Whether you’re living alone or with your family, there will be days when you’ll definitely find yourself looking for more space inside your refrigerator’s built-in freezer. Sometimes it isn’t just enough, right?
Because where would you possibly store last night’s party’s leftover meal or the bulk purchase of your favorite cut meat on sale? Or how can you stock up on frozen food to prepare for emergencies? The freezer space in your fridge might sometimes be just too small for your needs.
A separate freezer might just solve your problems, as it would give you more storage capacity. Having extra freezer storage also allows you to overcome the seasonality of food. If you want to store seasonal fruits such as strawberries, berries, pineapples, and mangoes, just keep a few stocks in your freezer, then you can now be able to enjoy them without worrying about whether there will be available stocks in the store.
However, if you worry that your place is too small to cater to another appliance, an upright freezer would perfectly suit your needs as it has a smaller footprint than your common chest freezer.
Aside from the type of freezer, there are things that you should consider when buying one. We’re here to help you with that. We’ll walk you through the key features you should look for in upright freezers for your small home.
Size and Capacity
Choosing the size of your freezer is the number one feature you should consider. Upright freezers may have a small footprint, but what about their height? Is there enough space in your kitchen where you can put one without worrying that it may hit your cupboards?
When deciding this, you should already have an idea of how much space in your kitchen is allotted for your freezer. Having enough space is vital for proper freezer function. There should be a small room on all sides for room temperature to flow over the condensing coils. Also, space is needed so that you can regularly clean the coils. Proper airflow and regular cleaning would ensure a longer lifespan for your freezer. Furthermore, when choosing a size, you should also consider how much food you’re going to store in it so you can get one that has the capacity for your needs. Ideally, frozen food should be stored for a maximum of six weeks before its nutritional value drops. Therefore, include your or your family’s daily frozen food consumption to get a better picture of the size of the freezer that you will be getting.
Cost and Energy Saving Feature
When deciding to buy a freezer, you should also consider your budget. Freezers can be costly regardless of their size. It does not mean that if you’re getting a small upright freezer, you’ll also spend lesser.
In actuality, upright freezer models usually cost more because they use more energy compared to chest freezers. It’s the convenience that you’re paying for. With upright freezers, you can keep your stocks in order and where can find them easily. Also, most of them have automatic defrost features which means that you’ll never be doing the defrosting manually.
If you opt for energy-efficient upright models, expect to pay more. However, the costs of it running over time will eventually pay off. To ensure that you’re getting an energy-efficient freezer, look for Energy Star-certified brands; this way, you’ll be making the most out of your expensive purchase.
Storage and Organization Options
Who wouldn’t want a freezer where you can easily and neatly organize your food storage, right? Upright freezers usually come with many compartments to provide you with the convenience of easily finding food. This is a feature that is also available even in small-sized ones.
Therefore, for your small place, choose an upright freezer with plenty of storage shelves so that, despite its seemingly small size, you can still be able to keep your food easily accessible and well-organized. You won’t be losing track of your frozen food stocks anymore. No more food will go to waste.
Manual and Automatic Defrost Options
Sometimes, the problem with having separate freezer storage is its maintenance. You will have another appliance to clean aside from your refrigerator. Therefore, it is important to consider what defrosting option works best for you.
We all know the struggle of cleaning a freezer manually because you need to turn off the power and wait for the ice to melt before you can proceed with cleaning. You also need to look for temporary storage space for the food you removed from the freezer. It is a laborious process, yet it consumes less energy and is only required to be done once a year.
On the other hand, automatic defrost or self-defrosting freezers have built-in heating components inside that allow the melting of the frost from time to time. This means that you won’t have to spend more physical energy and time manually defrosting the unit.
However, a decrease in physical energy would mean an increase in the freezer’s energy consumption. It also creates more noise during the defrosting cycle. Both options have their advantage and disadvantages. Hence, it is vital that your decision is informed when choosing the right upright freezer.
Bonus: Pros and Cons of Buying an Upright Freezer for Small Places
To help you better weigh your options when buying an upright freezer, here is a summary of the pros and cons you should consider.
Pros
- Upright freezers support better organization and access to food.
- Upright freezers take up less space.
- Upright freezers come in various sizes and finishes.
- Generally convenient to use.
- Has automatic defrost option.
Cons
- Automatic defrost option is noisier.
- More expensive.
- Inability to store larger and weirdly-shaped food products.
- High energy consumption (This is why it is important to get Energy Star-certified ones!)
Conclusion
There you go! Here are the key features and the pros and cons of buying an upright freezer for your small place. It would be better for you to weigh them with other personal factors to ensure good decision-making.
Don’t forget to be not easily impressed with the pros without knowing the downsides of using a certain product. But also, don’t be immediately discouraged by the cons. The performance of a product may still vary depending on your home situation.
Appliances are costly. Therefore, one should put a lot of thought into them before buying because they are an investment. You need something that can bring you the sense of convenience you want without compromising good performance for a longer amount of time.