A helpful appliance if you have space for it, a chest freezer is a very convenient item that can make food shopping and storing far easier. Here, we take a look at the benefits of chest freezers, what you should look out for when buying one, and some of the best options on the market.
Benefits of a chest freezer
If you have enough room in the house or garage, chest freezers offer a really efficient way to store frozen food. Their large size means that they can hold everything from pre-cooked meals and large pieces of meat to awkward shaped items like baguettes and the Christmas turkey.
Plus, you won’t have to worry about stocking up on supermarket deals as you’ll have space to store the extras until you want to use them.
In comparison to an upright freezer, you can easily use all of the available space in a chest freezer, and it is the more economical option too. Chest freezers use less energy than upright freezers as they are better at keeping their temperature – due to not letting all of the cold air escape when the lid is lifted.
Chest freezers tend to have a longer lifespan than their upright counterparts too, and they’ll keep your food frozen for longer should you have a power cut – sometimes even for a couple of days!
What to look out for when buying a chest freezer
The first thing you have to keep in mind when buying a chest freezer is whether you have the space for it. This appliance is usually best suited to those with a large utility room or a garage as they do take up a lot of room.
Make sure that you’ve already taken measurements of the space where your chest freezer will go before you start shopping for one, and ensure that it will be able to get through any doorways and around corners that you may encounter too.
Other things to look out for are whether the chest freezer has storage baskets, as these are really helpful when it comes to organising it and will prevent you from losing smaller items among the larger ones.
When it comes to the lid of your chest freezer, it’s best to get one that’s counterbalanced for ease of use, and lockable – especially if you have children in the house.
The answer to ‘should you buy a chest freezer?’ really comes down to if you have the space, as this is certainly a very handy appliance to have in the home, especially if you like to prepare meals in advance for the rest of the week. If you do have the space, it’s certainly an appliance that is recommended, and there’s a suitable option for every home.
Top-Rated Chest Frezzers
Bush BCF99L Chest Freezer
The Bush BCF99L Chest Freezer is a Which? Best Buy, because it is simple but very efficient. At just £129.99, this chest freezer is a perfectly affordable option for any home, and its 99l capacity makes it ideal for couples and small families.
Available from argos.co.uk
85 x 54.5 x 49.5cm in size, the Bush BCF99L Chest Freezer won’t take up a huge amount of space and can even be tucked into a corner. The freezer boasts a counterbalanced lid, a removable wire storage basket, and three freezer drawers, making it easy to store frozen meals, ice cream, and meat.
With an A+ energy rating, you can be confident that this is an efficient choice, and it has a Quiet Mark meaning that you don’t need to worry about it making a distracting noise.
The Bush BCF99L Chest Freezer has a Fast Freeze feature which locks in the freshness of your food quickly with little energy used, and it will keep your food frozen for 20 hours in the case of a power cut.
This compact chest freezer is great for those looking for more freezer storage on a budget, and its adjustable thermometer makes it very easy to use too.
Hoover HMCH302EL Chest Freezer
Also boasting an A+ energy rating is the Hoover HMCH302EL Chest Freezer. This freezer is 83.5 x 105 x 69cm in size which means that it will need more space than the Bush option, but can store many more items. In fact, its 292l capacity makes it big enough to store 18 shopping bags, making it ideal for larger families.
From johnlewis.com
White in colour and built to a high quality, the Hoover HMCH302EL Chest Freezer has two wire baskets which make it easy to separate smaller items from bulkier ones, and has a lockable lid which is a great safety feature.
The Hoover HMCH302EL Chest Freezer has an LED light which is energy efficient and will make it easy to see everything that you have in your freezer, and runs quietly which is handy if you’re going to keep it in the house. The freezer’s temperature can be controlled using its external touch control digital display which makes it easy to adjust the temperature if required.
John Lewis & Partners JLCH300 Chest Freezer
Despite being a high-street brand product, Which? says that the John Lewis & Partners JLCH300 Chest Freezer ticks all the boxes, making it a great choice for those shopping for a chest freezer. With its A+ energy efficiency rating, and 86.6 x 105.5 x 65.5cm dimensions, this option is not too dissimilar to the Hoover chest freezer, but it does come with a higher price tag.
From johnlewis.com
The John Lewis & Partners JLCH300 Chest Freezer has a 300l capacity, and its Fast Freeze feature means that your food will be frozen quickly to ensure that all of its goodness is locked in.
This chest freezer comes with two spacious wire baskets for easy organisation of items, and although it doesn’t have a Quiet Mark it still only runs at a noise level of 49dB. The John Lewis & Partners JLCH300 Chest Freezer certainly does all that you require, but it is a bit pricier than very similar options.