How does your freezer work, what makes one better than another, and do you need a new one?
Standalone Freezer Types
Imagine having to walk down into your root cellar in order to find that your food has gone rotten because you left it down there too long. Or that a mouse got to it. Prior to the invention of freezers, root cellars were one of the key ways we used to store and preserve our food. This week we're diving deep on freezers and which models serve best for your purposes.
Before we dive in, we do have one note. Don't forget that alongside most, although not all, refrigerators there are also freezers. These will be either as a separate compartment at the top or bottom. Or you might get them as a 'side by side' where one side of the unit is a refrigerator and the other is a freezer. These are also fantastic options and if you're only freezing a small amount of food can be perfect for a household of 4 or fewer. If you're wanting to do meal prep, or you have a larger family you need to feed, an additional freezer can make your life much easier.
Unlike our Deep Dives in the past we're sad to see that there aren't many features for freezers in standalone models. You might get digital temperature controls, or the ability to adjust the controls via Wi-Fi, but there's not much. The biggest things you need to keep an eye out for are insulation, power source, and the compressor. These three things are really going to affect how good your freezer is and whether it's worth the money you're going to spend on it.
Portable Freezer
A portable freezer is ideal if you're going to a party or the lake. After all you don't want to bother with coolers full of ice that are going to melt eventually. Portable freezers are very spartan in terms of what features they offer but they are also cheap because of that. They can be AC or DC-powered. Some models are even able to plug into your car. These are, in short, great for people who travel frequently, but we wouldn't advise them for home use. These also aren't going to be very large. You should expect to be able to store a couple of liters of soda and some additional food. The largest that we found was 85L (think 120 cans of 12oz) while the smallest we found was 10.5L or about 4 bottles of soda.
Chest Freezer
Picture a box. It might be as 'small' as 2.1 cubic feet or absolutely massive at 40 cubic feet. Give your box a hinged lid, and inside the box picture, it with subdividers you can move around This is (essentially) the description of a chest freezer. If you need to store large types of food like whole birds or sides of beef or pork, this is a good choice. Oddly shaped pieces of food, or large quantities of food, these are what chest freezers are great at handling. A chest freezer is usually very affordable when compared to other types of freezers.
Two important things to note.
-A chest freezer typically won't have an internal fan. This means that the coldest air is going to settle at the bottom and warmer air will rise to the top. Make sure that if you are storing other types of food in it that only what you plan to use soon is near the top.
A chest freezer complete with subdivided drawers, photo belongs to Practically Functional
-The chest's lid isn't meant to have things stacked on top of it. They can't handle heavy objects. Doing so anyway can cause the lid to bow, breaking the seal on the freezer. This would mean that the air from inside the freezer would escape more easily and things at the top can defrost. Note that in our tiny house appliance article, we noted that they could be used for a table in-between times when you need to access them. This is still a viable possibility. The reason that works is that you set a flat surface on top of the chest and then items on the whole of that, it spreads the weight more evenly. Doing it this way prevents the weight from bowing any one spot of the freezer lid. If on the other hand you just sit on the lid, all of the weight is focused in one spot, and that spot will dent and malform, thus breaking the seal.
Upright Freezer
Upright freezer complete with shelves, drawers and door pockets.
Upright freezers are great for those of us who are... on the shorter side. With a chest freezer, you can tip yourself over the side trying to reach the bottom. (Yes your blogger has done it.) An upright freezer though has internal shelves for separating things out and it opens like a fridge! Upright freezers come in a wide variety of sizes. You might need one that fits under your counters and is the size of a mini fridge just for keeping meal prep kits in. Alternatively, you might be storing an entire year's harvest in yours and you're going to need one the size of a standard refrigerator. Both options are available, although naturally, prices will vary between them. They're usually going to offer fans and auto defrost features but they're also going to cost more than a chest freezer.
Drawer Freezer
Drawer freezer pulled out.
A drawer freezer is kind of like a drawer dishwasher in that it is capable of fitting under your cabinets and containing multiple drawers for easier access. These are ideal for a home with a very busy kitchen. Drawer freezers are meant to fit right alongside your existing cabinets. You can even use the top as additional counter space if you wanted. They will usually have fans to circulate air evenly and an auto-defrost function. They also include slots for putting in separators to subdivide the space however you want. They are priced higher than most other options, but well worth it in our opinion if you're looking to get additional freezer space. One great thing to note is that many drawer freezers are available as 'panel ready' meaning that you can purchase panels to fit over the front. Then they can blend seamlessly into your kitchen, allowing you to keep the look of your kitchen uninterrupted.
Throughout this post, we've mentioned that some models will have auto defrost options and some don't. Why though is it important? Good question. Over time a freezer can build up ice on different layers of the freezer. Not just on your food, but on the walls of the unit as well. If moist air is able to get into the freezer at all it will coat the edges and freeze into lovely ice crystals. Over time this can build up until it coats the freezer. It can even get to the point that you won't be able to use sections of the freezer without having to hack out the ice that's there. (Ask the blogger how she knows.....) Now, you can defrost your freezer without having an auto-defrost function. To do that you'd remove everything from the freezer, unplug it and take it outside. You can then let it sit in the sun all day, you can use a hairdryer or you can take a chisel and mallet to the ice and carefully start working out the ice. If you want to avoid having to go through all of this, a defroster can be very useful. They also help with preventing freezer burn, but that's as much about how the food is sealed as how well the freezer seals. Defrosters will add cost and complexity to the freezer though, which means that you're not only going to be paying more but if something breaks it's another part that has to be explored. (Although we will say that regular maintenance checks can prevent from you having to deal with that.)
With all of that in mind, what type of freezer do you find works best? Do you have ways that you use at home that we didn't think of? Let us know over on our Facebook page, we'd love to hear from you!
On the other hand, if you wound up here because your freezer is giving you issues, we've got several posts to help you take a look at all of that. If you can't figure out the issue, or you're busy getting prepped for the holidays (we understand) you can always give us a call at ((214) 599-0055) or reach out on our contact page. Our technicians are always available to help and we at ARS want to be there for you.
Additional Reading
Why You Should Schedule Regular Appliance Checks
What an Appliance Visit Is Like In 2021