Things to Consider when Buying a Free-Standing Freezer
When shopping for a free-standing freezer, there are a few things that should be taken under consideration in order to make sure that you end up with one that is right for your family. Here’s a quick rundown on some of the major decisions that will need to be made:
Freezer Configuration
One of the first things that you’ll need to decide when selecting a free-standing freezer is whether or not you want a chest freezer or an upright freezer. Over the course of my lifetime I have owned both types. I strongly prefer the upright freezer for one simple reason. I am of short stature and my lack of height makes it difficult for me to reach items on the bottom of a deep, chest style freezer. The last chest freezer that I had held a lot of frozen food and worked great but I had to climb inside the thing to clean it. I also had to use a step stool in order to access food items that were stored on the bottom. I hated that. Therefore, I’d suggest that you take your height into consideration when selecting your freezer.
Size
The second thing that you’ll need to take under consideration is how big the freezer should be. Based on my experience, this decision should be based on how large your family is and how much space you have in your kitchen. The last deep freezer that my family owned was when the kids were teenagers. It was 25 cubic feet and was located in a separate pantry that was built off of the kitchen. At the time, we needed a freezer that size because we were buying food often and buying in bulk. You may decide that your family can get by with a smaller size unit.
Features
The third thing that you will need to think about is what features you want your free-standing freezer to have. Some of the options include alarms, internal lighting, sliding baskets, digital temperature controls and locks. Because we had children in the household, we went with a freezer that had a lock, a magnetic door seal, a temperature alarm and a flash freeze feature. It was also supposed to be frost-free but that feature never seemed to work. I still found myself periodically defrosting the freezer. The lock allowed us to keep the kids from crawling inside the freezer and the magnetic seal helped to ensure that it shut properly. The only downside was that the lock came with one key. The temperature alarm and flash freeze features were helpful when it came to controlling the temperature of our frozen foods. I especially liked using the flash freeze feature after restocking the unit during the summer months. It helped quickly re-freeze any foods that started to defrost on the way home from the grocery store.
Killeen Gonzalez has a history of purchasing kitchen appliances with her family. She also has a history of completing home improvement projects.
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