Freezer recommendations

[DVSCYCLES]

Are there any self defrosting chest freezers?

 

[Cabbage Head]

Ive got both chest and upright. Upright way to go they are frost free. Cost more but much easier to deal with. Biggest problem you will have is finding one.

 

[GrillMeister]

Chest freezer. The biggest one you can afford. It will pay off in spades & bbq later with future lockdowns.

 

[Sarasania]

My vote is for Large Upright Frost Free Garage Capable Freezer. Parents always had a Chest freezer that was hard find things when full and hard to reach things at the bottom when not full. Make sure you get a Frost Free Freezer whatever style you et.

My son has this "Garage Ready" GE Upright Freezer. He keeps it in an unheated attached Garage in Midwest where Garage temperatures run 100F plus in summer when afternoon sun is on uninsulated steel 16X7 foot door and down to near 0F in winter. No problem keeping items frozen year round. He has the 21.3 Cubic foot model with clear shelves. They have a smaller 17.x Cubic foot as well and you can get wire shelves or clear plastic. The 21.3 cubic foot model is now $948 at HD and Lowes. I think he got his on Black Friday Special. I would recommend this one as easy to load/unload and has great LED lighting to see what is in it even when packed full.

I am happy to use his so do not need a large freezer myself. After Christmas when Meijers had discounted Turkeys, Hams I took advantage of it and filled it to the max. I believe we had around 6 20 pound turkeys/5 15 pound hams, 3 20 pound briskets plus his smaller packages of beef/pork/chicken/pork/boxed foods. He was complaining until I smoked the first turkey and ham for his Family. I reminded him he is free to use anything I have in it. He no longer complains about dad using his freezer space.

Garage Ready 21.3 cu. ft. Frost-Free Upright Freezer in White, ENERGY STAR​

Garage Ready​

Proven to perform in temperatures from 0°-110°F.

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Find the Right Fit​

Chest and upright freezers come in a variety of sizes to fit your needs.

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Temperature Alarm​

Visual and auditory alarms alert you if the temperature rises unexpectedly.

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Highest Rated​

The highest rated upright freezers in the industry.*
With a door that locks to help keep children out, this 21.3 cu. ft. GE Chest Freezer offers optimal storage capacity for your frozen items. This Garage Ready freezer features clear slide-out freezer bins to help ensure that you have room to store and organize your favorite frozen foods. Its defrost water drain allows for easy defrosting.

• Garage ready - GE freezers are tested to perform from 0°F to 110°F
• Audible temperature alarm - Alerts you if the temperature rises
• Clear slide-out freezer guide - Enjoy more flexible storage and find items quickly with this clear slide-out bin
• Turbo Freeze - An extra boost of cold air restores interior to set temperature for optimum food freshness
• LED interior lighting - Automatically illuminates when door is open
• Lock with key - Allows you to protect your valuable food items from unintentional entry
• Exterior electronic temperature control - Easily adjust the temperature and avoid releasing cold air by opening the door
• Limted 1-year warranty entire appliance
• Frost free - Prevents frost build-up and means you never have to empty the contents to manually defrost
• Interior lighting - makes it easy to see what is inside
• High-gloss handle - provides a polished appearance that can cleaned with ease
• Energy Star

I will defy convention and advise choosing a manual defrost model rather than one that is Frost Free. The cycles that defrost the ice also defrost your meals, which is why. Because of this cycle, ice crystals can ruin your food. My commercial chest freezer is made to last for an extremely long time. Energy utilisation is a different factor. Manual defrost can be quieter and use up to 40% less electricity.

 

[RayClem]

I have two freezers. One is a mid sized chest freezer in the basement. The good thing about a chest freezer is that it will hold food cold longer even if the electricity goes out. However, reaching down into the freezer and trying to find what you are looking for is a royal pain. I have had mine for over 15 years and have never defrosted it. I might have to do so next summer.

The second is an upright freezer in my garage. It is an attached garage, but unheated. The ambient temp ranges up to 90F in summer with the garage door open, down to around 32F in winter. It normally keeps the food around minus 10 F. We store food in slide-out plastic bins on the shelves. We label them according to contents to finding what we want is easy. It is a manual defrost freezer. We generally take a couple of hours and defrost the freezer every year on a hot day during July. While automatic defrost is great for the freezer in the kitchen refrigerator, periodic swings in temperature during the defrost cycle is not ideal for long term storage of food, whether cooked or uncooked.

 

[sbarbrack]

The GE Gladiator freezers are great....