Freezer advice sought please?

[Winged one]

Hi all,

I have done a search and in 12 pages of results, couldn't find anything on freezer types - I hope I didn't miss one.

Anyway, we are getting ready to build an extension, and as part of this will be re-doing the kitchen. Our fridge isn't big enough (we have a half and half fridge freezer) so I want to get a bigger fridge with just a small ice box type freezer for indoors, and a large freezer for in the shed (our freezer is currently too small as well, and I hope that next year I will have loads of veggies for it too - even this year I have 9 bags of brocolli stored! It's a 2 and a half drawer size.).

Would I be better off getting a small chest freezer or a large upright one? The floorspace would be the same for both, I'd need to juggle the shelves out of the way for an upright, but can manage that. Which is better for - storage, defrosting (as necessary) and finding everything again?

Also, are there any particular brands that have been proven to work well for a long time and are pretty good on energy efficiency?

Thanks Grapes.
Wings

[zebedee]

I can only say that my wife and myself use chest freezers ('a' rated) and have found them to be excellent for the job. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. If you are already used to shelves and drawers etc stick with it. Whatever, happy growing and freezing.

[Alison]

I'll have a look on Which later on for you, think they've just done a survey on what's good and not. We've got a fridge freezer in the kitchen and then a bigger upright freezer in the new extension. Didn't investigate it too much as we were given the freezer but it's brill - it's a good model and frost free so no defrosting to do (yeah!!!!!). Also the drawers are easy to pull out to find stuff and you can keep different drawers for different things etc. On a minus side, as soon as you open the door the cold air falls out rather than staying in place in a chest freezer - having said that, you shouldn't be opening the door for long or too often anyway so shouldn't be a problem. Will come back later with the top buys. Any idea of budget?

[Winged one]

I haven't started looking in electrical shops yet, and I often find prices can differ radically (not just the Stg/€ differential) across the water. But I was hoping to keep to about €500 - that's probably about £350ish. It doesn't have to look pretty, but I can spend more/less if it is the right one for us.

Never thought of Which, but I can't get into it at work anymore, and one of the main reasons for the extension is that we can't use the puter at home at night, it wakes the toddler (room next to hers)....