Kitchen

[poppinfresh]

I so agree with wismis. We have had a chest freezer for years and that thing will never ever die so I can get an upright. You have a large family, you will be digging in that freezer for hours to find what you want as they are almost impossible to organize. And if you do get it organized, it will only take one more trip to Costco to ruin it. My suggestion is, get an upright. Much easier to organize, much easier to find things, and you won't be standing on your head trying to defrost it.

[oceanbreezy]

My parents always had an upright freezer for years. I don't know how many cubic feet it is, but it appears to be the size of a standard refrigerator but taller. It held plenty of frozen food for a family of seven. I remember Mom and Dad would come from grocery shopping with like six loaves of bread and plenty tubs of ice cream, and about 5 cartons of milk, vegetables, and so on and stored them in the freezer. Their freezer is located in its own space in the laundry area of their home. Yes, I agree it is easier to organize and find your food items.

[betteb]

On 8/26/2014 gardenman said:

Chest freezers are typically more efficient since cold air is heavier than warm air. When you open the top of a chest freezer the cold air just sits there, much like the open topped freezers in supermarkets. Upright freezers tend to have a waterfall of cold air cascading out each time you open it and then that cold air is replaced with room temperature air which has to be cooled all over again. It's not a huge deal if you don't open and close the freezer a lot, but over the lifespan of a freezer it can add up to a pretty good amount of change. The less the compressor has to run the longer it's likely to last too. If you don't mind the bending and diving in to get stuff then a chest freezer is a good option even though they take up a bit more floorspace.

I don't really think there's much difference from one brand to another. We have an old WT Grant chest freezer in our basement (and Grants has been out of business a long, long time) that still works fine. One more small point on a somewhat lighter note, if you're the type who may find yourself with a body to dispose of, chest freezers seem to be preferred by the TV/movie/novel writers. It's apparently much easier to just dump a body in a chest freezer than force one into an upright.

Thanks for the tip

[debic]

Most people don't have the fortitude to keep chest freezer food rotated, especially a large one. We have a huge upright we got from Sears. We have it set so cold we have to take bulky food out the night before so it will be melted. We brought it with us when we moved 23 years ago, so we've had it that long.

[Campion]

Funny you should ask! A vole ate our freezer wires and I had to replace it (In garage...now it's in the basement, no more voles.)

I ordered a Danby which is not a "famous" brand but since big appliance companies brand label the same things, it's fine.

You don't DON'T want frost-free. The most basic is the best. This one got good reviews, and I went for it.

[HonnyBrown]

Everyone, thank you for the reviews! I definitely see the pros and cons of a chest freezer.

[Nightowlz]

We have an upright freezer no refrigerator just freezer. It's not frost freeze. When I was researching it said food stays frozen better in one that's not frost freeze. We defrost once or twice per year. In the fall before it gets cold & in the spring before it gets hot since the freezer is in our garage. The frost freeze type keeps defrosting & freezing & can cause freezer burn. I do use our FoodSaver for things that will be in the freezer longer. I don't think you want a chest freezer where you have to dig through it to find what you are looking for.

[chickenbutt]

I wouldn't recommend a chest freezer either. We have one small one and, even as small as this one is, it's a major PITA to find stuff. It has one larger side and a smaller side. Then on the larger side there is a basket that sets on top of the larger side. Even with those divisions it's a pain. But my husband got it many years ago for a steal and so I continue to use it.

The only positive about that one is that it isn't self-defrosting like our others so I will put stuff in it that would be affected by the self-defrosting. Granted, most things I store are either vacuum sealed or, in the case of dry goods, airtight containers. But something like ice cream will get ice crystals on top much sooner in the self-defrosting ones.

[HonnyBrown]

My concern about an upright freezer is that the space is limited and also having another avalanche situation. Best Buy has a 5.0 cubic foot on sale for $130. I will give that one a test run.

[jaxs mom]

On 8/27/2014 Nightowlz said:

We have an upright freezer no refrigerator just freezer. It's not frost freeze. When I was researching it said food stays frozen better in one that's not frost freeze. We defrost once or twice per year. In the fall before it gets cold & in the spring before it gets hot since the freezer is in our garage. The frost freeze type keeps defrosting & freezing & can cause freezer burn. I do use our FoodSaver for things that will be in the freezer longer. I don't think you want a chest freezer where you have to dig through it to find what you are looking for.

I can verify that automatic defrost does contribute to freezer burn and ice crystals on food. I had two of the same item, one in the freezer with auto defrost and one in the chest freezer. The one in the freezer with auto defrost has obvious ice accumulation while my same one on the chest freezer doesn't. Both were bought at the same time. We go into our chest freezer on a daily basis. I'd rather have to manually defrost occasionally than have my food get freezer burned. We just moved a year ago and haven't defrosted the chest freezer since then. I have very little ice accumulated and it's all at the top where it can just be scraped off. In fact I should go do that.