable single unit in most commercial kitchens and the one that is hardest to price from a photograph.
The value sits inside the machine — in the steam generator, the heat exchanger and the door seal — and none of it is visible from the front. That is why a serviced unit and a hammered one make the same photograph, and why the same oven sells for $9,750 with a service file behind it and $1,900 without. What follows is what actually determines the number.
At a glance
| Typical new price | $14,000 – $24,000 new |
|---|---|
| Expected service life | 12 years with annual servicing |
| Live on site | 1 unit |
| From | $9,750 |
| Grades listed | Grade B. Sound, working. |
Roughly 8% of catalogue price a year, floored at 15%. A grade-A unit carries a 5% premium over that curve; grade C carries a 15% discount.
What to check when buying used
Named for this category, with what you can actually see from a photograph, what you have to ask for instead, and what putting it right costs. Price the fault in before you bid, not after you have collected.
Ask for the CalcDiagnosis or descale log, not a photo. A boiler-type combi on unsoftened water can scale badly in two years and nothing about it shows on the outside. Descale invoices are the only real evidence.
Cost to put right$180 – $340 per descale · a scaled-out generator is $1,400+
Only visible as a symptom: steam where there should not be steam, or a unit that will not hold temperature. Cannot be photographed. Treat any oven with no service file as carrying this risk.
Cost to put right$2,200 – $3,600 fitted
This one you can see. Photograph the seal along the hinge edge and look for a permanent set where it has been compressed. A seal that does not spring back is finished.
Cost to put right$85 – $140 per seal, 20 minutes to fit
Look through the door glass at the runners and the chamber corners. Baked film is cleanable; pitting in the stainless is not.
Cost to put rightCosmetic to $900 for a chamber liner
Unpowered and disconnected units cannot be tested. An electrical safety test certificate dated within the last twelve months is worth more than any photograph of the terminal block.
Cost to put right$260 – $520 per element
Check the nameplate for the supply and load before you buy. A 400V 3N~ 10.9 kW oven needs a dedicated circuit and, in most of the UK, a softener — budget for both if the new site has neither.
Cost to put right$700 – $1,900 for a new circuit · $450 for a softener
The condition report
The grade is A to D with a confidence percentage, built from eight photographs and the unit’s own service invoices. Nothing is powered on at any point. So on combi ovens the faults above that a camera cannot reach — limescale in the steam generator, heat exchanger pinholes — are named in the gaps panel on every listing rather than left for you to find after collection.
Live now
Six-grid electric combi from a 42-cover restaurant that closed in June. Serviced annually on contract; the door seal is due.
$9,750No buyer commission
+$7,850Recovered
Related categories
A closure rarely produces one unit. These are the categories that most often appear on the same clearance.
Filter by grade, age, distance from your postcode and whether a service history is on file. Funds are held in escrow and released to the seller 48 hours after you have collected the unit and plugged it in.
