Freezer buying - opinions and reviews sought

[Indigenous]

First post here!

My question is simple; which chest freezer is best to buy? I'm looking to spend under $500, sizing around 7 cu ft but could maybe justify a bit more $$ and 10 cu ft instead.

I just started hunting last year for our Midwest whitetail season, and thoroughly enjoy this as a new hobby and means for bringing better meat home. My current area of hunting offers many tags, and I'm hoping to harvest more than the single I shot last year. Now I'm looking for a decent chest freezer, and they all seem to be a roll of the dice on quality. The Centurion at Menards looked pretty mediocre. I see reviews for Midea saying how they're terrible, and also branded as others. When I pull up the energy guide document for the Master Chef units they have at Home Depot I see the file is a Midea unit. Same stuff. Lots of junk out there, so who has anything good??

 

[pabearhunter]

Welcome aboard. Freezers are like a garage. They are never big enought.

 

[MThuntr]

Consider a stand up freezer if your funds allow...buy one that is too big. Worst case is you can fill water jugs and freezer them to improve efficiency

Had Kenmore at first from Sears and died lost 250lbs of grassfed beef...they replaced it with a slightly bigger Kenmore and has been kicking since. Can't remember the size but it's a medium sized freezer which works great for a couple deer. Add an elk to your couple deer kills and you're in trouble.

 

[Irrelevant]

Hot tip. Sears Coldspot from Craigslist. You'll thank me later.

 

[WNC2500]

I was doing this same analysis and search this summer. I ended up purchasing a 20 cubic foot Whirlpool upright freezer from Lowes. It ended up being in your price range. I have been very pleased. I bought with the anticipation of 2 elk, and 2 mule deer in addition to whitetails from eastern US.

 

[406LIFE]

Buy the biggest upright you can. Also look at CL and FB.

 

[SFC B]

When we moved into our house 8 yrs ago the previous owners had left an old (at least 30 yrs) Kenmore upright freezer in a basement closet. It was unplugged and open and I thought it was probably junk they had stuck us with. I paid the movers an extra 20 to move it to the garage so I could check it out. Plugged it in and have been using it ever since, but man I hate defrosting I will be in this market as well here pretty quickly so I am monitoring this thread with interest

 

[ShadowFast1]

We sell appliances where I work. A couple of the brands we sell have models made by Midea. We've had good luck with them. One brand we carry is made by Electrolux and we've had good luck with them as well. We get some GE from time to time but we don't keep any freezers that they make, just refrigerators and they've been good. No brand is without it's "lemons", and nothing is made like it used to be.

The best thing you can do is to purchase an appliance from a dealer that can work on them, stand behind the warranty, and remember who you are when you call them with a problem. Sometimes that means spending more.

Most appliances only come with a 1 year warranty and the factory does not cover good spoilage. Some extended warranties cover that from day one of your purchase.

I'll parrot what some others have said in buying an upright as opposed to a chest freezer. It's a smaller footprint, unless you don't have the physical height, and all of the uprights I know of are self-defrosting. I've only ever seen one self-defrosting chest freezer. But if you don't mind defrosting yourself then a small chest gives you great bang for your buck.

 

[Wild Bill]

As others have stated, the largest upright you can afford if definitely the way to go. Far easier to organize and access.

 

[88man]

upright is the way to go.

 

[brnsvllyjohn]

Welcome to hunt talk. I prefer a chest freezer for long term meat storage. We also have 2 uprights. One is only used occasionally during big game seasons. Finding food in the upright is easier but during power outages the chest is way better at keeping the temperature. I would also look at buying a good used one. Our new upright freezer is terrible in a power outage. Temperature does not hold well.

 

[88man]

Welcome to hunt talk. I prefer a chest freezer for long term meat storage. We also have 2 uprights. One is only used occasionally during big game seasons. Finding food in the upright is easier but during power outages the chest is way better at keeping the temperature. I would also look at buying a good used one. Our new upright freezer is terrible in a power outage. Temperature does not hold well.

I think if I had that man power outages I would get a generator setup

 

[JLS]

Self defrosting freezers will not keep meat as long as non defrosting. Something to think about when buying. Both of my chest freezers are non defrosting. I do it manually every year or so.

 

[brnsvllyjohn]

I think if I had that man power outages I would get a generator setup

We lots of planned power outages as well as your typical winter outages. Part of living in Ca. foothills where PG&E provides power. I have 2 generators set up but at some point you get tired of the noise and fuel cost. The better the freezer is the less I have to run the generators.

Sorry for the off topic hi jack.

 

[brnsvllyjohn]

Self defrosting freezers will not keep meat as long as non defrosting. Something to think about when buying. Both of my chest freezers are Jon defrosting. I do it manually every year or so.

My wife prefers the self defrosting freezers but I will not store meat for long periods of time in a self defrosting unit. I have to defrost the chest less than once per year, I can live with that.

 

[Indigenous]

Lots of valuable replies. Thank you all for the prompt support.

Your comments have me considering an upright far more than I had been, as I was under the impression they carry more risk vs the work associated with chest which I consider marginal. Personally I'm not opposed to sorting through a chest freezer or defrosting. My climate allows for easy outside storage during a defrost for a good part of the year. That said, I have our current fridge/freezer packed to the door with fish and some last venison of last season. What's in the back at the bottom? Your guess is as good as mine. Time to browse CL, and then if nothing looks good there I'll probably be looking for a local appliance shop that can stand behind their sale.

Thanks again!

 

[NoWiser]

I have a Kenmore Elite chest freezer. So far I'm happy with it. It has nice organization and gets colder than most chest freezers. I keep it at -20F and I do think that it helps keep game better. I've had it for 4-5 years and have only had to defrost it once. I'm not a fan of uprights.

 

[buckbull]

I have an upright freezer that is not frost free. It keeps food longer as mentioned previously. I prefer whirlpool appliances, and based on your poll so do most folks. I see that kenmore is mentioned as a good freezer, and it is. The older model kenmores were manufactured by Whirlpool. That relationship ended in 2017 so be aware that the newer kenmores are manufactured by someone other than whirlpool.

 

[ShadowFast1]

Some of the new Kenmore might be Daewoo? They switch manufactures regularly for their products do it's hard to keep up.

 

[Gr8bawana]

I like Kenmore appliances myself. We have an upright Kenmore freezer that was given to us by our neighbor about 25 years ago and it still works great.
Freezers can usually be found on Craigs list pretty cheap so if I ever have to replace this one I can do it on the cheap.