Freezers – Upright, Chest or `Fridge Combo AND What Size?

[Mad Cook]

Over here domestic fridge/freezers are a lot smaller than the ones I've seen in US photos and so I can't comment on them but I could cheerfully strangle the person who invented chest freezers for the reasons others have raised on this thread. I have an upright freezer in storage which is coming to this house when I get rid of the chest freezer that came with the property.

As I have a kitchen you couldn't swing a cat in I'll have to put the upright in the garage so I'm considering buying a small "table top" freezer for the kitchen just to stash things for immediate use. It's a bit of a pain having to traipse across the yard to get a portion of peas or to freeze something freshly made that needs attention while it's freezing!

 

[GotGarlic]

I hate chest freezer, why. Well my melons dont like the cold and when you need to find the stuff in the bottom, my melons get painfully cold.

Your melons?

 

[roadfix]

Chest -.......and the lid ends up as a landing zone for stuff requiring me to move the stuff to access the freezer.

So true. The large, flat surface made a perfect project bench for me. I was constantly doing something on the lid and always had stuff piled on it.

 

[Cheryl J]

Your melons?

I'm guessing she's referring to her "upper girl parts" getting cold.

 

[GotGarlic]

I'm guessing she's referring to her "upper girl parts" getting cold. [emoji38]

[emoji38] Put a sweater on!

 

[Kayelle]

Your melons?

Haa...AKA, TaTa's, or "the girls".

 

[Cheryl J]

Small correction- Our little freezer is a 6 cu ft not 3.5, it is a 20 year old Kenmore, and is reserved mainly for meats. I brought it into the marriage.

I keep a spreadsheet (of course) of the contents indicating which shelf each item is on.. We have a copy of the spread sheet posted inside a kitchen cabinet to keep track of what is in there and add or subtract as we go.

It allows us to take advantage of sales on items such as steaks, roasts, ribs,etc.
It works out well, even though there are only the two of us.

Thank you, Steve! 6 cu ft sounds more practical than a 3.5 for a small, but useful, one person freezer.

 

[GotGarlic]

Agree with all of the above about chest freezers (with the exception of the melon comment - I've never had a chest freezer, so no experience with it ). We had a small freezer for years and it wasn't enough. I make big batches of stock, keep bones till I have enough for stock, stock up on meat sales, freeze garden veggies and homemade salsa, pesto, etc. So we sold it and bought an upright last year. It has four shelves and a mesh drawer on the bottom. I have bins on each shelf to organize the contents and put all the stock-making items in the drawer.

I also have a French-door fridge in the kitchen and a smaller regular fridge in the adjoining sunroom. The inside fridge and the upright are pretty full right now. The other fridge is less so, but I have three types of medication that need to be refrigerated, so we definitely make good use of it.

 

[Kayelle]

Thank you, Steve! 6 cu ft sounds more practical than a 3.5 for a small, but useful, one person freezer.

See what I mean? He's the numbers guy, not me.

 

[Cheryl J]

Yep, I hear ya there, K! Numbers are NOT my thing. I have trouble sometimes helping Tyler with his 3rd grade math homework.

 

[Andy M.]

Ours is about 13-14 cubic feet. We manage to keep
It pretty full. I’d guess it’s the right size for us. After about 18 years I can’t say I wish I’d bought a bigger one.

 

[Kayelle]

The thing I like about our 6 cu ft is it makes us use up what we have in a timely manner rather than have stuff sit in there for eons and forgotten. SC gets unhappy if our freezer is too full to buy more bargains otherwise I know that no freezer would ever be big enough.

 

[Cheryl J]

The thing I like about our 6 cu ft is it makes us use up what we have in a timely manner rather than have stuff sit in there for eons and forgotten. SC gets unhappy if our freezer is too full to buy more bargains otherwise I know that no freezer would ever be big enough.

+1...

 

[taxlady]

We have a chest freezer. It was a gift from my m-i-l. I don't hate it as much as I thought I would. We are pretty good about not leaving stuff on top of it. A friend gave me a tip a long time ago: wear oven mitts. There can be a fair bit of rummaging and they keep your hands from going numb. We have a fridge with side by side fridge and freezer. I insisted on that, to make it easier to find stuff.

 

[JustJoel]

Mom and Dad had a chest freezer for years. We experienced every drawback that has been described in this thread. Things getting buried, stuff piling up on top, frozen hands. I will never buy one, and if it’s s gift, I’ll sell it and get an upright!

 

[CakePoet]

I used to wear oven mittens and a winter jacket to get hold stuff in the huge chest freezer my parents had. Well I dont bring that along when I am on vacation in the summer and I cook at people, I been head down in chest freezer in a few countries, man it hurts and yes melons... not tangerines or pancakes, that wouldnt hurt I guess.

I see if I can get picture of my set up, the landlord provided me with two upright, one fridge and one freezer, just waiting for the landlord to come and fix my broken oven.

 

[GotGarlic]

We have a fridge with side by side fridge and freezer. I insisted on that, to make it easier to find stuff.

Funny, I will not have a side-by-side fridge/freezer because there isn't enough space horizontally. I've had to use that style in rentals or other people's houses and it drives me nuts [emoji38]

 

[Andy M.]

Funny, I will not have a side-by-side fridge/freezer because there isn't enough space horizontally. I've had to use that style in rentals or other people's houses and it drives me nuts [emoji38]

+1. I've always felt the freezer and fridge compartments were too narrow to accommodate the occasional larger item.

 

[roadfix]

I don't like standard width side-by sides either. That thick insulated wall between the freezer and the main compartment takes up a good volume of fridge space.

 

[Just Cooking]

I used to wear oven mittens and a winter jacket to get hold stuff in the huge chest freezer my parents had. Well I dont bring that along when I am on vacation in the summer and I cook at people, I been head down in chest freezer in a few countries, man it hurts and yes melons... not tangerines or pancakes, that wouldnt hurt I guess.

I see if I can get picture of my set up, the landlord provided me with two upright, one fridge and one freezer, just waiting for the landlord to come and fix my broken oven.

Whew!!! I almost read that sentence incorrectly...


Ross