Frequently asked
questions

The commercial kitchen equipment on our website is only available to rent.

Our Rent–Try–Buy solution allows you to pay for the equipment in manageable, weekly amounts that protect your business’s cash flow.

If after trying the equipment it proves to be exactly what you’re after, you can buy it at any time. (You’ll just need to give us four weeks’ notice of your intention to buy.)

(You can also upgrade the equipment at any time or, after 12 months, continue renting it or send it back to us if it’s no longer suitable.)

The process for ordering commercial kitchen equipment from us is as follows:

1. You find the equipment you want on our website. Shop now
2. You add the equipment to your shopping cart; or send us an enquiry; or call us on +18882339910.
3. We help you complete your Rent–Try–Buy application.
4. Upon approval of your application and after you’ve signed the rental agreement, we deliver the equipment to your business premises.

The commercial kitchen equipment advertised on our website can only be viewed online; we do not have bricks-and-mortar showrooms.

This digital business model enables us to minimize our overheads and, in turn, offer our customers competitively priced restaurant equipment to rent, try and buy.

Our brand-new equipment is sourced from reputable and trusted manufacturers and, for extra peace of mind, generally comes with a one- to five-year parts-and-labor warranty.

If you have any questions about any of our equipment, please contact us.

Customers are responsible for arranging and paying for insurance for their rental equipment.

Customers are responsible for arranging and paying for installation of the equipment by a qualified service professional, per the manufacturer’s specifications.

If your equipment develops a covered fault within the warranty period, call us on +18882339910.

We’ll help you arrange a free repair, replacement, or refund from the manufacturer.

If the fault is not covered by the warranty or the warranty has expired, the customer is responsible for arranging and paying for repairs.

SilverChef, which was founded in Australia more than 35 years ago, launched in the United States in 2023.

We’ve also been operating in Canada since 2013 — our headquarters there are in Vancouver.

So, for our first foray into the US, we’re best able to serve the Pacific Northwest, specifically Washington and Oregon.

We look forward to expanding our product offering to additional states in the near future.

Yes — we’re happy to offer Rent–Try–Buy to new hospitality-business ventures and budding entrepreneurs without any business history, as long as they meet our standard credit-assessment criteria. 

We’re happy to rent out commercial kitchen equipment that helps restaurants, commercial catering or foodservices businesses generate a profit.

Currently we offer the following categories of equipment:
• Beverage
• Coffee
• Cooking
• Dishwashers and glasswashers
• Food display
• Food preparation
• Ice makers
• Refrigeration.

We’ll look to expand our selection of equipment in the coming months and years in line with customer demand.

You tell us! There’s no limit to the value of the equipment we can rent to you, provided you meet the relevant credit-assessment criteria.

(If you apply to rent $40,000 or less of equipment, we can give you same-day approval; if you apply for more than $40K, the approval process takes a little longer.)

You can apply for SilverChef Rent–Try–Buy one of two ways:

1. Send us an enquiry
2. Call us on +18882339910.

Either way, we’ll help you complete your application over the phone.

The amount you’re approved for is your ‘master-agreement limit’, which is effectively the amount of credit you have available for equipment.

You can use as much or as little of this credit as you want.

Your master-agreement limit does not expire, and only if you reach your limit will you need to apply again for Rent–Try–Buy. (We reserve the right to reduce a customer’s limit at any time.)

If you order more equipment and it’s been 90 days or more since your last order, we’ll re-run the credit check.

Rent–Try–Buy is an operating lease that allows you to use the rental equipment without owning it (though you can buy it at any time).

Because the rental payments are operating expenses, they’re not recorded on your balance sheet. Instead, they’re expensed on your income statement.

This off-balance-sheet financing helps keep your debt-to-equity ratio low, making it easier for you to borrow money from other lenders.

One of the main benefits of an operating lease is the tax deductibility of the rental payments.

Since Rent–Try–Buy is a rental agreement, there is no interest rate.

However, you can use our online rental calculator to determine your weekly rental amount, and what it would end up costing you to own the rental equipment if you decided to purchase it after 12 months.

(You can buy the rental equipment at any time — not just at the end of your 12-month Rent–Try–Buy agreement.)

Apart from the weekly rental payments (including the advance payment of one week’s rent), the fees and charges that apply are:
• refundable security bond — paid up front and equivalent to six week’s rent (less than $200,000 of funding)
• cost of transporting any equipment the customer returns to us during or after the 12-month rental period
• cost for us to clean and service any equipment the customer returns to us during or after the 12-month rental period, so it can be certified and remarketed.

SilverChef owns the equipment and rents it to you.

You can use the equipment as you please, as long as it’s used only for business (not private) purposes; and you don’t sell, give, assign, lend or release the equipment to a third party to use without our permission.

Also, if you relocate the equipment, you must inform us straight away.

You can buy the rental equipment (own it) at any time.

Your rental payments will begin after we’ve confirmed the rental equipment you ordered has arrived at your business premises.

You can pay the weekly rent via a direct debit from your bank account or credit card.

No — though each rental payment you make will gradually lower the equipment’s purchase price, there will still be an amount owing after 12 months.

To find out what the outstanding amount is, please call us for a ‘payout quote’ on +18882339910.

You can buy, or pay out, the equipment at any time during the 12-month term (not only at the end of it).

If after trying the rental equipment you love it and want to buy it, you’ll need to give us four weeks’ notice of your plan to purchase it.

At the end of the notice period, we’ll send you a:
• payout quote to review (the quote clearly sets out how the payout amount has been calculated)
• payment authorization form to fill in.

If you buy the equipment, we’ll give you back:
• 60% of your first year’s net rental payments
• 20% of your second year’s net rental payments (if applicable).

You can put these rental rebates towards the purchase price (which reduces with each weekly rental payment you make).

If you choose to upgrade your rental equipment, we’ll ask you to return it to us.

We’ll then ask you to sign a fresh 12-month rental agreement covering the upgraded equipment, which we’ll deliver to you.

The new agreement will entitle you to all the options you had under the original agreement.

You’ll be responsible for transporting the original equipment back to us and the cost for us to clean and service it so it can certified and remarketed.

Also, the hypothetical net rental rebate you accumulated while renting the original piece of equipment will be erased. In other words, it won’t carry over to the new agreement for the upgraded equipment.

The delivery charge is included in the equipment rental price, so you won’t have to worry about paying for delivery separately.

(Currently, we supply commercial kitchen equipment only to businesses in Washington and Oregon.)

We’ll deliver your equipment to you after you’ve signed the Rent–Try–Buy agreement and paid the upfront costs.

We’ll contact you to confirm your delivery address and give you an estimated time of arrival.

Depending on your business’s location, you can expect to receive the equipment in 1–5 business days.

If your situation has changed or the equipment no longer meets your requirements, you may be able to return it to us.

The following table shows you which products permit you to send equipment back to us:

^ If you don’t exercise any of your end-of-term options, you can continue renting month-to-month for as long as you need to. You can still return the equipment at any time. 

Upon your request, we’ll send you a ‘return letter’ that outlines the steps you need to take to return the equipment to us.

We’ll provide you with the labels you need to attach to the equipment you’re returning.

If you have any questions, please call us on +18882339910.

There are two costs customers incur when returning equipment to us:
• transportation — the customer’s freight or courier company will be able to confirm the exact cost (assuming the customer doesn’t return the equipment themself)
• repatriation (i.e. cleaning and servicing) — this cost varies according to the type of equipment and its condition (Good vs Poor).

For more information, please contact us.