A chest freezer is a great way to store extra frozen food, and keeping that freezer functional depends a lot on where you put it. An unheated garage may not be the best place for the freezer, and your basement may not have enough space.
A chest freezer is a great addition to any appliance collection, but it can seem taxing to find the right spot for it in your home. You want it somewhere easily accessible, so you don’t have to dig around too much. But you also want it somewhere out of the way.
In this article, you’ll see all the different options for where you can put your deep freezer. You’ll see why it’s essential to take good care of your appliances and keep them at the correct internal and external temperatures for the sake of the food stored inside them.
With space and uses in mind, there’s a lot to consider when discerning where to put your chest freezer. Finding the perfect spot has as much to do with organizing your basement as freeing up extra freezer space.
In this article, we're specifically talking about standalone freezer units - and not a refrigerator freezer. A refrigerator freezer is what many homes have in their kitchen - a refrigerator with a dedicated freezer compartment. A standalone freezer is an appliance that is dedicated solely to freezing food items (it doesn't have an onboard refrigerator). These freezers are ideally suited to families that need more frozen food storage space than their refrigerator freezer can provide.
Chest freezers take up a lot of floor space whereas upright freezers are shaped like standard kitchen refrigerators
The two main types of standalone freezer units that you can purchase from big box retail stores are chest freezers and upright freezers.
Chest freezers are rectangular and are much more wide than they are tall - they tend to take up a lot of floor space. An upright freezer is a vertical appliance that resembles a refrigerator in the amount of floor space that it takes up.
Pros and Cons: Chest vs Upright Freezers
Cost - Chest freezers tend to be significantly less expensive than upright freezers.
Energy Efficiency - Chest freezers are also more energy efficient than upright freezers. When you open the lid of a chest freezer, the cold air tends to remain in place. The upright design encourages warm air to go into an upright freezer when the door is opened - and this displaces the cold air. Temperature fluctuations occur more frequently in an upright freezer, this requires additional energy to bring the temp back down to desired levels in an upright freezer.
Floor Space - This is where an upright freezer has the big advantage. While both freezers are rectanglular, the upright freezer takes up much less space. It is a challenge to find the floor space for a chest freezer.
You should not keep a chest freezer outside. Whether you consider putting it on your porch, patio, or next to your house, the outdoors is not a good place for your chest freezer.
Keeping any household appliances outside is generally a bad idea. Even a refrigerator-freezer combo appliance would not last the outdoors for very long.
One of the biggest reasons you should never keep your chest freezer outside is the moisture. Moisture is like an instant killer to appliances like freezers. If moisture gets into your freezer unit, it will immediately damage the piece.
Inclement weather and drastic temperature changes can also mean serious problems for your freezer if you keep it outside. Even if you keep the freezer on a covered patio, big drops or increases in temperature are extremely problematic.
Another reason you shouldn’t keep your chest freezer outside is because of the possibility of vermin stealing your food. Pests like raccoons are notorious for getting into containers that seem otherwise impenetrable.
If you leave your chest freezer outside, you run the severe risk of losing all your favorite frozen foods to the animals of the wild. Keeping your freezer outside asks for more creatures to come into your yard and see what you have to offer.
One of the best places to store a chest freezer is indoors. Whether you put it in your pantry, a closet, or your basement, keeping the freezer inside is a great idea. You could even make it the centerpiece of your kitchen if you felt inclined.
When you store your chest freezer inside, you eliminate all the variables that make it dangerous to keep a freezer outside. A couple of crucial reasons why keeping your freezer inside is a good idea include:
You should keep your freezer in a carefully conditioned environment. This is the best way to ensure that they live a long life and serve their purpose for you, your family, and your extra cartons of ice cream and frozen pizzas.
Lots of people like to put freezers in their garage. The garage usually has extra space, and the conditioning can be somewhat controlled to make the temperature amenable. Placing the freezer in a garage also frees space inside the house that you can use for other things.
The garage is a valuable and practical place to store your chest freezer. Even if you have an upright freezer for a deep freeze, the garage is probably the next best place to put it. If you don’t want to keep the freezer inside, consider sticking it in the garage.
There is one potential downside to storing your freezer in a climate-controlled garage. Keeping your garage at the right temperature to accommodate your freezer’s needs might make your power bills higher than you’d like to see.
If your garage is not insulated or unheated, you may not want to put the freezer in it. Until you have a chance to add heat or insulate the garage, consider keeping your freezer somewhere else.
The best scenario for keeping your freezer in a garage is having a climate-controlled garage. Otherwise, extreme weather can have a detrimental effect on your appliances in the garage. Especially in the winter, your freezer might suffer in an unheated garage.
Keeping your chest freezer in a shed might have the same adverse effects as keeping your freezer outside. An unheated or non-insulated shed will not serve as sufficient protection for your chest freezer, especially in extreme weather.
You might be the exception if you have an insulated shed or keep it heated. It would be safe and acceptable to keep your chest freezer in a shed in this instance. It would be much similar to keeping your freezer in a garage.
If you have an insulated or heated shed, storing your chest freezer could help you save space in the house or the garage. It would also provide an acceptable option if you don’t have a garage or a basement.
One of the most important takeaways from all this research is that there are many locations where it just doesn’t make sense to put your freezer. Some places are much more logical - not to mention more secure - for your chest freezer, especially if you live somewhere with extreme weather.
Finding the right place to keep your freezer means the difference between a lifelong investment and an appliance that needs to be replaced within a year or two.
Keeping your freezer somewhere safe where you can easily control the temperature and environment is the best option for ensuring your chest freezer lasts for a long time.
The most important thing to know about plugging your chest freezer in is that it should have its own electrical outlet. You should never stack multiple appliances on the outlet where you keep your freezer. Even extension cords and power strips can be risky.
Typically, a fused and grounded electrical supply is needed to operate a chest freezer. The voltage required will depend on the freezer that you have. A 110-volt freezer will require a 110-volt outlet, and so on.
Yes, chest freezers use lots of electricity. Large chest freezers can consume at least 400 watts of electricity, if not more. If you’re adding a chest freezer for the first time, be prepared to see a higher energy bill than usual.
