Making the Choice Between a Chest Freezer and an Upright Freezer

If the location for your new freezer allows the choice between a chest and an upright freezer, there are several factors to assess which can help you determine the best choice for your household. Here are some of the factors to assess with a chest freezer:

The advantages

• Chest freezers can typically store more items than an upright freezer, including items that vary in shape and are larger in size.
• Chest freezers are more energy efficient, due in part to the fact that opening the top of the freezer keeps cold air trapped as opposed to the free flow of cold air that will escape an upright when the front door is opened. 

The disadvantages

• Chest freezers are typically loaded from bottom to top, which can result in the difficulty of retrieving items stored at the bottom of the freezer. 

For upright freezers, advantages include:

• The configuration of an upright allows for easy access to frozen items with sliding shelves and storage bins.
• Added visibility can enable better rotation of frozen goods
• Uprights have a much smaller footprint than chest versions, allowing for more open floor space. 

Disadvantages include:

• Uprights, despite their higher cost, have less storage capacity then chest style freezers.
• Uprights cost more to operate, due to a lower level of energy efficiency. As previously mentioned, opening the front door of an upright allows cold air to escape, which requires the freezer’s motor to run until the escaped cold air is replaced.

While the end objective is the same, the uses of these two types of freezers are very different. Consider the above-mentioned factors to ensure that the freezer you buy matches the way you intend to use it.