Freezers keep food cold enough to prevent it from being exposed to microbial growth and damage, thus prolonging its shelf life and prolonging preservation efforts. They’re essential appliances in many households as they keep your foods safe for longer.
There are three major types of freezers: chest, upright, and drawer. Select one that best meets your lifestyle and needs – look for Energy Star certified freezers to save money while decreasing energy use.
Modern freezers provide long-term food preservation by replacing heat inside with cool air from outside, effectively freezing food. When searching for a freezer to buy, look for models equipped with auto defrost or frost-free capabilities in order to minimize build-up of ice and avoid manual defrosting processes.
Your decision on what kind of freezer to purchase should depend on both your lifestyle and space requirements. Upright freezers generally cost more upfront and consume more energy than chest freezers.
Chest Freezer Types of Freezers
Chest freezers open like a box and usually range in capacity from 5-25 cubic feet, making them suitable for hunters and bulk buyers alike. When installed in a garage (provided there’s enough room to open and move around the door) these freezers make an excellent addition.
Chest freezers tend to operate more quietly due to being better insulated than upright freezers, and don’t require defrost cycles; making them an ideal choice in areas prone to brownouts or power failure as they maintain frozen temperatures longer than their upright counterparts.
Certain models come equipped with removable wire baskets or dividers that help organize food, but these nonstandard storage solutions may reduce usable space or make the freezer harder to keep clean.
If you’re shopping for a chest freezer, make sure it has both frost-free and manual defrost options; otherwise you will have to empty and manually defrost it approximately every month to prevent build-up of ice crystals.
Types of Freezers – Upright freezers
Upright freezers take up less floor space than chest freezers, with one front door that opens like a refrigerator and interior shelving to store food. Ranging in size from 6-25 cubic feet, upright freezers provide plenty of room for small frozen items like frozen dinners, cut meat packages, packages of ice cream and other treats that need freezing quickly. Also featuring multiple style options to seamlessly integrate them into any floorplan be it kitchen, basement rec area or garage.
At no point do you need to bend over when accessing or cleaning an upright freezer. In fact, these models typically offer many storage solutions such as drawers, bins or racks so you can quickly find what you need when the time comes.
As part of your freezer search, consider features that would enhance its use such as reversible door installation (for corner placement), LED lighting or manual defrost option to remove frost manually. Some models even include adjustable shelves to maximize storage efficiency allowing you to customize layout and easily accommodate larger items such as packages of meat or bags of ice cream.
Undercounter Freezer
If you need freezer space but don’t want a large chest or upright model, the undercounter freezer is an excellent solution. These compact models fit underneath kitchen counters and feature either doors or drawers as storage options; additionally, their built-in compartments can store extra items such as small cuts of meat or boxes of ice cream for easy utilization in any kitchen environment.
Many models include thermometers with rotating dials that must be opened to read; others offer digital displays for easier reading. It’s essential that you carefully consider each model’s specifications to ensure they’ll fit seamlessly with your existing countertop; some units even feature low profiles with guard plates to hide their legs when not in use.
Drawer Freezer
At first, refrigerators did not feature freezers as an option. Once they became available, however, French door models became the standard way of adding them. Once these had become the norm however, single wide or two French door designs with drawer-based freezer sections became more prevalent designs than before.
This layout puts everything at eye level for standing adults, eliminating the need to hunch over in order to access your frozen goods. Furthermore, using the main basket area for food items allows more groceries to fit inside at one time while decreasing spoilage rates.
One advantage of bottom freezer refrigerators is their larger sizes compared to top-freezer units, allowing them to accommodate bulkier items like pizza and Thanksgiving turkey more efficiently. Plus, their larger main basket area makes organizing and accessing foods simpler without the hassle of precariously stacked bins.
With precise temperature controls to maintain an ideal environment for meat preservation and full extension drawer slides that allow quick retrieval, this convenient design makes keeping fresh beverages and cold treats readily available is easier than ever – perfect for when visitors stop by unexpectedly!
