I want to buy an upright Freezer, Please help.?

Question

I want to buy an upright or a chest freezer and know nothing about them, can you please help.

Which is better. GE or Frigidaire?? ( Must be Frost Free) and are they expensive to operate? If an upright, I need a something in the range of a16cu. ft, Frost free, If a chest 16cu and above.

Answer 1

With certain procedures, either can be nice. Write up a list of what and where each thing is in the unit. This way you will not be holding the door open searching. On an upright, the cold air "falls out" and the whole area gets warmer. With a chest type, the cooler air stays in because it is lower. I had a chest type with baskets that slid back and forth across the top lip. I put the things I was going to use first in the baskets.

Answer 2

A 'chest type' freezer is usually a more energy efficient choice, because of the design.  All the cold air is held in the unit when the door is opened, as opposed to an upright model.  In either case, look for one with the 'Energy Star' label.

An upright model, is usually easier to access all the items in the freezer, and takes up less of a 'foot print', in a floor plan.

So, you need to think about how you are going to use it, and where you want to put it.  For 'bulk' use... you might prefer the chest freezer.  If you have a lot of different kinds of items you like to keep on hand, or you want to access the contents multiple times a day, you might prefer an upright.  Baskets/containers in chest freezers do help make them more 'user friendly', hehehe...you can get to the items on the bottom quicker.

We have a chest freezer here at home, with tall laundry baskets to help sort the food for quick finding.  We buy our meat in bulk  (a half, or whole beef, at a time, from butcher), and put 'hamburger' in one basket, 'roast' in another, and so on.  Most freezers also come with a sliding basket tray, that ride along a rail at the top edge of the freezer.

I'd suggest writing a date on your food packages, and be sure to 'rotate' your stock... use the older packages up first.

For safety purposes, keep things like chicken and fish, in seperate containers.  (preferably in sealed containers).  Chicken is potentially a dangerous source of salmonella....if for some reason your freezer quit working, and the contents thawed.... you'd have to destroy anything the chicken leaked onto.  So a couple minutes of organization, can potentially save you quite a bit.

GE, Frigidaire, Kenmore, Westinghouse, are all established brands with good units.  If you want a more 'basic' unit, without frills, then you might look at Roper, White, etc.

Good Luck