Recommend me a small upright freezer to put on top of my fridge?

[pinkman]

pinkman here!

I finally settled in the new place. I've been super busy so I haven't been on TCS as much. Just started volunteering and started to workout. Phew! No, I haven't got my freshly-slaughtered chicken or chicken feet... I still have a decent amount of ground left that I want to go through in order to make more space.

That said...

I think in a couple months or so I am thinking about investing in an additional freezer to put on top of my fridge. I just bought some new kitchen appliances so I need to save up a little again but I figured I could ask around and get some opinions? I don't really know too much about freezers. 

My budget is around 300 dollars. Cheaper is okay too (of course.) It can be small, since I have a top-freezer on my fridge but not too small. I would like to be able to order it online, as I do not have a car. It can not be bigger than 28" wide, 36" high, 24" deep.

Also, since my partner wants to know- How much will my electricity bill increase by adding such a freezer? 

Thanks guys, you guys are the best source of information! I trust yalls recommendations

 

[ritz]

I'm in a naysayer mood these days, so take this with a grain of salt or .20 oz of organs:

On top of your refrigerator?  I assume you've measured clearance space.  Make sure the applicance(s) can vent hot air.

I really want(ed) to get a freezer to take advantage of sales and bulk orders from Hare Today.  My limiting factor was electrical load:  where would I plug it in and could the circuit handle the load.  Home inspector *thought* so, but wasn't positive.  So, I've delayed buying one.

For $300 you should be able to find a nice one at a garage sale or Craigs' List.

 

[Willowy]

I was at Walmart yesterday and saw this: http://www.walmart.com/msharbor/ip/15162471?adid=1500000000000012981640&veh=mweb:undefined and I was thinking it looked pretty nice.

I can't find anything to confirm it for this particular model but I'm pretty sure you can use those small fridges as freezers if you put them on the coldest setting.

 

[ravencorbie]

I don't have a recommendation, since I haven't used any, but Willowy's link gave me an idea (personally, I'd like one, too, which is why I'm following this thread).  I went to Amazon and just typed in "small freezer" in the search engine, and came up with this:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...&rh=i:aps,k:small+freezer&tag=&tag=thecatsite

Looks like lots of choices under $300.

As for refrigerators turning into freezers on the coldest setting:  yes!  I had some melty ice cream in the freezer (and the freezer's temp is controlled by the fridge's), so I turned down the temperature, and suddenly, all my vegetables were frozen.  But -- I don't know if it gets cold enough for meat -- for example, the milk and cheese did NOT freeze -- just the salad stuff.  And the already frozen stuff didn't defrost at all.  That said, I'm not sure it's true of ALL refrigerators, so personally, I'd rather go with a freezer.
 

 

[ldg]

I don't know what model ours is, but I bought it on Craigslist for $35. It lives outside, under a tarp, on a small deck. The motor does generate a lot of heat, so we can't "encase" it in the tarp, it has to be vented. So I'm not sure on TOP of a refrigerator is an appropriate place for a freezer.... especially a chest freezer, that opens up from the top? :dk:

But just wanted to put the idea of searching on what's available on Craigslist in your area out there. It has served both Carolina and I very well, knock wood (she got an almost new one for $75).

ETA: I see you aren't looking at a chest freezer. :lol3: Well, that would solve the problem of opening it if it lived on top of your fridge. But I still worry about the heat from the motor....

 

[otto]

This is the freezer I have, I keep it on my kitchen table.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Haier-1.3-Freezer-White/5733501




It is a bit too small for my needs and I wish I had bought the next size up:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Haier-3.1-cu-ft-Upright-Freezer/21268717

 

[pinkman]

I talked to my buddy who was an electrician and also worked with a lot of kitchen appliances. According to him, in a nutshell- It really depends on the amp drainage and how much your breaker can handle. I just checked all the switches and appliances and it seems like I will be okay with an upright freezer. I also asked about putting it top of a fridge already, and he said it was fine. I will double check though.

For clarification- My apartment is a pre-war building that was refurbished very recently. It also has very! high ceilings. I wanna say I have about four feet of space from the top of the existing fridge. Everything is redone. I've never seen so many switches on a breaker till I moved to my new place! Haha.

Do upright freezers go on sale during Black Friday? If so, I may wait another few months. 

This is one of those moments I wish I had a car because then I will totally take advantage of Craigslist or yard sales. Unfortunately, even if I did have a car I don't know if I'm up for driving in the city.

The circuit we'll be working with is 20 amps, the fridge is 6.5 amps. So, I guess I will work from there. The Walmart ones that were posted seem pretty good. 3.1 cubic feet would be awesome, but I may go for something smaller just to have more air flow into the appliances. 

Hopefully what I just wrote can help others- I honestly did not know much about freezers till just now. Heheh.

 

[ldg]

Oh shoot, right! I forgot about the car.

But very cool you have a friend that's an electrician - puts our concerns about the set-up to rest. :lol3:

 

[Willowy]

Some places (Sears, Menards, independently owned appliance stores, etc.) will deliver for free or a reasonable charge (depending on distance). Probably not Walmart though :lol3:. Although you could ask. Or hire a delivery service.

The 4.6 cf freezer I linked to is about the same height/width as the 3.1 cf, or maybe a teeny bit wider. It's a lot deeper, which I thought was nice. The 1.3 is. . .small. Itty bitty.

