AMT Gastronorm 2/4 5.5cm deep

A: Volume without width. It keeps the long narrow footprint that suits a service line and gains enough depth to hold something in sauce, which the 2cm version cannot do.

A: Held components with liquid: braised items, anything in gravy or dressing, or a sauce served alongside a line. The shape keeps it reachable across the length of a counter.

A: It holds a similar volume in a different shape, and it presents differently. The long narrow pan shows a row; the short wide pan shows a block. Presentation often decides it rather than capacity.

A: Easier, generally. Everything is within reach of the front edge, where a wide pan has a back row that gets picked over last.

A: Less well than a wide pan of the same volume, because it has more surface area for its contents. In a hot well that is fine; standing on a pass it will cool faster.

A: Yes. Depth and coating both suit oven use, though the fractional sizes are bought mainly for service rather than for cooking.

A: Yes. Depth varies across the range while the fraction footprint does not, which is what lets a deep and a shallow 2/4 share the same cut-out.

A: Usually together. A line runs shallow pans for dry items and deep pans for anything wet, in the same run of openings.

A: Two things: that the opening is cut for 2/4, and that there is depth below it. A well sized for shallow pans will accept this one, but the pan will hang lower than the heating was designed around.

A: Buffet and service-line operators extending a counter they already run. It is rarely a first fractional purchase.