Best Freezers With Smart Storage Features
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When it comes to major appliances, freezers are about as no-frills as you can get—basically they’re big empty boxes. And the bigger they are, the harder they are to organize. That’s especially true for chest freezers where your food can get lost in the deep recesses. But even some upright freezers are short on organizational help.
Fortunately, more of today’s models are designed to make it easier to find what you’re looking for, from tiered storage bins in chest freezers to adjustable drawers and shelves in upright freezers. We compared the built-in storage features on some of the largest of our top-performing freezers—those with 10 cubic feet of storage or more—and highlight them below.
Before you shop, decide how much freezer capacity you need and what you’ll be storing. Are you a big warehouse shopper, or do you have a bounty of vegetables from your garden? Maybe you like to cook in batches. Does your family fish or buy large cuts of meat? Or maybe all you need is a place to stack boxes of chicken nuggets and frozen pizza.
“You’ll also want to consider the type of freezer,” says Joseph Pacella, the test engineer who oversees our freezer tests. “Chest freezers usually offer more usable storage space than upright models, but upright models come in self-defrosting configurations, which eliminate the hassle of periodically emptying the freezer to let it defrost.”
If the storage options of the freezer you’re considering aren’t to your liking, manufacturers often sell extra shelves or bins separately. Or you can buy bins designed for refrigerators and freezers at retailers that specialize in home organization.
In addition to testing freezers for how well they hit and hold the recommended temperature of 0 degrees, our engineers measure usable storage capacity, which doesn’t always match what manufacturers claim. Check the features and specs section of our freezer ratings for the deatils.
For more information, read our freezer buying guide and for even more options, check out our full freezer ratings and recommendations.
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