Restaurant kitchen supplies that are also really useful in a home kitchen?

While there isn't one specific brand that is common to the cooking tools and supplies you might normally see in a restaurant kitchen, the items will undoubtedly be certified by NSF International (NSF stands for 'National Sanitation Foundation' - NOT 'National Science Foundation' here). It is probably a good idea to get in the habit of looking for that certification when you shop: sometimes the letters are stamped into metal supplies or the logo will be clearly printed on the packaging of other tools and equipment.

http://www.nsf.org/consumer-resources/what-is-nsf-certification/home-products-appliances/home-product-appliance-certification/

http://www.cookingforengineers.com/article/84/NSF-Certification

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSF_International

Actually a lot of restaurant supplies can be applied in the home kitchen, and they are much cheaper (as long as you can stand with the standard industrial design). You can go visit local restaurant supply store and check out smallwares there (Most of the smallwares can be used at home), and some equipment. Ask the sale there about the equipment and whether you can use it at home or not, they would let you know. I used to shop in the restaurant supply store near the Chicago O'Hare airport, called Gator Chef Restaurant Supply. I like the big showroom there and I can find some used equipment in their warehouse too!

I hope this doesn't sound in any way off base, but in my opinion the greatest advantage a restaurant kitchen has over the typical home kitchen is counter space, meaning room to spread out the multiple aspects of what goes into preparing an excellent dish. So anything one can do to expand or open up existing counter space at home has the potential to reap great culinary dividends, as one is far less constrained to perform things in sequence in order to reuse the same space. Generally, taking advantage of up space seems to be the key to maximizing work surface [area]. An obvious example of this is a microwave oven that hangs from the bottom of a cabinet.

Beyond this, if I were to select just one component from a high end restaurant to add to my kitchen at home it would be professional grade scales, one for high capacity and one for high accuracy, though neither will come cheap. A second preference would be for a flush-mounted, side-by-side frig/freezer with clear doors and an externally controlled light switch. Dream big, right? On the smaller scale, or more reasonable level, a traditional hand-cranked sausage grinder is kitchen perfection. Great question!