Freezers were hugely popular after rationing ended after World War II. Even given the general parlous state of the world today, we doubt anyone still needs to stockpile that much food ‘just in case’, but who knows?
Freezers come in three main styles and sizes: tall standing upright, under-the-counter and chest.
For most folk, a small under-counter model is quite enough but if you run a B&B, have a dozen kids – hey, it can happen – or just love shopping for frozen or freezable bargains in supermarkets, a chest freezer or tall upright is for you. However, do bear in mind that the larger the freezer, the more likely you’ll forget about what you actually put in it.
Let’s face it, defrosting a freezer is an expensive pain in the butt. Aside from having to throw away most of the foodstuffs, you then have to wait for hours for the damn thing to defrost before you can even begin to face the tedious job of shovelling ice floes and water into a bucket. Oh, and did I mention the surfeit of towels required to soak up all the extra water?
Samsung’s True NoFrost feature is said to totally eliminate all frost and ice by circulating chilled air around the interior. This not only keeps internal temperatures consistent – and frost free – but it also helps keep food fresh, especially short-life veg like lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes.
The Samsung’s digital inverter compressor, meanwhile, runs continuously which is said to be more economical – and quieter – than standard compressors that switch on and off at various intervals.
This humongous 315-litre model is clad in brushed steel which makes it look even more expensive than it is. Inside it has four huge drawers, a small flapped top shelf, two open shelves plus a Slim Ice Maker and a couple of narrow door-mounted trays for smaller items. Buy the matching fridge version and you can put them side-by-side to create one monster American-style fridge-freezer combo.
Unless you have a big family to feed, this little bargain freezer is pretty much all you need. At just 492mm tall and 472mm wide, it’s arguably the smallest household freezer on the market so you should easily find somewhere to locate it.
It has 32 litres of storage space which is perfect for two or three tubs of Häagen-Dazs, some frozen fries, a packet of frozen peas and fruit and a couple of bags of ice. The bare essentials, in other words. And if you remove the single shelf, you can store even bigger items.
This dinky Russell Hobbs doesn’t have any mind-blowing tech on board because it doesn’t need any. It just freezes stuff, effectively.
So, if fridge space is your most important consideration but you’d still like the option to be able to freeze odd items from time to time without taking up half the kitchen, then this micro chiller is simply perfect.
Many people put their freezers – especially those of the chest design – in their garage, outhouse, shed or gazebo.
However, these areas can become exceedingly cold in winter and as bizarre as it may seem, freezers don't like that; their delicate compressors and electronics can start throwing a hissy fit accordingly.
Enter Beko with its Freezer Guard tech. Models that have it, like this Class A+, 104-litre chest freezer, can operate in temperatures as low as -15˚C.
Conversely, it’s just as happy keeping your food frozen in temperatures as high as 43ºC. That’s a pretty wide margin of operation and one that’s certainly worth considering if you plan on housing the freezer in an area with no insulation.
As with all chest freezers, this is an unappetising, white lump of metal with a hatch on the top. But, hey, if it's in your shed, who cares?
It freezes stuff efficiently, without using too much electricity, though you will need to defrost it from time to time.
The down side, as ever, is that finding items can entail having to bend over and rummage around at the bottom of a large box, though there is a sliding basket on top for your most-used items.
Whether you’re mad keen on snapping up deals on mountains of meat, or are simply preparing for an extremely hard Brexit, you’re going to love this. It has a voracious appetite and will devour anything you pile into its generous 400 litre inner space, whilst still leaving room for more. Yes indeedy, this chest freezer can accommodate plenty of food, including lots of ice cream, which we love.
However, the Zanussi ZFC41400WA isn’t just a chest freezer with more brawn than brain. In fact, this particular white box has had some though put into the design. First and foremost, we love the lid, which has a balanced design. That means if you’re loading, or unloading, it won’t come crashing unceremoniously on to your head. Always a bonus.
Add to that the fact this model is super wide, so you can pile up stocks and supplies inside to your hearts content. Zanussi reckons it’s good for up to 22 bags of shopping and we can believe it. There are three practical storage baskets included as part of the package. Meanwhile, controls are limited but because of this the Zanussi ZFC41400WA is essentially a plug-and-go bit of kit. No fuss, no bother. Beautiful.
Being a horizontally designed chest freezer does mean that the Zanussi ZFC41400WA might not be suited to everyone. If you’re short on space then an upright freezer is probably the way to go. However, if space is available and you have lots of food to store, for long periods of time, then this glorious slab of white engineering needs to be investigated.
The Liebherr GP1213 Comfort might not be the biggest freezer out there, but if you’re stuck for space then it’s a dream come true. Packed with the sort of ingenuity and practicality you’d expect from this premium brand, the freestanding undercounter workhouse is hugely impressive given its smallish status.
It’s fast and efficient at freezing your groceries too, with a SuperFrost function that lets the appliance do its job while also gaining an energy rating of A++ into the bargain. Cleverly, the Liebherr GP1213 Comfort susses out when the food you’ve added to its accommodating innards has frozen correctly and returns to its original operating mode. That’ll save money over time.
There’s some inventiveness packed inside as well, with clear fronted FrostSafe freezer drawers that are designed with additional efficiency in mind. Indeed, as a whole the appliance is able to keep ice levels carefully managed, so there won’t be any surprise ‘bergs at the back after you’ve been running it for a while.
And, because the compartment is dubbed ‘VarioSpace’, those smart cookies at Liebherr have ensured that it’s oh-so-simple to move and remove drawers as and when you see fit. Similarly, no-nonsense controls above the door are basic but great, as is the child lock that avoids the GP1213 Comfort being switched off by accident.
This statuesque 225-litre freezer has seven compartments, one of them large enough for storing big-ticket items such as turkeys and gateaux.
The A++ Serie 4 is a NoFrost model and that means warm, damp air is regularly removed from the interior so it doesn’t end up encasing the remnants of last month’s lasagne in a rugby ball-sized clump of impenetrable ice. It also features a SuperFreeze function that temporarily lowers the internal temperature when adding extra groceries.
The Bosch is quite a deep unit (65cm) so make sure there are no obstacles like piping or protruding skirting behind it or it’ll stick out and ruin the symmetry of your otherwise carefully considered kitchen.
A fridge is used far more commonly than a freezer, so if you have the space you’d be better off having a tall-standing fridge and a small under-counter freezer for those little-used but undeniably handy items like ice cream, frozen chips, frozen veg, spare cuts of meat, the odd bag of ice and the surplus bolognaise sauce you made for last night’s Italian bash.
This built-in 98-litre Siemens model has just the right dimensions to fit under the kitchen worktop and between the cabinets. It has three pull-out drawers and a superFreeze function that quickly reduces the temperature when adding new shopping loads. Being of Germanic origin, you can bet it performs admirably well. However, cheap it isn’t.
