Cold room prices at a glance
These are typical UK market ranges for budgeting in 2026, not fixed prices. Every room is quoted from a survey.
| Type | Typical size | Typical price, supplied and installed | Usually included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small chilled cold room (0 to +4 °C) | 4 to 10 m² | £3,000 to £8,000 | Panels, door, monoblock refrigeration unit, controller, lighting, commissioning |
| Small walk-in freezer room (-18 to -22 °C) | 4 to 10 m² | £6,000 to £15,000 | Thicker panels, insulated floor, heated door frame, low-temperature unit with defrost |
| Medium cold room for a shop or wholesaler | 10 to 30 m² | £8,000 to £25,000 | Split refrigeration system, insulated floor, shelving, electrical work |
| Cold store with racking and plant | 50 m² and more | £20,000 to £100,000 and more | Design, insulated floor with screed, industrial doors, remote plant, monitoring |
What affects the price of a cold room
1. Size and height
Panels are priced by the square metre, so a bigger room costs more, but not in proportion: the refrigeration unit, door and controls cost about the same whether the room is 6 m² or 9 m², so the price per square metre falls as the room grows. Height matters too; a room built to 2.2 m is cheaper than one built to 3 m, and most kitchens do not need the extra height.
2. Running temperature
A freezer room costs considerably more than a chilled room of the same size. It needs thicker panels, an insulated floor (a chilled room can often sit on the existing floor), a heated door frame so the door does not freeze shut, a pressure relief port, and a low-temperature refrigeration unit with electric defrost. Blast freezers and -40 °C rooms cost more again.
3. Panels
Insulated panels come in thicknesses from about 80 mm for chilled rooms to 100 to 150 mm for freezer rooms and 200 mm for very low temperatures. Thicker panels cost more to buy but less to run. Finishes range from standard white food-safe steel to stainless steel and hygienic coatings for production areas.
4. Floor
The cheapest option is no floor at all: a chilled room built on an existing level, sealed floor. An insulated floor panel adds cost and is essential for freezer rooms; a reinforced floor or a wearing screed for trolleys, pallet trucks and forklifts adds more.
5. Door
A standard hinged door is included in most prices. Sliding doors, wider doors for pallets, glass doors for display, rapid roll doors for cold stores and strip or air curtains each add to the price. Every door should have an internal release so nobody can be shut in.
6. Refrigeration unit
After size, the refrigeration unit moves the price most. Small rooms use a monoblock unit that sits through the wall or ceiling. Larger rooms and freezer rooms use a split system with a condensing unit outside and an evaporator inside, which costs more and needs pipework and more electrical work, but runs more efficiently and more quietly. Inverter compressors and heat recovery add to the price and cut the running cost.
7. The site
A ground-floor room with a wide route in, a nearby electrical supply and a place for the condensing unit is the cheapest to install. Basements, narrow stairs, long pipe runs, three-phase supplies, out-of-hours working and listed buildings all add labour. A free site survey is how an installer finds these things before quoting rather than after.
What a cold room quotation should include
- Internal dimensions and the panel thickness and finish.
- The floor: existing, insulated or reinforced.
- The door type and size, with the safety release.
- The refrigeration unit: make, model, capacity and whether it is monoblock or split.
- Controller, thermometer, lighting and any shelving, strip curtains or monitoring.
- Electrical work, pipework and any building work, stated separately.
- Delivery, installation, commissioning (a pull-down test to temperature) and handover.
- Warranty terms and what maintenance will cost afterwards.
If a quote is much cheaper than the others, look for what is missing: often the floor, the electrical connection or the commissioning.
Running costs
The purchase price is only part of the cost. A cold room runs around the clock, so ask for the unit's rated power and expected running hours and work out the yearly electricity from your tariff. A well-insulated room with a tight door and a correctly sized unit will cost noticeably less to run than a cheaper room with thin panels, and the difference adds up over a ten to fifteen year life. Planned maintenance keeps the running cost down by keeping coils clean and seals tight.
How to cut the cost without cutting corners
- Choose a standard panel size and a rectangular room; odd shapes cost more to cut and fit.
- Build a chilled room on the existing floor if it is level and sealed.
- Put the room near the electrical supply and give the condensing unit a short route outside.
- Buy the right size for your busiest week rather than the biggest room you can fit.
- Spread the cost with finance if cash flow matters; see our finance guide.
- Do not save money on the refrigeration unit or the door seal; they are where cheap rooms fail.
Cold room or upright fridges?
Once a business runs more than three or four upright commercial fridges, a walk-in cold room usually costs less per litre of storage, uses less electricity per litre, is easier to stock-rotate and clean, and gives you one unit to maintain instead of four. Below that, uprights are the cheaper answer.
Getting an accurate price
Tell us the space you have, what you store and how much, the temperature you need and how deliveries arrive. We survey the site for free, design the room and send a written, itemised quotation. Request a free quote, or read about cold rooms, freezer rooms and cold storage first.