Stand alone freezers

[maytagbear]

Who here has one? Is it a chest or an upright?

If it is an upright, is it self-defrosting?

I'm thinking about getting a small upright, that is, one less than 13 cubic feet, or a small-medium chest, no larger than 9 cubic feet.

I'm not about to buy it this week, or even this month, but likely within the next 5-6 months.

We had a 21 cubic foot Coldspot in the basement of the house, and we used it a lot. But, when we sold the house, we didn't get another.

It looks like I am going to be here in this place for a long while, and there is some room in the kitchen, and I really miss having a separate freezer.

I know, they're about as exciting as a refrigerator- very few moving parts, and what moving parts there are are not easily visible. Oh and well.

I am leaning more towards a Frigidaire built one instead of a Woods.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[coldspot66]

I have a Gibson/Frigidaire 13 cu ft upright, NOT self defrost and have had no problems. Bought it around 2001. Defrosting is a PITA but I only do it about 2 times a year. As you know, there are only 2 companies that make freezers these days: Frigidaire and Woods. Sure wish Whirlpool still made their own, I would have gladly paid extra $ for it. That old Coldspot of yours is prolly still running!

 

[petek]

Hi Lawrence
We have a medium sized chest freezer. Got it at Sears about 16 years ago. While in the beginning it got a fair amount of use it doesn't anymore and I'm half a mind to sell it rather than have it just sitting there eating power. A smaller chest model probably would have sufficed. Have never had one problem with it, knock on wood.

 

[veg-o-matic]

My freezer history

I started out with a 5 cubic foot Danby chest model. It was a great freezer, and almost from the first day wondered how I had ever gotten along without it.

Ended up giving it to a friend when I moved, as I needed to have an upright in my new laundry room. I got another 5 CF model, but this was a Woods upright. Same number of cubic feet, but WAY less actual space. Seems I forgot about the shelves and things that take up room in an upright that a chest model doesn't have to contend with.

Kept that one for a year or so and gave it to another friend and bought myself a GE (ugh) upright, about 10CF, I think. Anyhoo, it's big enough to do the trick and still fit in my laundry room (but just barely!) P.S., I pulled the GE logo off the door and replaced it with a Roper logo!

I have been satisfied with the performance of all three freezers. None of them self-defrost, and I like it that way. The problem with the frostless ones is the same as in the freezer with the fridge: each defrost cycle warms up the cabinet (and the food) to some extent and the constant freezing/thawing cycle shortens storage time considerably. With a frost-full freezer, once the food's frozen, it stays that way.

One thing to look for when you buy is a drain port (chest) or hosy thing (upright). Makes defrosting significantly easier; just turn it off, put a pan under the drain and wait until all the ice melts.

By the way, I discovered that the washer and dryer are the best places to keep the frozen goods while defrosting. They seem to be pretty well insulated. Just make sure you don't turn them on before looking inside!

And having a freezer full of already-prepared dinners is like having money in the bank. Plus, it gives me a place to keep my stockpile of dark chocolate M&Ms!

veg

 

[DADoES]

My grandmother has had several upright self-defrosters, all Woods-made far as I know. The first went bad after a number of years, don't recall exactly what was the problem. She's always very anxious about her freezer, if *anything* goes wrong, she wants a NEW one. Anyway, the first replacement had a "Brand Source" label, but was definitely Woods. It had a bad design on the defrost drain, kept freezing up the drain, filling the floor with water. I cleared it twice, then figured out the design flaw angle, so I contacted the store to get it resolved. They said there's a retro-fit "part" that will solve the problem, but after a good month or longer of no-show on it and numerous callbacks from me, they finally coughed up a completely new freezer. Also Woods-made, but with a slightly different drain design and it has been fine.

 

[jimmyb]

Whirlpool in Laundry Room

I have a Whirlpool upright in my Laundry Room. It is a manual defrost which I think is better for food quality as it does not have as much of a change in temperature. I had to get the Whirlpool due to size as I measured wrong when purchasing cabinets and counters for my laundry area which left minimal space and Whirlpool was the only company that had one that fit. As well living in Phoenix I did not want a freezer in the garage as the Summer heat would have taken its toll on it.

I have had it for over a year and am very satisfied. I have defrosted it once and it is almost time to do it again.

 

[toggleswitch]

Kenmore badged unit.
"Hecho en Mexico"
Around 11 cubic feet. 4+/- feet tall (1.25 Meters)
Upright Style.
No defrosting features, by choice.

(Self-defrosters are HUGE, noisey, and give food major freezer-burn.)I defrost every 2 years.

My GE hand-me-down freezer was only 12 years old when it committed suicide. Don't remebber the size but it was substantially larger.

 

[goatfarmer]

My sister has a old Montgomery Wards chest freezer,about 10-12 CF,in avocado green,that I've tried to talk her out of. Hasn't worked yet.....
kennyGF

 

[maytagbear]

During the season--

the Potluck season, that is, I go to 2-4 church or community potlucks a month (September-May), and the thought of having a stack of "heat and serve" casseroles, side dishes, or desserts waiting in a separate freezer is very hard to resist. The freezer section in the landlord supplied fridge is decent, but not very large. (It's a 14 CF Magic Chef fridge).

I currently don't think I'd be using the freezer for very long term storage, like we did at the house-- half sides of beef, half pigs, 40 quarts of applesauce...right now, it's just the cat and me, and I don't freeze things for him!

Thanks to everyone who has weighed in, so far. I am grateful for your opinions/knowledge.
I wish there were more colour choices these days, though, other than Snowcrest White, WinterFrost White and White.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[kenmore1978]

Frigidaire & Woods

Who is is Woods? And when did they and Frigidaire become the only ones to make freezers? I seem to remember when ALL the companies that made refrigerators had freezers in their line.

With the configuration choices being:

Chest-type, manual defrost

upright, manual defrost

upright, No Frost

My choice would be upright, no frost. Yes, there are disadvantages, but nothing that can't be overcome. All the storage guides I've seen are based on Zero degree temps. Since there is, of course, a slight temp swing in a Frost Free freezer, I would run it at -5 degrees. Then the swing would let the temp rise no more than the "ideal" zero degrees, therefore not affecting storage time. As for the freezer burn issue, that's simply a matter of how well you wrap your food for storage. The quality wrapping of food is stressed even in the instructions for manual deforst freezers, so following those guidelines and adding a little extra touch will mitigate THAT problem. I say this because defrosting is SUCH a PITA. In something like a freezer, you have to plan for it, either making sure you have enough space for all the food while you're defrosting (talk about the Mother of all temperature swings for the food while you're defrosting!) or planning to use the food so it's at a minimum when it's time to defrost, which may not fit in with your menus beforehand or the scheduling of the defrosting.