The storage of frozen food is one of the major treats of having a garage or basement. Some extra room and an extra power outlet means you can have a vast trove of fresh, healthy food stored indefinitely.
The preferred storage method for mass home freezing is a horizontal chest freezer.
What Is A Chest Freezer?
A chest freezer is a horizontally-oriented freezer, which is to say it’s a freezer — and only a freezer — that is laying down. Most freezers are built into refrigerators but a chest freezer is a single-purpose tool that does nothing but keep things cold.
Typically chest freezers found in homes range from 5 to 15 cubic feet, with an average freezer size of about 7 cubic feet. 7 feet is a nice size because you can get a lot of food in there without taking up too much space. Any larger than this and you might not be able to get the freezer into your basement. Many chest freezers, especially larger ones, are kept in garages.
What Features Does A Chest Freezer Have?
The main features you’ll need to look for in these simple devices are:
- On/off switch
- Temperature control
- Defrost method – Usually manual, but could be automatic
- Exterior drain hole
- Internal storage racks
- External On/Off indicator LED
- Ambient temperature compatibility
Some freezer’s will be called “Garage-Ready” or something similar. This is important because if your freezer is in a garage it might be in an ambient temperature range from over 100 degrees F to under 30 F. The motor and cooling capabilities will need to be able to deal with this and not all chest freezers will be able to handle it.
Top Chest Freezers of 2021
GE Garage-Ready FCM11PHWW (10 cubic feet)
After doing a lot of research, I’m fairly confident that the top pick for home users right now will be the GE FCM11PHWW. A number of other sites have come to the same conclusion, which didn’t affect my opinion, but does certainly help validate it.
This freezer looks great on paper because:
- 10.6 cubic feet is an ideal size for families
- Energy Star certified – very few home freezers have this energy efficiency certification
- Child lock
- Exterior power on light so you know the freezer is running
- Adjustable temperature
- Dimensions: 51 x 27.5 x 33.5 inches (LWH), 59 inches tall when fully open
- Weight: 114 pounds
- Power Consumption (yearly): 216 kWh
- Power Cost (yearly): $26
Where To Buy
GE Garage-Ready FCM7SKWW (7 cubic feet)
If you like the sound of the FCM11PHWW but want to save some money or you don’t need so much space, GE has the FCM7SKWW. This is still a nice size, but it drops some of the higher-end features from the larger model, most notably the Energy Star certification and the child lock.
This model sells for about $290, so it’s a good deal cheaper than the FCM11PHWW.
- Dimensions: 37.5 x 21.75 x 33.5 inches (LWH), 53 inches tall when fully open
- Weight: 75 pounds
- Power Consumption (yearly): 250 kWh
- Power Cost (yearly): $30
Where To Buy
GE Garage-Ready FCM7SKWW (5 cubic feet)
If you want something even more compact GE has the Garage-Ready FCM5SKWW, which is the 5.0 cubic feet model. The features are the same as the FCM7SKWW but the unit is smaller and a bit cheaper.
- Dimensions: 29 x 21 x 33.5 inches (LWH), 53 inches tall when fully open
- Weight: 63 pounds
- Power Consumption (yearly): 218 kWh
- Power Cost (yearly): $26
Where To Buy
FAQs
How to I make my chest freezer more efficient?
There is one easy way to cut down on power consumption is to keep the freezer full. More food inside makes the freezer into a large heatsink and means it will cycle on less often. You can also keep your freezer in the basement, where the temperature differentiate between the freezer and outside the freezer tends to be less.
Where do you buy a chest freezer?
Popular places to buy a chest freezer in the United States are Home Depot, Walmart, Costco, Amazon.com, Lowes, and Best Buy, though this list is far from exhaustive and will vary based on where you live.