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Would you rather have an upright freezer or a chest freezer?

 
gardener
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Would you rather have an upright freezer where it is easier to find things or a chest freezer that uses less electricity?
 
master steward
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Actually, there is another factor.  I have both. The upright takes up less floor space. I would keep the upright.
 
Steward of piddlers
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I've had both, I prefer the chest freezer for my lifestyle system.

I have a normal fridge/freezer in my kitchen, I work out of that freezer and once it gets low I restock it from the chest freezer with staples like chicken thigh, ground beef, fish, or whatever else I might have. The fact that it is cheaper electrical costs and more space comparatively for the dollar spent is a positive.
 
pollinator
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I’ve got both.  Large things go in the chest. Small things in the upright.  
 
steward
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I have had both.

I really prefer the upright as items are easier to find.

With the chest freezer, I am constantly taking everything out to get to something on the bottom.

Then the next day I find something that did not get back into the freezer....
 
master gardener
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I had a fridge for several years that was a chest freezer on a temperature controller and we put stuff in stacked milk-crates to help make things easier to find.
 
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We have both. The upright is easier to find things in - the chest doesn't drop half a shelf full of stuff on your feet when you open the door, if someone isn't so great at tetris... So, if I can organize it, I'll take the upright. If hubby is organizing it, I'll take the chest!
 
pollinator
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I had chest freezers for years. Great efficiency, but things get lost unless you have a hardcore system.

In my new circumstance, I have an upright. It works well enough even though it's probably less efficient. But then we're not opening it every few minutes like a fridge door so the difference doesn't amount to much. It's certainly easier to find stuff, and less stuff gets lost, and you get pretty good at using things as wedges to prevent avalanches.

If it died, which would I choose? I would choose what Dear Wife wants, and be happy.
 
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I prefer the chest freezer, as we tend to store things for a longer time than might be ideal. However, I've got "Hubby" who is a very experience freezer diver, because I'd never manage to move everything to get what I want.

That said, I use cloth grocery bags to organize things and to allow me to pull out a whole bagful to get at something lower down. If I could convince the family not to mess with my system, it would be fine...
 
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Chest freezers are more efficient and keep things frozen much longer during a power outage.
 
pollinator
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Chest freezer every time.(this isn't even a question)  Lower freezer burn too.  My ideal would be to do a chest freezer inside a large chest freezer.  Cool the outer chest freezer with heat pipes so 7 months our of the year the inner one didn't need to run and even in warm weather it took twice as long to thaw.
 
pollinator
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Bit of a side note.
I like my chest freezer, even with all the digging involved.
My freezer is getting down to about half full this time of year and the digging is easier.

It doesn't have the old radiator fins in the back like they used to.
The side gets hot so I think/know some of the chest freezers are putting the heat exchanger near the outer skin.
Surrounding the freezer with warm/hot.

I'd like a chest freezer with the old fins on the back.
 
pollinator
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I would prefer a chest freezer.
My husband is great at "Tetris"ing freezer/fridge spaces, and I'm good with organization systems.
 
pollinator
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Matt McSpadden wrote:Would you rather have an upright freezer where it is easier to find things or a chest freezer that uses less electricity?



upright, less electricity is no good if you cant find things. I did however just have chili that was super tasty, frozen in a vacuum bag for, um...years, lets just leave it at that. Pre pandemic. ...

sandy
 
Matt McSpadden
gardener
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S Smithsson wrote:... I did however just have chili that was super tasty, frozen in a vacuum bag for, um...years, lets just leave it at that...



LOL

I had a turkey that was almost 3 years frozen... not sure how I lost a whole turkey in the freezer...
 
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Cold flows down so every time you open an upright you lose that coldness, A chest freezer keeps it in, but its harder to find things unless you plan ahead and fill it with bags and boxes that are easier to get to, so I choose chest, I have 3 now.
 
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