A surgical warming system includes at least one and generally two or more compartments, whereby each compartment is separately heatable and controllable over its own range of temperatures. The compartments may be implemented as separate warmer units in stacked relation. Alternatively, the compartments may be constructed into a single cabinet structure. The heat within each compartment is provided by forcing air through a heating chamber and into the compartment whereby the forced air is recycled and mixed with make-up air. Each individually controllable compartment enables an operator to simultaneously maintain the individual compartments of the same warming system at different desired temperatures. In addition, the warming system further includes for each compartment a display and a tray or drawer with individual receptacles and corresponding monitoring assemblies in order to indicate the temperature and residence time of each item heated within that compartment.