 

[pinkman]

Oh, and one more question. Manual defrost or self-defrost? I guess both have their pros and cons but I'm interested in what you guys think.

This thread should just be renamed "Freezer talk", haha.

 

[ldg]

I would totally prefer an auto defrost. Ours is manual. And I find it a PIA to defrost. It really isn't THAT difficult. But it's a rather large chest freezer that holds a good amount of food. It has to be timed to when I'm low on stock, and everything has to be put in chests with ice bags. Then we place a fan in the chest freezer to speed things up - but then we have to mop up all the water out of it....

The funny thing is, the chest freezer outside, even with all the NJ summer humidity, collects less frost than our inside manual-defrost freezer. :dk:

 

[otto]

Oh, and one more question. Manual defrost or self-defrost? I guess both have their pros and cons but I'm interested in what you guys think.

This thread should just be renamed "Freezer talk", haha.

I think we do have a thread with a title close to that....:lol3:

The Haier I linked to above is manual defrost. I've had it 11 months and have defrosted it twice. It is opened twice a day, usually.

Walmart of course will deliver, if you order it on line, or you can get the same model at Amazon.com.

I bought it at Walmart so I could return it if there was a problem with it. I really wish I'd bought the 3.1 but at the time I didn't expect to get so involved in raw feeding, I was still thinking it would just be a little Rad Cat here and there. What a surprise, eh?

I considered putting it on top of my refrigerator, but my refrigerator is not very sturdy, plus I thought it would be a pain in the neck to have to move a stool over to step up to reach every time I needed to get into the freezer.

I think the 3.1 would fit on my kitchen table just as easily as the little one. I may decide to get it after all. I don't much like having to rely on keeping a box in a friend's chest freezer for my....'overflow' I have no place to put a chest freezer, no matter how small. I've gone over this apartment a million times trying to work it out. If I had an outlet on my porch I'd put one out there like Laurie does.

If I didn't have the litter boxes, I'd have a space for a chest freezer. But then..if I didn't need litter boxes, I wouldn't need the freezer space.

 

[pinkman]

It's funny because since the ceiling is so high I can't reach a lot of things even being 5'11". We actually have a step stool already, which is why I'm alright with having the freezer so up high.

Yeah, I was just checking the Haier again. It looks good. Although I need to think if I really want to manually defrost it, especially when I live on the third floor. Might not seem like a big deal but I'm outta shape still. I was temporarily disabled for six months and I'm just getting my stuff back together. If I lived in a house with a yard or something I'd def be okay with a manual defrost. Also, although I plan to stay here with my partner for a while we may move in five years. Not sure. I don't want to obviously since I love this place but you never know.

Chest freezer isn't gonna work for this household. I really wish it did. The new place I moved recently is a LOT more spacious in my opinion, but it's still New York City. 

 

[otto]

Why does it matter what floor you live on, regarding defrosting? I live on the second floor.

I take everything out and put it in a cooler with ice. Turn the freezer off (I unplug too) open the door and place a pan of hot water inside to speed things up. Mop up water as it pools in the bottom. Takes less than an hour.

 

[pinkman]

One, I'd want to probably defrost outside only because I don't want to risk damaging the floors since the entire place is refurbished. Secondly, space concerns again. I really do not know where I'd put the freezer to defrost- I wouldn't want to leave it on top of the fridge while it defrosts. There's a reason why I was considering to put the freezer up the fridge... I guess you could say we have a lot of vertical space, but not so much floor space. Third reason is silly, but it's because of my roommate. Sigh.

 

[otto]

Damage the floors when defrosting? I don't understand. I defrost my refrigerator ice box freezer monthly, there is no damage to the floors? (the freezer is inside the fridge instead of a separate door so it frosts up constantly)

When I defrost the table top freezer there is no water on the table either. What am I missing?

Oh wait...the defrost instructions do say to put the freezer on a drip tray when defrosting. I never have, and have never needed it. Just don't let the ice build up that much in the first place.

 

[pinkman]

Yeaaah I don't think I'll be that diligent! 

 I'm quite the lazy one, as of now. When I meant damage the floors, I meant enormous amounts of water spilling onto the floor and staying there. I'm always a bit too cautious about things like that. I guess that's why I'm diagnosed generalized anxiety disorder. 

 I'm workin' on it though.

Self-defrost for me, I guess! I could honestly get a freezer NOW if I wanted to but... Must... save...

 

[otto]

I'm not sure there are any self defrost small upright freezers. I don't remember seeing anything like that when I was researching them. But let us know if you find one!

A defrosted freezer is more energy efficient. Defrosting regularly, you won't have large amounts of water. If you let the ice build up you will not have room for anything else. You'll be paying for electricity use to store thick slabs of frost

 

[pinkman]

That's a good point! See, this is why I make threads. I may just have to convince the roommate "yeah, we're gonna have a defrosting freezer here." just let it be. I should probably invest in some coolers too I guess... Where to put them though...

I'll keep searching. I got time.

I found a 4.3 cubic feet upright freezer that is auto defrost... http://www.ajmadison.com/cgi-bin/ajmadison/HA24FB.html

It's over 2k dollars though! Haha! Also very very heavy! Just a heads up if ~anyone~ was interested.

 

[pinkman]

So decided against putting a freezer on top... Perhaps I will put it in a bedroom or next to the shoe rack near the hallway towards the entrance. Can anyone tell me how much a 4.2 cu feet freezer will hold?