I need to buy a little chest freezer.

[Vinca]

Any brand recommendations? Or horror stories?

[Stinky The Clown]

1. I'll bet dollars to donuts that all you will find are made in China.

My son bought a small refrig (I know .... not the same) at Wal Mart and it has lasted him for years. He's since converted it to a keg cooler and it is still working.

[Warpy]

2. Just decide between front door and top door

People will tell you that front doors are less efficient because the "cool" all slides onto the floor when you open it. However, as somebody who has rummaged around in a top opening freezer to find something stuck on the bottom, I can tell you it's probably a wash between that and a quick open and shut of a front door.

Just look for the energy star rating.

[Richard Steele]

3. We have a top-door chest freezer here, and I'd recommend against that style entirely.

You practically have to unload the thing
to retrieve items from the bottom.

We've discused putting some shelves in it,
but we'd have to leave space to ACCESS those shelves,
so much of the interior volume would then be unusable space.

I think a front-door style with movable shelving
would be a much better way to go. You can use ALL
the interior space, while maintaining accessability.

Beyond that, I'd just look at the major brands
and sort them by the energy star ratings.

[Warpy]

4. Mine is a front door bar fridge sized freezer

and nearly everything is in reach immediately on the fixed shelves or in the removable basket on the bottom.

It's perfect for the stuff I buy in bulk at Costco and then eat for the next month.

[csziggy]

13. For my old chest freezer we used plastic crates to organize stuff

I had white and red ones - the red ones were for meats and the white for everything else. We could stack the crates two deep and still slide the metal baskets that came with the freezer above the crates. If we needed to get to the stuff on the bottom, we could just lift the crate above it out. We "wasted" a little space, but made up for it in keeping things organized.

Now we have a counter depth, front opening freezer that frankly does not have enough shelves. So I found some plastic boxes that fit (the old crates didn't fit properly) and use them to organize stuff.

Using a box or crate also lets you pull an entire category of frozen goods out to sort for oldest and use those up first.

Our freezer only freezers have been Kenmore - probably made by Frigidaire or whoever makes them for Frigidaire. The counter depth freezer has a matching refrigerator and both are made by Wood I think. The big (15-18 cubic feet) chest freezer was purchased in about 1980 and still worked when I gave it away last year.

[Donnachaidh]

5. I have a top door freezer and have no complaints with it.

I'll give one word of advice, though. PLAN how you are going to fill it. Section areas of it off for certain things. Don't just buy shit and toss it in, either in the bottom or in the racks. Every single complaint I've heard about them comes from people who didn't take the time to PLAN on how they were going to use it, and just tossed shit in. Even frozen food has to be used within a timeframe. Clearly MARK what is in the packages, what date it was purchased, etc. And WHERE in the freezer it is. I keep a clipboard on a nail next to the freezer, with the listings, so I know what is there, and can plan meals accordingly. I rarely have to *go digging* for anything in this freezer.

We picked ours up new at Sears for under two hundred bucks several years ago. It hasn't failed us, and I wouldn't do without it.

[Warpy]

6. Unfortunately, in the real world

all those plans fly out the window pretty quickly with most of us, especially if we've bought stuff in large quantity on sale and tire of it. It's amazing how quickly it can get rotated down to the bowels of a chest freezer.

My dad had stuff in the bottom of his that was most likely bought when Carter was in office.

[Donnachaidh]

10. that was one of the reasons why I waited so long to buy a freezer

And almost didn't buy this one, because I didn't want cryogenic frozen dinosaurs on the bottom. The problem is *buying large quantities of stuff on sale* without having some sort of plan to actually use it, turns into more clutter, even if it is frozen.Twenty five pounds of frozen anything, bought at a sale is wasteful, if there is not some sort of plan to actually USE the stuff within a certain timeframe. It's just frozen clutter.

Freezers may seem to be a cool cold box to put things in, but they are a tool. And like any tool, time and effort must be used to understand how to use it and how to use it efficiently. :shrug:

[Vinca]

8. I'm happy you mentioned Sears because the little one we found online

is a Sears Kenmore. It's only 7.2 cu. ft. to fit into a small back hallway and runs about $250. The only drawback I can see is that it isn't self-defrosting. I did find a Frigidaire that self-defrosts, but the reviews were so bad I wouldn't take it if you gave it to me. One guy said he was going to use it as a $400 storage chest since it wouldn't get cold and Frigidaire service was nonexistent.

[csziggy]

14. With our big chest freezer I mentioned above, I think I defrosted it once

Aside from the times we lost power long enough to lose the contents of the freezer. And the only reason it needed to be defrosted was something got stacked too high and the door was barely open, just enough to let moist air in to "snow" inside. Frost buildup was just never a problem with it.

[HappyCynic]

7. Storage

A non-food related item to consider is also what will go around and on top of it. My family used to have a massive top door freezer. The good point was that it didn't block the path when you needed it open. However, we occasionally put stuff on top of it so all that would need to be cleared off the top to open the sucker. Neither concern (blocking the path/storing stuff on top) was major but it is something to think about.

[sazemisery]

9. I have 2 small chest freezers

Both purchased at Sears. One is a 9 cubic ft capacity and has a drawer on the bottom front. It holds a ton of food. The front drawer is good for ice cream and frozen foods but does not stay at exact zero. The inside does and has a flash freeze button. I don't use the flash freeze button often because I forget to turn it off.

The other is an 11 cubic ft capacity. It is rectangle and deeper because it doesn't have the front drawer. I has two baskets that hang from the top lip. I purchased a bunch of small plastic baskets that look like miniature laundry baskets (4 X 6 inches 3 inches deep). I separate all my goodies into them and stack them in the freezer. It makes it easier to move things around.

The thing I like about a chest style over an upright is the temperature. Every chest freezer I have ever owned has always maintained a lower temp then the uprights in my past.

[Vinca]

11. We used to have an upright and it was okay, but when we moved

there was no place to put it. Too bad, really, it was fairly new. I think I'll go with the little Sears chest freezer. It's really more for overflow from the refrigerator freezer than anything else. I'm so sick of opening that thing and having a plastic container of soup slide out and whack me on the head!

[Tab]

12. In deep winter, we just go around

with no coats or shirts.

[Phentex]

15. Sears upright here, 17 years and still going...

It was a wedding present and is probably too big for my needs but I've never had an issue with it at all. The shelves are deep and I have to dig around sometimes but for the most part it isn't too hard to find what I need.

[pengillian101]

16. I have used both chest and upright.

I used to have chest freezers when that's all that was available besides the little one in the fridge.

They kept things frozen very well.

But the huge cavern is a downfall in my book. Food on the bottom gets lost.

The most recent freezer I bought is an upright about 4 feet tall. I had room in the spare room/office. Handy to the kitchen. This freezer is the best thing ever. There are four shelves about 2-1/2 feet wide plus the depth of about 3-1/2 feet. Also, shelves in the door.

Everything is so easy to view. It really doesn't take up much space at all. Fits in the corner.

[pengillian101]

17. Vinca

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_04628212000P?mv=rr