Cafes · small kitchens
19"
For a cafe, a small kitchen, a single-station setup. Shows 4–6 tickets at once, glanceable from 2 metres. 4–6 tickets visible · 1080p resolution · VESA 75x75 / 100x100 · around 5 kg.
Kitchen Display hardware
Kitchen displays. Tough screens that work in the kitchen.
The screen above the pass. Splash-resistant, heat-tolerant, glanceable across the line. Off-the-shelf commercial displays. Your supplier. No markup.
You're on the hardware page. This page is the hardware. The KDS software — how tickets flow, station routing, prep times, bump logic — lives on the KDS software page.
Display sizes
Three screens. Pick by line length.
Bigger screen = more tickets visible = fewer head-turns. The right size depends on your prep line and your pass distance.
Most operators · default
21"
The default size for most full-service kitchens. 8 tickets visible, glanceable from 3 metres across the pass. 8 tickets visible · 1080p resolution · VESA 100x100 · around 6 kg.
Volume · multi-station
24"+
For volume kitchens, multi-station setups, hot/cold/bar split across the same screen. Glanceable from across a 5-metre line. 12+ tickets visible · 1080p or 1440p · VESA 100x100 / 200x200 · around 8 kg.
What we support
Most commercial displays. Some consumer ones too.
Commercial-grade displays
Elo, Iiyama ProLite, Philips B-Line, AOpen class.
Built for digital signage and POS environments. Heat-tolerant to 40°C. Splash-resistant bezels. 24/7-rated panels — they don't burn in or fade after a year above a fryer. Touchscreen optional. Bigger investment, longer life. Most last 5+ years in a working kitchen.
Commercial Android boxes
Mini-PC behind the display.
A small Android PC (Mini-PC class, ~200 EUR) drives the display over HDMI. Runs the dojofood KDS app. Local network. No fan. Cheaper than an all-in-one. If one component fails, you replace just that piece.
Consumer TVs (small kitchens)
Yes, with caveats.
A modern Smart TV or basic 24" monitor works for a cafe or single station. Expect to replace every 2-3 years — consumer panels aren't built for kitchen heat or 14-hour cycles. Cheap to start, expensive over time.
Sunmi / dedicated KDS units
All-in-one Android.
Some operators run Sunmi or Iberl-class all-in-ones — display + Android compute + USB in one box. Tested. Good for chain rollouts where procurement wants one spec.
Mounting + hygiene
Where it goes, and how you keep it clean.
01
Above the pass.
Ceiling-mounted on a swivel arm or fixed bracket. Out of the splash zone, glanceable from every station. Cable through conduit, not draped across the line.
02
Wall-mounted on the line.
For long lines — one at hot, one at cold, one at expo. VESA wall bracket, two studs, 30 minutes for a contractor.
03
Counter-stand for cafes.
Weighted base, low profile. For when you don't want to drill holes. Cable channel keeps the wire out of espresso.
Wipeable surfaces
Glass front, plastic bezel — wipe down with kitchen sanitiser at end of service. Avoid fabric speaker grilles or matte coatings that absorb grease.
Fanless preferred
No fan = no grease ingress = longer life. Most commercial signage displays are fanless. Mini-PCs vary — pick one that is.
Cable management
Power and Ethernet in one conduit, away from gas lines and water. The boring part. The part that breaks if you skip it.
Touchscreen or bump bar
Greasy gloves shouldn't fight a touchscreen.
Two ways to bump a ticket off the screen. Pick what fits your station.
Touchscreen
Tap the ticket directly.
Fine for cold, prep, expo. Use a knuckle or a glove. Best with capacitive touchscreens rated for glove use. Pro: no extra hardware. Con: grease, water and gloves can confuse cheaper touch layers.
USB / Bluetooth bump bar
Five big buttons. Bump, recall, fire, void, all-day.
A physical bar with 5–10 mechanical buttons. Within reach of the cook. Works through any glove, any sauce. Standard USB HID — plug in, configure buttons in the KDS app. Pro: zero ambiguity, fast, kitchen-proof. Con: extra device, extra cable.
Most volume kitchens we work with run touchscreen at cold and expo, bump bar at hot. Configure per station. No extra software cost.
Network
Ethernet preferred. Wi-Fi is the fallback.
Tickets land in 200ms on Ethernet. Wi-Fi adds variability the kitchen feels on Friday night.
Ethernet
Cat 5e or Cat 6, terminated into a switch in the back office. Single cable per display. Fastest, most stable. Worth the half-day install.
Wi-Fi fallback
If the cable's not in yet, Wi-Fi works. Dedicated SSID for KDS. 5GHz preferred. We'll help size the AP for the kitchen.
Offline mode
If the network drops, KDS holds the last state. POS terminals on the same local network keep firing tickets to the display. No internet required for the kitchen to see the order.
Bring your own
Already have a screen? Probably works.
Works almost always
- Any commercial signage display with HDMI
- 21"+ TVs with HDMI (consumer-grade for low-volume use)
- Elo, Iiyama, Philips, AOpen, BenQ commercial monitors
- Sunmi all-in-one KDS units
- Mini-PCs running Android 10+
- USB and Bluetooth bump bars (any HID-class device)
Send us the model
- Touchscreen displays from your previous POS bundle
- Very old commercial displays (pre-2017)
- Bump bars from another KDS vendor with custom firmware
- "Smart" TVs with a locked-down OS
Replace it
- Tiny displays under 19"
- Anything with a fabric speaker grille (grease trap)
- Resistive touch from 2010 — gloves don't register
- Screens with no HDMI / no network input
Have questions? Let's talk.
See the KDS in your kitchen, not ours.
20 minutes with us. A 4-cover sushi counter and a 200-cover steakhouse need different displays. Show us your line, your pass height, your station split. We'll show you the display we'd hang and the bump bar we'd wire. Screen software at /kds for the full picture.