Chest vs Upright Freezers
A chest freezer opens from the top and uses less energy, an upright opens like a fridge and is easier to organize; ENERGY STAR puts them at $30 and $60 a year.
By Liam McCabeContributing writer.
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The short answer
- Chest freezer: a box with a lid on top. It holds a lot for its size and uses less energy, but things at the bottom are hard to reach and it needs more floor space.
- Upright freezer: a door on the front and shelves inside, like a refrigerator. Easy to see and reach everything, with a smaller footprint, but it uses more energy.
Chest freezer vs upright freezer, by the numbers
ENERGY STAR gives these figures for certified models:
| Chest | Upright | |
|---|---|---|
| Electricity per year | About 215 kWh | About 395 kWh |
| Cost to run per year | About $30 | About $60 |
| Door | Lid on top | Door on the front |
| Organizing | Baskets, digging | Shelves and door bins |
ENERGY STAR ties the gap to the lid: a chest freezer opens from the top. It also notes that certified freezers are at least 10 percent more efficient than the federal minimum.
Manual vs automatic defrost
Defrost type matters almost as much as shape. ENERGY STAR says manual defrost freezers use half the energy of automatic (frost-free) models, but you have to defrost them yourself, and it advises not letting frost build up past a quarter of an inch. Check the listing for the defrost type of the model you want.
What size freezer do you need
Freezers are measured in cubic feet of storage. ENERGY STAR notes that in general, the larger the freezer, the more energy it uses, so a freezer that sits half empty costs you money.
Of the 61 freezers in the appliances department on Wiki Shopping, 32 are chest and 26 are upright models. Here is how their stated capacities spread:
| Capacity | Chest | Upright |
|---|---|---|
| Under 3 cu ft | 6 | 15 |
| 3 to 4.9 cu ft | 14 | 5 |
| 5 to 9.9 cu ft | 7 | 3 |
| 10 cu ft and up | 3 | 2 |
The most common sizes are a 3.5 cubic foot chest (11 freezers) and a 1.1 cubic foot upright (7 freezers), the compact kind that fits under a counter or in a dorm room.
How many cubic feet for a family of 4
There is no single answer, because it depends on how you shop. A family that buys meat in bulk, freezes garden produce or cooks big batches needs much more space than one that only keeps a few weeks of frozen meals. Before you buy:
- Count what you already keep frozen and how often the fridge freezer overflows.
- Think about bulk buys: a chest in the 5 to 9.9 cubic foot range or larger suits regular bulk shopping, while a small chest or upright suits overflow from the kitchen.
- Measure the space, including room to lift a chest lid or swing an upright door.
If you are unsure between two sizes, ENERGY STAR's point about size and energy is a reason to lean toward the smaller one you will actually fill.
How we count
Type and capacity are read from each freezer's store listing. Three freezers do not state a type, two state no capacity and one states its capacity in liters only, so they are left out of the table. The counts change as listings are added or removed.