Freezer advice/reviews wanted

[kpk89]

I'm getting ready to purchase a freezer for the basement -- trying to buy in bulk more, make meals ahead more, generally feed my family better more. Does anyone have a recommendation for a size and/or brand, and an opinion on upright vs. chest style?

Thanks!

 

[staceyfe]

I have an upright, and have never had a chest (freezer, that is. Well, never really had the other either ). I would think it would be hard on your back and you also wouldn't be able to see everything you had in the freezer without alot of moving things around.

 

[MickeyBabe]

My mother has always had a chest type freezer and it has always been pretty easy to see into, with sliding baskets in the top area. I always thought an upright would be harder to see into.

I have the same aspirations, to buy a freezer and buy/cook in bulk.


I'll be interested in the advice here also.

 

[jekjones1558]

My mom hates her chest freezer. We love our upright because it is so much easier to keep items in some kind of order. She is always having to dig around and things tend to end up getting lost at the bottom.

 

[kaddjr]

I have a chest freeze and don't like it at all. It was my grandmother's and I purchased it from her estate when she passed away. Things get lost in the bottom, things at the bottom are hard to reach, etc. Too much of a pita for me. I want to get an upright, but don't have room even if I got rid of the chest (the only place to put it would be where my chest is and I wouldn't be able to open the door fully to the upright). I may get one and put it in my parents' basement for extra storage.

 

[kellyg403]

We have an upright freezer. This one is fairly new, our old one we had for 20+ years finally died. A sad day! My mom has the chest type and swears she doesn't know what she was thinking. She has the hardest time getting the stuff from the bottom of the freezer. The upright is better I think for those of us vertically challenged people. Just my .02 cents! A freezer is a great item to have when you have a family. I would have been lost without mine!!

Kelly

 

[kellyg403]

I have a chest freeze and don't like it at all. It was my grandmother's and I purchased it from her estate when she passed away. Things get lost in the bottom, things at the bottom are hard to reach, etc. Too much of a pita for me. I want to get an upright, but don't have room even if I got rid of the chest (the only place to put it would be where my chest is and I wouldn't be able to open the door fully to the upright). I may get one and put it in my parents' basement for extra storage.

If you are not looking to getting a fullsized one they have smaller uprights now. I saw them at Home Depot and was quite impressed. They didn't look like they would take all that much room. They were about 2/3 the size of the traditional freezer size!

Kelly

 

[dhcoffey]

I have a chest freezer now and am giving it to my sister and taking my mom's upright. I hate the chest freezer because things do get lost in there and go out of date and get freezer burn from being lost in the bottom. I can't wait to get the upright here at home.

 

[kpk89]

Seems like an upright is the way to go ... what size does everybody have? I am looking to get like half a cow, half a pig, etc. and freeze all the packages. Have nooooo idea how big of a freezer I'll need for that.

 

[Muushka]

We have the upright variety, 21 CF, for just 2 adults. I keep it pretty full and if it doesn't have enough food, I keep some frozen 2 liter bottles of water.

Also, I recommend not getting a frost-free. We have to defrost ours about every 12 months and it is very easy to do and saves a bit of $$ on electricity. Plus if there is a power outage, that frost will help keep the food colder.

 

[shades]

I have an upright. We had a chest freezer and hated it because we always had to dig to find what we wanted. Upright is the way to go so you can see all of your food labels and will not crush food stuff (like frozen eggrolls). Another benefit of an upright is that you have shelves to quickly chill things you cook. Works out great for no-bake cookies, cakes, etc. I use to have the largest upright that Whirlpool made and it was a real lemon. After several repairs over 2 years, and a BBB complaint, Whirlpool sent someone to pick it up and they mailed me a 100% refund check. Once I received that check, I bought a smaller GE upright. It is frost free, has an interior light, and a basket on the bottom. I ordered it through SAMS.com and I think (can't remember for sure) I got free shipping. I can keep lots of convenience junk food for the kids to pick out and microwave themselves, as well as all the usual stuff - meat, veggies, etc.

 

[sandiegosusie]

My husband bought me an upright Frigidaire. It is wonderful! It is white, has a built in keyed lock, and considered a frost free commercial. I absolutely love it. He bought it at Best Buy last winter for around $400. My sister-in-law bought the exact same one and I know that she loves her as well. I would reccomend it to anyone.

 

[Muushka]

Forgot to add that our freezer has an alarm on it that goes off when the temp rises. It has gone off twice and I am glad we have that alarm!

 

[My2Cinderellas]

A chest freezer is cheaper to operate. it depends on how you plan on using it. my friend's mom has 2 chest freezers - but they raise beef cattle and hogs and need to store an entire steer's worth of meat all at once. they also freeze a lot of produce so there are lots of the same item. they don't do quickie convenience food.

An upright is more convenient for most people IMO - it's much easier to see and get to everything inside. I like that my kids can get stuff out of ours - waffles or a frozen pizza etc.

Frost free uprights are more expensive, and both DH and my dad said not to get one, I'm not sure why, but they ganged up against me. Once a year or so when it's getting low on stuff, we pull everything out and defrost. there are always a couple of surprise items even with an upright.

I can't imagine living without one now - I love being able to buy stuff on sale and freeze until later. We have a full size, we get beef a 1/3 steer at a time and that fills 2 of the 5 shelves. when meat is running low, I use bulk rice or flour to take up space - or freeze milk jugs of water. you don't want any big empty spaces, it takes more energy to keep everything cold that way.

 

[SUSIEQ]

Lowe's has 10% off appliances over $299 thru 11/23/05, some freezers have a rebate, and there is also free delivery & haul away via mail in rebate .

 

[Goofyzgurl]

We've been looking for a freezer for the past six months, ever since we moved into our new house. Now that we have the room we were debating whether to get a frost free, manual, chest, or an upright. I didn't want to dig with a chest, didn't want to defrost once a year, so it was an upright frost free. My mother has an upright frost free and swears by it. She used to have an upright manual and absolutely hated it. I think she couldn't wait to have it "die" out. So finally tonight, we went to Lowe's and bought the Frigidaire frost free. There's only the 4 of us so we bought the smaller one. I don't know why it took so long to commit, it took us less time to have our house build.

 

[dbarker]

Be sure and check the Black Friday ads. I'm sure I saw appliances on sale. (Not sure where, b/c I am not looking for any now.)