I've never seen the gauge listed for stainless steel mixing bowls. Actually restaurants buy them in bulk, and at the lowest price possible. Restaurant use means at least 14 hours a day, and the bowls will get banged up. Restaurants expect to go through them, so they'll order new bowls in bulk every 6 mos. or so. They are looking for low-price, not necessarily heavy-duty.

In any case, I am linking the Vollrath bowl available at Wasserstrom (a restaurant supply website), the Sur La Table brand bowls, and the De Buyer bowls (made in France) also available at Sur La Table. If it's a gift, Sur La Table will beautifully gift-wrap, so you might want to buy there, instead of the utilitarian Vollrath.

If you want more suggestions, try posting on the Cooking Forum, which gets more traffic than this one.

Vollrath SS 5 Qt. Mixing Bowl

Sur La Table SS Bowls

De Buyer SS Bowls

Have you checked your yellow pages for the local bar/restaurant supply house? They are great places to shop. I always tell my husband, restaurant supply stores are 'my shoe stores'--LOL. You'll find everything you need, and will be able to check it out before you buy. You'll find excellant quality items, as well as a lot of stuff you can't buy in the regular department or discount stores.

However, if you want a line on an excellant website, try www.fantes.com They're a great cookware store in the Italian Market in Phila--another great place to shop in person--and they have a well-stocked website.

Agree about the restaurant supply houses. If you want an "elegant" shopping experience, forget it. But they're loaded with cool stuff, much of which is much more practical than typical retail stores. No glitz or brocures etc. but, at least where I live, the staff knows stuff that ordinary retail folks don't.

Maybe stupid, but one of my favorite purchases there was single-spool commercial milkshake-mixer. Bought one for myself and several family members 15 years ago. The recipients -- and their children and grandchildren -- are still singing my praises. Stainers, spoons, bowls, all kinds of stuff in there.

I get mine at Restaurant Depot. They come in varying sizes from about $1 for small ones to about $6 for the large ones.