A stand-alone freezer somewhere in the corner of your kitchen can provide your household with all the vital storage space you need for everything from reheatable eats to cool treats.
You will also realize that a sizable freezer can save lots of money on weekly grocery shopping because you are free to stock it with a stash of freezable items to keep you going for several weeks.
If you would like to bring a new unit into your home, here is what to factor in when buying one:
Manufactured Home Freezers: Seven Things To Check For
- Space & Size
- Profile/Capacity – upright or chest freezer?
- Type
- Compartments
- Key features
- Energy Savings
- Brand
1. Space & Size
The first measurement you should take is the door’s size – that’s both the main door and the one leading to where you intend to install the unit.
Determine whether your choice model would fit in the frames on the way to the installation spot.
It can be easy to forget this part only to realize too late your new freezer won’t get to the kitchen.
Regarding the location of installation, how much free space do you need to install the freezer and use it without hindrance?
The home’s overall size and installation location will have a say in the unit’s dimensions.
If your home is a cramped city apartment or a small home, you will want to buy a compact freezer.
Once you determine how big your space is, you can start to move up the scale and choose a larger model.
Also, remember to consider the capacity of the freezer:
- How many people do you plan to serve with the freezer?
- How many individuals do you have at home?
- Do you host friends and families often?
- Are you a food hoarder?
All these can help you make up your mind about the right capacity for the freezer.
2. Profile/Capacity – upright or chest freezer?
There are two groups of freezers when it comes to profile:
- upright
- chest.
The profile of the product influences its capacity. Your capacity requirements will determine your choice between the upright and chest freezer.
Upright Freezers
Upright freezers are exactly what the name says – they stand upright.
They are best the space savers because their width is almost the same as that of your fridge.
As such, they can run in harmony with your other kitchen appliances without feeling cramped in the room.
Most homeowners seem to choose this profile more often than the chest type – walk into your two neighbors’ homes and ask to see their freezers, they are likely to be upright.
The size of an upright freezer of your choice will depend on your home’s overall size and whether you need to freeze a lot of fresh food daily.
Chest Freezers
Chest freezers resemble a chest with a top-opening lid.
They are designed to operate in the utility room because of their large size.
If you have a large household with a lot of food to freeze, this is the best fridge profile because the capacity is enormous.
Although they often feature wire baskets, internal shelves are extremely rare – this design sort of makes it hard to organize your food the way you want.
While an upright freezer comes with several well-arranged shelves or buckets, they only edge out chest freezers in terms of organization, not capacity.
3. Type
There are 4 types of freezers:
- built-in/integrated
- freestanding
- semi-integrated
- built-under.
Built-in and integrated freezers are the same things.
They are stainless steel units that build into kitchen cabinets.
Often, they are fully paneled and can install flush with cabinets.
The front panel is normally designed to match the rest of the kitchen appliances, so when you close the door.
Freestanding the freezer becomes completely hidden freezers describe the upright profile of freezers.
They are full-depth models designed to protrude past the kitchen cabinetry. Some freestanding freezers stand at 24”, so they don’t exceed the cabinets.
Freestanding/upright models tend to give the buyer more options regarding design, color, and size.
A convention-size freestanding freezer (H85cm) can be useful for you if your space doesn’t have enough room or if you must fit it under your countertop.
A freezer (over H130cm) will provide maximum storage but occupy more space.
Semi-integrated is designed to be integrated into the rest of your appliance collection in cabinetry but has a visible control panel.
Built-under freezers are designed to be boxed into the sides, under, or top of the countertop.
They can be easily pushed in and removed at any time.
4. Compartments
Whether you should buy a compartmentalized product will depend on the kind of food you want to store and how you want to store it.
If you intend to use the freezer for storing one type of food, say, fish, a product without compartments would be a wise choice.
Conversely, if you intend it for different kinds of food – maybe a few slabs of meat, bunches of veggies, and few tumblers of yogurt – then a compartmentalized product would be perfect.
Compartments make it easy to discriminate between different types of food.
5. Key features
There’s a list of must-have features without which a freezer would stop being the usual easy-to-use product we all know.
Look for these features in your potential freezer and choose those that are more important for your needs:
Frost-free
If you don’t want ice to form inside your freezer, choose a unit with this technology.
Products with this technology use a powerful fan to move the air constantly and prevent it from sticking on the walls and food.
So, you will never have to crush some ice flakes to obtain those frozen chips.
Temperature warning
A freezer with a temperature warning lets you know when interior conditions are not right to preserve your food.
This can help you avoid surprises, like opening the unit after two days to be met with half spoiled food.
Control panel lock
Do you have curious kids in your home who like to press every button they see and turn all knobs they find?
Choose a freezer with a lockable control panel so that no one can make unwanted adjustments once you close it.
It can also serve as a safety feature to prevent you from making accident adjustments.
Some freezers won’t allow anyone to raid your last piece of bacon once you lock the control panel.
Interior light
Does anyone at home have a habit of creeping to the fridge at night for a late-night treat? Go for a freezer with an interior light.
This may sound like an obvious add-on that should come with every product, but you will be shocked by the number of popular models that come without it.
The interior light allows you to see what you have remaining in there. When you open the freezer, the bulb lights up automatically to easily spot what you are after. It can also help you avoid leaving the door open.
Flexible storage options
Most freezers nowadays come with flexible storage options designed to let you organize and store foodstuffs how you want.
With moveable baskets and racks, you can order and stack anything more easily and effectively for your needs.
Flexible storage options are essential in the chest models or wide freezers, as they allow you to put certain foods in one location, then switch positions thereafter for whichever reason.
Open door alert
Few things can be deplorable like forgetting to properly lock the freezer’s door.
