Gastronorm Pan Sizes Explained: GN 1/1, 1/2, 1/3 and What Fits
Walk into any commercial kitchen and you'll see stainless steel or polycarbonate pans of every size stacked in fridges, bain maries and cook- chill trolleys. Almost all of them follow one standard: gastronorm, usually abbreviated GN.
GN is the single most useful thing to understand when buying holding, chilling or cooking equipment, because it is the compatibility system that lets a pan from one supplier fit a bain marie, blast chiller or fridge from another. Get it wrong and pans sit proud of the counter, wobble in the well, or won't stack.
What "gastronorm" means
Gastronorm is a European standard (EN 631) that fixes the footprint of food containers so they interchange across equipment. The key idea: one base size, called GN 1/1, and everything else is a clean fraction of it.
The GN 1/1 footprint is 530 × 325 mm. Every smaller size is derived by halving one dimension:
| GN size | Dimensions (mm) | Roughly |
|---|---|---|
| GN 2/1 | 650 × 530 | Double-width (large trolleys, some cook-chill) |
| GN 1/1 | 530 × 325 | The base pan |
| GN 1/2 | 325 × 265 | Half of 1/1 |
| GN 1/3 | 325 × 176 | A third (long, narrow) |
| GN 1/4 | 265 × 162 | A quarter |
| GN 1/6 | 176 × 162 | A sixth |
| GN 1/9 | 176 × 108 | A ninth (sauces, garnishes) |
The fractions describe area, so two GN 1/2 pans fill the same footprint as one GN 1/1, and a GN 1/3 plus a GN 1/6 sit side by side where a GN 1/2 would go. This is why a single bain marie well can be configured many ways.
Depth is the other half of the spec
The footprint tells you how a pan sits; the depth tells you how much it holds and whether it clears the equipment. Depths are standardised too, in millimetres:
| Depth (mm) | Common use |
|---|---|
| 20 | Very shallow — garnish, display |
| 40 | Sauces, shallow prep |
| 65 | Common all-rounder, salad/display |
| 100 | Cooked dishes, mains, cook-chill |
| 150 | Bulk storage, large volumes |
| 200 | Deep storage, high-volume cook-chill |
Approximate capacities for the most-used combinations:
| Pan | Approx. capacity |
|---|---|
| GN 1/1 × 100 mm | ~13–14 litres |
| GN 1/1 × 150 mm | ~20 litres |
| GN 1/2 × 100 mm | ~6–7 litres |
| GN 1/3 × 100 mm | ~4 litres |
| GN 1/6 × 100 mm | ~1.7–2 litres |
Always confirm the exact litre figure on the product datasheet — capacities vary slightly with wall thickness and corner radius.
Which equipment takes which size
- Bain maries / hot holding: countertop units commonly accept 1/1, 1/2, 1/3 and 1/6, with adjustable dividers. Check the well depth — a 150 mm pan needs a deep well; a standard well typically suits 100 mm pans.
- Cold display / saladettes: usually built for 1/3 or 1/6 pans at 100 or 150 mm depth for ingredient rails; the body may take 1/1.
- Fridges and freezers: shelving is often sized for GN 1/1, but confirm — some domestic-style units won't take the full footprint.
- Blast chillers and cook-chill trolleys: built around GN 1/1 (and sometimes 2/1), with lip-rack spacing matched to pan depths.
- Ovens and combi units: many accept GN 1/1 trays directly; check the cavity dimensions and rack spacing.
The universal advice: buy to the GN size your main equipment accepts, then everything else (lids, trolleys, chillers) lines up.
Stainless steel vs polycarbonate vs polypropylene
| Material | Best for | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Stainless steel | Cooking, hot holding, combi ovens, long life | Oven/bain-marie safe, durable, easy to sanitise, but you can't see through it and it costs more |
| Polycarbonate | Cold holding, display, cook-chill | Clear (see contents), tough, temperature range roughly -40 °C to +100 °C; not for open-flame/oven cooking — check the manufacturer's max temperature |
| Polypropylene | Cold storage, low-cost prep | Clear/translucent, cheapest, lower heat tolerance; can stain and scratch over time |
Rules of thumb:
- Cooking or hot holding → stainless (or a polycarbonate pan explicitly rated for your holding temperature).
- Cold storage and display where you want to see the product → polycarbonate.
- Budget cold-only prep and storage → polypropylene.
- Never put a plastic pan in equipment hotter than its rated maximum. The rating is printed on the pan or its datasheet.
Lids and organisation
Most GN pans take a matching lid (flat or notched for ladles/scoops), which matters for cold holding, stacking, and preventing contamination and odour transfer in the fridge. If you run cook-chill, lidded pans are non-negotiable.
A simple system keeps a kitchen sane:
- Standardise on two or three depths so they nest and stack.
- Label pans with contents and a use-by / prep date (day-dot or label gun) — this is also an R638 stock-rotation expectation.
- Keep one depth for cold display, one for cook-chill, so staff don't hunt.
Why GN beats random tubs
Shops accumulate mismatched tubs from suppliers — round deli containers, square takeaways, odd-sized trays. None of them fit equipment properly, stack predictably, or take standard lids. Moving to GN:
- Everything fits everything — one pan works across the bain marie, fridge, trolley and chiller.
- Stacks and stores cleanly — predictable footprints mean efficient shelving and cold rooms.
- Scales — you can reconfigure a bain marie from two 1/1s to six 1/6s without buying new equipment.
- Reduces waste and improves rotation — clear lids and labelling make stock visible and first-in-first-out easy.
The one-time cost of standardising pans pays back in speed, less spoilage, and never discovering a full pan doesn't fit the unit you just bought.
Buying checklist
- Note the GN sizes and well depths your equipment accepts (from its manual or spec sheet).
- Pick two or three depths and stick to them.
- Match material to job: stainless for hot/oven, polycarbonate for cold display, polypropylene for budget cold storage.
- Buy lids for everything used in cold storage or cook-chill.
- Confirm the pan's temperature rating covers your hottest and coldest use before buying plastic.
- Get a labelling system (day-dots + marker) the same day you get the pans.
Frequently asked questions
Is gastronorm the same as "hotel pan"?
"Hotel pan" is the common term (especially in North America) for the same class of steam-table pan. GN is the standardised sizing; many hotel pans are GN-compatible, but not all "hotel pans" use exact GN dimensions, so check the millimetre measurements when matching to equipment.
Can I mix stainless and plastic pans in the same bain marie?
For footprint, yes — they're the same GN size. But a plastic pan must be rated for your holding temperature. Many polycarbonate pans are rated to around 100 °C, which suits hot holding, but verify before using plastic in a hot well.
What's the most versatile single pan to standardise on?
GN 1/1 at 100 mm depth in stainless steel covers the widest range of hot holding, cooking and storage, and two GN 1/2s at the same depth fill the same footprint for smaller batches. Add GN 1/6 at 100 or 150 mm for ingredient rails.
Why won't my pan sit flush in the bain marie?
Almost always depth or lip mismatch: the pan is deeper than the well, or its top lip/rim is a different style than the well's ledge expects. Check the well depth against your pan depth, and that the pan's rim is the standard GN lip.
Gastronorm dimensions follow the EN 631 standard. Always confirm capacities and temperature ratings against the manufacturer's datasheet for the specific pans you buy.