We're planning to replace our old chest freezer soon. I was wondering if we should go with another chest freezer or opt for an upright style. Any suggestions?

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~Jeweled

I grew up with the chest style ones and they did the job but I hated them! When we got married, we had a family member give us their old upright one and we LOVE it! I will never go back to a chest freezer again. This one is ages old and still going strong (we've had it over ten years and it was at least that old when we got it) - don't know that the new ones will last as long but to me they would still be worth the extra money because it's easier to get things in and out of them and to actually see what you have at a glance.

So I would suggest shopping around for an upright one but utimatley you have to go with what is best for your home and budget.

according to the guy at our county's weatherization office the chest styles are more energy efficient because when you lift the lid almost all the cold air stays in the freezer. With the upright styles you loose a bit of cold air every time you open the door since cold air sinks, and slips right out the opening. He did say however, that if you could only go with a new upright, it would be a lot better energy wise than even an old chest freezer.

I personally like both styles, and unless dh is able to work some room into our shed for a chest, we will need to go with an upright. Mostly because of the smaller footprint.. but also because all the shelves help organize the types of frozen food I would store. If we do end up with enough space in the shed then I will get a chest.. and I will splurge a little bit and get one of the models with the baskets.

I haven't done too much specific research on models as of yet, since we a/ don't have a place to put it yet, and b/ don't have the $$ saved up for one.

good luck with what ever you decide!

The first time we bought a freezer we purchased a huge chest model. It was insane. I hated the thing. Everyone wanted to set stuff on top of it because, you know, it is exactly the perfect height. And because it was so big, I could never find anything in it without practically crawling inside. We got rid of that one when we moved.

When we bought this house the previous homeowners left behind their old upright freezer. It was also huge (they couldn't figure out how to get it out of the basement - the door easily comes off). I couldn't even imagine trying to put enough into that old freezer to make it operate efficiently so we gave it to friends who work in the food industry. They got a lot of use out of it.

To replace it, I bought the smallest chest freezer I thought was practical. My thought process is: (1) freezing is a very expensive way to store food, (2) I wanted to be able to easily reach inside and (3) if I found out I needed more freezer space, I would rather purchase a second small freezer. I figured it was easier to organize two small freezers rather than one huge one. I also figured if one freezer suddenly stopped working, I'd have the other one as a back-up. And as my freezer items got used up, I could turn off one freezer to save energy until I had a need to turn it on again. Plus I have so many more options on where to put two smaller freezers instead of one huge one.

Now that said, I just can't 'warm up' to the idea of an upright freezer. The energy efficiency is so much less with an upright. However, for convenience, I MIGHT buy an upright as a second freezer IF I needed one. I don't. The chest freezer is just fine.

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"I've been rich and I've been poor but independently wealthy is where it is at."

we have a chest freezer and like it just fine.

We have two upright freezers, and love them.

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~*~ Angie~*~
Wife to Brian
SAHM to Sarah & Andy 2/11/2000

We have an upright, works great for us.

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DS-16
DD-13
DD-5
DS-3

We have an upright model. I can see what's available more easily. When I was little, my mother had an old chest model and she hated it. She currently owns an upright model.

I grew up w/ an upright & now have my mom's old upright. We were just talking about replacing it for a more efficient one. It's not a huge one, but a smaller one. I looked at a similar upright at the store this weekend & the chest freezers. I can't for the life of me figure out why anyone would buy a chest freezer. They take up more floor space, it's obvious that people will put stuff on top of it so every time you need to get in it you have to clear the top of it. How do you root around and get the stuff that's at the bottom if you have tons of frozen blocks of stuff sitting on top? The salesman said that the problem w/ the chest freezers is that things on the bottom tend to really get stuck down there & not used. The upright freezer has shelves on the door which is perfect for storing my frozen applesauce, peaches, freezer jam, etc. Then, I can have a shelf for beef, a shelf for chicken, a shelf for pork, etc. - organize it that way. Instead of one giant vat to reach into.

I mostly just use my refrigerator freezer, but I do have a small chest one in the basement, that I have unplugged for now. I've been trying turn over the frozen stuff more quickly, so I don't end up with all sorts of "mystery packages" that the label has fallen off, or that I didn't mark thinking I would remember if it was chili, or spaghetti sauce or whatever.