Restaurant and commercial kitchen fire doors are the self-closing doorsets that separate a high ignition-risk kitchen from the routes people escape by — required under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, not the residential Regulation 10 regime, with the responsible person duty to maintain them under Article 17. Escape-route doors are typically FD30 or FD30S (30 minutes' integrity, broadly E30, not the insulated EI30), stepping up to FD60S where a door protects a stair or larger compartment.
Restaurants, cafes, takeaways and any premises with a commercial kitchen are regulated for fire safety in England and Wales by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, under which the responsible person — usually the operator, employer or whoever controls the premises — must make a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment and keep fire doors in an efficient state and working order under Article 17. A commercial kitchen is one of the highest ignition risks in any building — hot cooking oils, deep-fat frying, gas appliances and grease-laden extract ductwork — so the fire strategy leans heavily on the doors that separate the kitchen from the routes people escape by, with placement driven by the fire risk assessment and the building's design under Approved Document B or BS 9999.
Every doorset we supply into catering premises will carry third-party certification and be specified against the building's fire strategy: FD30 or FD30S doorsets — 30 minutes' fire integrity, the 'S' adding cold-smoke seals — for kitchen-to-escape-route and protected-corridor doors, stepping up to FD60 or FD60S where a door protects a stairway, a larger compartment or a higher fire load. FD30 gives integrity, broadly class E30 under BS EN 13501-2, and is not the insulation-plus-integrity EI30, so we specify to the classification the fire strategy actually requires. Sizes, glazing and ironmongery will be confirmed at enquiry against each doorset's certified field of application, with no site cutting of apertures, so a vision panel or hardware change never invalidates the certification. Grease-laden extract ductwork is a separate fire path handled by fire-stopping and dampers rather than by a fire door, and we will flag it as a compartmentation issue alongside the doors.
We understand a restaurant rarely closes for long, so our installation approach will be planned around live service: phased working agreed with the operator, installation to BS 8214, and completed openings handed back with certificate references and per-door documentation ready for the fire door records the responsible person must keep. Our certification scheme, scope and lead times will be published at launch. Because kitchen doors are so often defeated — wedged open to release heat — every self-closing door we fit will carry 'Fire door keep shut' signage, and where a door genuinely needs to stand open for traffic or ventilation we will offer alarm-linked hold-open or free-swing devices to BS EN 1155 that release the moment the alarm sounds, never a wedge. Where flats sit above the premises, residential fire duties — and, in a qualifying English residential building over 11 metres, Regulation 10 checks on the communal and flat-entrance doors — apply too, and our documentation will support them.
What this sector needs from a doorset partner
- FD30 and FD30S doorsets separating the commercial kitchen from dining areas and escape routes, self-closing to BS EN 1154
- FD60 or FD60S doorsets where a door protects a stairway, cellar route or larger compartment
- Cold-smoke seals where the fire strategy calls for them, with the 'S' specification stated per opening
- Alarm-linked hold-open or free-swing devices to BS EN 1155 for doors that must stand open in service — never a wedge
- 'Fire door keep shut' signage on each self-closing door, with sizes and ironmongery within the certified field of application
- Installation to BS 8214 phased around live service, with per-door handover documentation for the fire door records
Standards & guidance we work to
- Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, Article 17
- Approved Document B (fire safety)
- BS 9999 (fire safety code of practice for non-residential buildings)
- Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, Regulation 10 (flats above, buildings over 11 metres)
- BS 8214 (installation code of practice)
- BS EN 1154 (door closers) and BS EN 1155 (hold-open devices)
Recommended certified doorsets for restaurants & commercial kitchens
FD30 & FD30s fire doorsets
Third-party-certified 30-minute fire doorsets — the workhorse rating for flat entrances, escape routes and most internal compartmentation.
View FD30 doorsets →FD60 & FD60s fire doorsets
Third-party-certified 60-minute fire doorsets for protected stairways, compartment lines and higher-risk positions.
View FD60 doorsets →Unsure which rating each opening needs? Compare FD30 vs FD60, browse the full doorset range (FD30–FD120), or run the compliance checker.
Frequently asked questions
What fire door rating does a commercial kitchen need?
Most kitchen and escape-route fire doors are specified as FD30 or FD30S — 30 minutes' fire integrity with cold-smoke seals — under Approved Document B, stepping up to FD60(S) where a door protects a stair or larger compartment. FD30 corresponds broadly to E30, not the insulated EI30, and the actual rating for any door is set by the building's fire strategy and fire risk assessment, not by a fixed rule for kitchens. We will confirm each opening against the doorset's certified field of application at enquiry.
Do restaurants have to check fire doors every three months?
No. The 3-monthly and 12-monthly intervals come from Regulation 10 of the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, which applies only to English residential buildings over 11 metres — a restaurant is not domestic premises, so those fixed intervals do not bite on it, only on any flats above in a qualifying building. Under the Fire Safety Order 2005 the restaurant sets its own risk-based frequency through the fire risk assessment under Article 17, and every doorset we install will hand over per-door documentation to support whatever check regime your assessment sets.