That adds a premium to fridges, but I so hope that prices come down to generally affordable levels. Takes some of the load off our SoCal power grid.
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I don’t think it solves the problem, though. It’s not truly a chest—we have one. It’s a door front and suspended containers on rails. The cold air will dump out when opened like any standing freezer.
Still, efficiency is a trade-off between many things. Efficient power, efficient access, etc. I love my standing fridge and freezer and have had and wouldn’t go back to a chest freezer.
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Because my 5’ 2" wife needs to reach stuff, too. But it is all drawers and doors on the inside.
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I have one of the ‘french doors’ plus a deli-tray and bottom freezer style fridge bought in 2019; it’s only slightly more space efficient than the ‘side by side’ and traditional ‘freezer on top’ units that it replaced, and the freezer capacity is… a touch underwhelming, to be honest. I’m not as concerned, because I also have a deep freezer that lives in my storage room.
I was using an upright deep freezer for a while until it finally rolled over after a couple years of being moved around houses; it got replaced with a chest freezer half it’s capacity, because a) that’s all the store had for immediate sale; and it fit in the space. I’m only moderately broken up over the loss of capacity, but it’s certainly more efficient that the dead one it replaced, and it kept things frozen through at least an 8 hour power outage this summer.
As far as organizing stuff in a deep freezer? the Spreadsheet/database thing is a good idea as far as keeping track what’s in it, but for getting to stuff? that probably deserves it’s own thread, because everyone is a little different as to how they do it.
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This is why I opine about a chest compartment with multiple cold zones, though it would take up more floor space. Maybe countertops that lift, and the space where the refrigerator had been could be used for cupboards or something?
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Why? I have a bad back.
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“and requires them to bend down to get their food from floor level.”
This should be in bold and surrounded by flashing lights.
(It’s the same reason I and my back hate the electric dishwasher)
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Homebrewers have been using chest freezers as refrigerators for years.
You use a temperature controller with a thermostat that cuts power to the compressor when it reaches the appropriate fermentation temperature. This is usually just below room temperature for ales and just above freezing for lagers. The larger chest freezers can fit several 5 gallon kegs of beer at a time.
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We had a chest freezer for a while, the problem was moving everything on top to get whatever was at the bottom. We gave it away after not using it for a few years.
A few years later we bought a small upright freezer that blends in in the craft room and we can put things on top. Sure we have to bend over or kneel on the floor but it sure is nice to have a place to store things when they go on sale.
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Do you mean the top shelf of the freezer or on top of the unit?
Generally it’s not a good idea to put anything on top of your fridge or freezer because it can block the ventilation that is required at the back, which forces the compressor to work harder, so you end up using more electricity (or wearing out your appliance). For the same reason, it’s good to pull out your fridge/freezer and vacuum up all the dust that builds up back there.
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I’m sure Dr. Chalko also eschews closets as a huge waste of space for clothing. A big box on the floor (perhaps the one his fridge came in) is a far better way to store your everyday clothes! Why, they virtually iron themselves in that big stack, eliminating the need for an iron! Genius!
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I can picture a pretty cool in-island setup. With a clever sliding drawer system I bet you could fit plenty of different sized things and make them accessible. It would take some imagination and skill I’m not sure I have, but it’s amazing in my mind.
Beaten to the punch!
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Yes, chest freezers are vastly more efficient than your basic upright. I think there was a youtube video by EngineeringGuy (?) that explained this very well. Upright refrigerators have a purpose though. Breakfast? Get the milk or orange juice. Lunch? Get the mayo and cold cuts. Dinner? Dig through the produce drawer to make a salad. Chest refrigerators suck for things like this.
Chest freezers are good for that one thing that need to dig out for tonight’s dinner, that pound of ground beef or that Tupperware of tomato sauce that you made back in June.
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This article is a bit misleading.
It’s about a chest freezer converted into fridge.
“My chest fridge (Vestfrost freezer turned into a fridge) consumes about 0.1 kWh a day.”
But there is no explaination how to do it. Because, by design, freezer have temperature range from -24 ~ -17 °C wich is way too cold to be uese as a fridge.
Something is missing here.
This is the pdf how to confert it to a fridge. It’s from the original posting
Quite a different story that what the first article is talking about…
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I had a similar model, and for me the bottom drawer style freezers do not make sense. Unless everything is just the right size to pack tight, it all slides around and gets less organized every time I open it. And if you need to freeze something liquid or not fully sealed (homemade ice cream and popsicles, leftovers) it’s hard to ensure it stays fully upright in a drawer. In my case I had to find a model that fit in a space that the previous owners blocked in with cabinets to be just a couple inches too short for almost any other brand, and I ruled out the models that had screens/wifi/glass panels/built in Keurigs.
I did have a separate chest freezer in the basement and loved it. Completely different use case. The things down there are bulk, extra, or long-term. Like when I save the leftover thanksgiving turkey to make Christmas pies. Or when I got a whole brisket as a gift and had to save it until I had 16-20 consecutive hours to slow roast it in the oven.
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