What You Need To Know About Buying A Freezer
The freezer in your refrigerator is a great appliance. It allows you take advantage of those terrific specials at the grocery store by buying food in bulk. If you do this a lot, however, the room in these freezers may not be adequate. This is where a standalone freezer comes in. Not only does it offer more space for frozen foods, it saves you money in fewer jaunts to the grocery store and provide room to freeze leftovers instead of simply throwing them out.
You first need to think about what you actually need from your freezer as, although they mostly look the same from the outside (though you will need to think about color you want), how they operate and what interior functions and features they have will vary. Remember that the freezer you buy will be a long-term purchase that should last you for years, so it makes sense to make sure that you get a good one and one that is suitable for your needs and the needs of your family.
When deciding which freezer to purchase, you have to consider two factors – space and purpose. If you plan to use the freezer to store items for months at a time, then a large chest freezer is what you should look for. The alternative would be an upright freezer, which only takes up as much floor space as a normal refrigerator does. They provide easier access to the food items stored within it, however, they typically hold less and are more expensive.
Some upright freezers come with an automatic defrost feature; a feature that you will not find with chest freezers, which all require manual defrosting. Obviously, a freezer that can automatically defrost is less hassle. Some models of manual defrost freezers have a power defrost cycle though, which will speed up the defrosting process. A manual defrost freezer is not without its benefits though. One of them is that because automatic defrost freezers take the humidity out of the air, they also take the moisture out of the foods stored within them. You avoid this problem with manual freezers.
For most people, an upright freezer would be the best choice. They come as small as 33-1/2 inches tall / 5 cubic feet of capacity and as large as 70 inches tall / 20 cubic feet of capacity. Prices start from around $250, however, expect to pay an extra $100 or so if you want one that will automatically defrost.