Freezers

Freezers help keeping food for long period without altering its nutritional and organoleptic properties. This is an appliance that with no doubt deserves a space of its own in the house and largest families often buy more than one in order to stock all the food they need. When the time comes to choose a freezer, however, the question arises whether it is better to opt for a vertical or a chest freezer, or why not, for both. But what are the main characteristics to be taken into account when choosing a freezer? The most important criteria to be considered certainly are energy efficiency, capacity and noise.

Horizontal and vertical freezers

Even before evaluating the technical characteristics of an appliance it is important to choose whether to opt for a horizontal freezer - also known as chest freezer - or a vertical model. The former are more widely used when compared to freezers with drawers. Such a success can be attributed to the fact that they are handy and spacious, with a capacity of up to 500 liters and are easy to move because they are almost always equipped with wheels. As for the quality of the freezing, the area that is a little colder corresponds to the walls and the bottom, while towards the center the cold propagation slows down. There is more than their size and shape that makes a vertical freezers different from the horizontal freezers. Their functioning, internal structure, and therefore ways to keep food, vary too. In the vertical freezer, the cold air propagates from the walls and from the coils placed under the drawers, thus ensuring a more homogeneous temperature. Although the drawers certainly eat up some space, they are made of transparent material and are removable, which allows to accurately organize food. Such an arrangement also translates in the possibility to easily identify what is needed and therefore the time for opening the door shrinks as well, thus averting cold dispersion and save energy. In general the capacity of vertical freezers can reach up to 260l. Freezers with drawers, on the other hand, often coincides with vertical ones, or with built-in models of a smaller size. In this case, some of them offer the possibility to be equipped with covering doors that are finished as the kitchen, therefore perfectly integrating within the surrounding space. Sturdy and transparent, drawers allow to optimize the organization of food and to easily identify them. The vertical shape of a freezer, reduces its perimeter allowing for a greater positioning flexibility.

What type of freezer to choose?

When choosing between a horizontal and a vertical freezer, there are a number of factors that need to be taken into account. Let’s start from capacity. Chest freezers have the maximum internal usable volume. There are appliances that can reach up to 500l, while a vertical freezer can reach 300l. It goes without saying that in both cases you can find freezers of a more modest size that can be ideal in case you have a more limited spaces. Since vertical freezers find most of the times their location in the kitchen, aesthetics deserve a greater attention; in this case, indeed, the appliance needs to disappear among other pieces of furniture and blend in seamlessly with the chosen furnishing style. Chest freezers on the other hand are normally placed in a service area, such as can be a garage or a basement. These are spaces where little attention is normally paid to the aesthetics of a chosen appliance and it is therefore possible to opt for something that is not in tone with the surrounding furniture. Power consumption is to be evaluated too and these are normally connected to the class of energy efficiency. Overall, the chest model allows more power efficiency, since the horizontal opening reduces the thermal exchange between the cold air inside and the hot air outside. As far as the technical qualities, the most used model at present is no-frost freezer, as it allows to keep the temperature homogeneous thus avoiding the formation of frost. It also allows a more correct freezing of foods, in which layers of ice do not form but the freezing takes place in a uniform way. Particular attention should be paid, however, also to the design of the freezer model to choose. From the more classic style products in the white traditional coloring, to metal freezers or freezers in stainless steel with chrome-plated finishes, such an appliance has been the object of continuous stylistic experimentation which has led to the production of models that are able to suit any setting. One thing that should not be underestimated when choosing a freezer are the stars that indicate the capability to freeze fresh food quickly, keeping all its nutritional properties. The 4 stars characterize all those models that can reach up to -30°C, while freezers with 3 stars reach a maximum temperature of -18°C. Another aspect to be looked at is how user-friendly the two freezers typologies are. A chest freezer allows to stock a greater quantity of food in a quick and organized way. Thanks to the wheels it is possible to easily move it in order for it to be placed where it is deemed more appropriate. On the other hand, being normally placed in the kitchen, vertical freezers help having the food always within reach.