what kind of freezer to buy ?

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i need advice buying a freezer. it seems there are pros and cons of upright versus chest freezers. i can buy a brand new frigidiare brand upright of approx 14 cubic feet for approx $275, about the same for a chest type. my dilema is making a choice of type. i understand the chest type is more efficient, uses less energy, when you open the door/lid the cold air does not spill out, however everything seems to just get piled in and is very disorganized, making it difficult to find a particular item when you want it. not to mention the waste of forgetting whats in there.

the upright will run more therefore costing more energy, since when you open the door the cold air will spill right out. however, with all those shelves it is much easier to organize and find things when you are looking for them. in the long run, it should be cheaper to operate, as there should be less "waste" since people tend to forget what is buried in the bottom of a chest freezer and have to toss it out.

would you buy the chest or the upright? would you get frostfree or would you get the type that has to be defrosted every so often?

thank you, gene

-- gene ward (gward34847@aol.com), August 27, 2000

Answers

I looked at freezers a short time ago and the upright models listed energy costs to be only about $2 more per year then the chest models. That really surprised me as I thought there would be more difference.

I personally prefer the chest model as you can get more in them without worry of it falling out each time the door is opened. It is pretty easy to keep an inventory list on top of the freezer and cross off an item as it is removed. That solves the "do I have that or not" type of question.

As far as frost-free models, I wouldn't have one of the blankety-blank things. Same with refrigerator. They use more electricity because of the heaters and fans, and they tend to freezer burn food stored in them. It doesn't take much time at all to defrost a refrigerator, and only a little more time to defrost a freezer. Too each their own however, we all have our preferences, these are just mine.

-- Notforprint (Not@thekeyboard.com), August 27, 2000.


I agree with NotForPrint. Frost-free will freezer burn. Be sure to have a pig or two to eat up all the wasted food that freezer burns. I've got a big chest freezer and also an upright. The upright needs defrosting twice as often as the chest. Also, once in a great while a kid won't get the upright's door shut tight. Bad news. Plus, if you defrost once a year, it gives you the opportunity to sort through those little mystery packages in the freezer ("Oh wow! I just found some frozen peppers"!!)

-- Lynn (dakotalady72@dtgnet.com), August 27, 2000.

Manual defrost is no problem. The present upright will be replaced with one or maybe even two small chest-type...for easy transport from the basement with a dolley as our grid system is untrustworthy. I saw a neat idea in a magazine to make a table which slides over a chest- type so the above space is not wasted.

-- Sandy (smd2@netzero.net), August 27, 2000.

I personally have a chest type and the way to organize is I got my husband to cut pieces of a very thin sheet of plywood that I use as dividers. For instance pork in one section, veggies in another, beef in another. It doesn't seem to affect the efficiency of the freezer but sure makes organization much easier.

-- sallyp (sally@cvalley.net), August 27, 2000.

We also have a chest, manual defrost for the previously mentioned reasons. We found some plastic cases similar to milk crates used in grocery stores that helps us keep track of where things are and to prevent shifting in addition to the built-in baskets.. When we need to defrost, it's a simple thing to spread a blanket on the basement floor, stack the crates on the blanket and cover with another blanket. We also use a list/chart of contents.

We bought our freezer 22 years ago and it's paid for itself many times over and I hope it continues to do so. We bought the biggest we could afford at the time. To help keep it full, as we remove things and consolidate the contents of the crates and baskets, I put bags of ice on the bottom. When I need lots of ice for blanching veggies, making ice cream in the summer, it's all right there waiting for me and it helps keep the freezer "full" all the time too.

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), August 27, 2000.



Stay away from frost-free, and definitely go with a chest type. I use cast off milk crates from defunct dairies for organization. Also, consider a used freezer. Freezers are good until they go bad, and a relatively new (say 5 yrs old or less) freezer is usually a bargain. GL!

-- Brad (Homefixer@SacoRiver.net), August 28, 2000.

I had a frost free up right for about a decade and loved it!

Now I have an upright that is not frost free...it's used and about 20 years old and so far freezing just great!

-- Suzy in 'Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), September 02, 2000.


I've had two old uprights, and they've both served well for many years. I have no use for the other kind--too hard to get stuff in and out.

As far as efficiency, I'm sure less cold air spills out of an upright, except that when you have to have it open for a long time to find anything, and to dig it out, and put everything back in, I wonder if you don't waste more heat than the uprights do. With the upright, you open the door, take out whatever you want, and shut the door. Voila!

JOJ

-- jumpoffjoe (jumpoffjoe@yahoo.com), September 02, 2000.


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