When shopping around for a heated holding cabinet, it is important to look at three main areas. First, look at the water reservoir. Is it easy to clean? If you live in an area that has hard water or mineral rich water, this will be important as you will have to descale the cabinet regularly to avoid build up. I recommend removable pans over fixed water basins to make the job of cleaning and replacing faster and easier. Secondly, be sure the cabinet is fully made up of quality stainless steel. A moisture laden environment can quickly become a rust problem or bacteria infested if cheaper construction is used. Lastly take a look at the way the cabinet is controlled (I go into a little more detail about the different control options here: Foodservice Equipment – Controls). There are three common ways the units are controlled. Does the cabinet have a separate humidistat to read the actual environment and give you precise control? Does it use an infinite switch to heat the water from low to high, or does it measure the water temperature in the reservoir to control the heat and humidity? What control and moisture system is best for you? I will go into this a bit deeper in a future post to help you identify the moisture system and control that is best suited for your particular operation.