A freezer left open for long periods will certainly leave your food to spoil and bloat the energy bills for nothing.
It is very easy to forget to close the door: a door may seem closed but it’s still open if didn’t click audibly into the closing position.
For that reason, choose a freezer with the open door alert feature which is basically an alert system that keeps you aware when you haven’t clicked the door closed.
Fast freeze
This is the go-to setting when you have just returned from the store and you want to put your foodstuffs straight in the cold box.
Fast freeze rapidly lowers the compartment temperature to lock in the nutrients and return food to correct conditions. With it, you don’t have to worry about your fresh ice cream melting.
Freezer guard protection
Do you plan to store food in sub-zero conditions for long? Choose a product with this feature.
Freezer guard protection lets you keep your food under 0°C for conservation purposes.
What makes this feature truly important is that freezers tend to malfunction or stop working at extremely low temperatures.
So, the freezer guard technology is the best way to keep your cold box running properly with loads of food even when you are not around.
Soft freeze
If you like to eat loads of ice cream but hate it when it gets out stiff and hard to scoop, go for a freezer with the soft freeze feature.
Machines with this feature come with a special compartment dedicated to ice cream preservation.
This area has been engineered to keep your ice cream at the right temperature for longer.
Dial thermostat
Buy a product equipped with a dial thermostat to keep you aware of the levels of cold temperatures and allow you to easily control them
Freezer/fridge combo
6. Energy Savings
A freezer is eternally in operation, so you should factor in its energy-efficiency. Advances in insulation technologies mean today’s freezers use less energy compared to older models.
Freezers that have obtained the ENERGY STAR® are available from most popular brands including Danby, Bosch, Frigidaire, Jenn-Aire, Kenmore, GE, and many more.
Did you know the ENERGY STAR® comes with these benefits below?
- Helps you cut utility bills – freezer units with ENERGY STAR® label on them are at least 10% more energy efficient relative to the minimum federal standards.
- Protect the environment – the fact that certified products use less energy means you are reducing your impact on the bio-system/environment.
The older your freezer is, the higher your utility bills will be- buy a new product with the latest technologies.
7. Brand
Such things as warranty (which is often a reflection of the product’s durability), quality, and even the price can depend on the brand behind the freezer.
Consider the reputation of the brand that makes the freezer of your interest.
We looked at several user reviews for the top brands available on the market today and these are the best-rated brands found:
Avanti
Most of the Avanti’s models available on the market enjoy largely favorable reviews.
Buyers say they work as expected, have a predictable visual design that easily matches with other kitchen appliances, and they are compact enough not to occupy much kitchen space while still holding enough.
That doesn’t mean they are all perfect: we bumped into a few complaints about their not-so-satisfactory durability but this involved just a fistful of the brand’s many models on offer.
The overall opinion from most buyers is positive.
Danby
The bulk of Danby’s models falls in chest, upright, and portable categories.
Their products seem to get strong reviews from buyers across different niches including small business owners and residential buyers.
Satisfied customers mention their superb energy efficiency and finding Danby’s freezers to be reliable and long-lasting.
EdgeStar
If you are looking for small portable freezers then you need to check out some of EdgeStar’s products – they provide some of the best compact freezers out there.
Their products, however, earn mostly mixed reviews, but the aggregate points towards positive.
A lot of buyers find their freezers to be remarkably quiet, easy to transport, and effective at keeping loads of food frozen.
Sounds like a brand you’d consider for your next camping or long driving trips, doesn’t it?
Engel
This brand is famous for their high-end portable products which reviewers insist to be worth the high prices.
They praise them for their low energy consumption and consistent performance.
From the accounts of a lot of buyers, Engel’s freezer’s seems to be quiet, rapid cold (and staying so for longer than most other comparable products) kind of machines.
Frigidaire
This is one of the oldest makers of freezers and fridges in the industry. You have probably encountered one of their products at your favorite retailer store.
They make a range of upright and chest freezer models that receive mixed reviews that vary quite considerably by model.
A big part of their units get virtually all 5-star ratings, others mostly 2-stars.
We recommend that you check out the reviews and ratings for any specific Frigidaire model you like before committing to buy it.
General Electric (GE)
Isn’t it interesting to have a jet engine maker produce your freezer?
General Electric divides their innovation between heavy industries and household products to supply some of the best freezers you could find in the store.
Their products are quite commonplace in most home supplies stores in the country and chances are you want to replace one after many years of service.
They offer both upright and chest freezers at fairly competitive prices.
Their products attract mainly positive reviews and that’s expected from an old and experienced brand. The freezers are durable and reliably functional.
Kenmore
Kenmore too has been in the industry for quite some time and both their chest and upright freezers are some of the common sights in popular retailers.
Very much like Frigidaire, their reviews change remarkably based on the specific model customers buy.
While some freezers receive almost uniformly unfavorable reviews and lowly ratings, others are praised to be just what the buyer wanted.
For that reason, we’d recommend you conduct more research into the particular freezer of your interest before making up your mind to buy it.
U-Line
This is yet another brand renowned for compact freezers that can be installed beneath your counter.
They are mostly equipped with an energy-efficient convection cooling system, meaning the freezer creates low temperatures faster while staying-energy efficient.
Most reviewers loud the design and overall appearance of their freezers look, quiet operation, and how flawlessly they work.
Conclusion
Once you settle on one freezer model, you expect to receive its service for an extended period spanning several years.
That’s why it’s important that consider all the critical factors when shopping for one.
Just as you would with a fridge, you need to factor in the energy-efficiency of the unit.
Such things as the amount of available space and profile/capacity (upright or chest freezer) are important.
There are four types of freezers – built-in/integrated, freestanding, semi-integrated, and built-under – which you can choose as either compartmentalized or not. Also consider all the key features and the brand.
