A freezer is an important item and a major purchase in any household; follow these simple steps to make finding the perfect appliance easier for you.
Space
- Decide how much space you have in your kitchen for your freezer – decide on the place you want it to go before you start looking and don’t try to move your kitchen around just to fit in the freezer.
- Measure the area accurately – make sure you take all measurements including height, width and depth – make sure also that you will have enough room to open the door.
- You may also decide that you do not have space in your kitchen for your freezer and decide instead to place it in a pantry, basement or garage.
Look
- Most people opt for the classic Upright Freezer which you can often get to match the look of your fridge. There is a popular trend in recent years for freezers in stainless steel and black colours rather than the standard white.
- You can also get a Chest Freezer, these are often a popular option for freezers destined for the garage as they do not look particularly pretty. You can get however a chest freezer reasonably cheaply and it does offer a lot of storage space. You need to be careful with chest freezers however as smaller people may find it difficult to reach into the depths of the appliance.
- If you think an integrated freezer would look better in your kitchen you can have a custom built freezer in which the look of the fridge blends in perfectly with that of your kitchen. Alternatively, you can have regular freezer that is hidden behind a panel that matches your kitchen – this is often the cheaper and easier option.
Capacity
- You need to consider how much space you will need in your freezer in relation to how much you intend to store.
- Although Chest freezers are popular because they can store a lot of produce there is little use in storing lots of items that will just need to be thrown away. It is said that you should keep frozen products for no longer than 6 weeks as after this time they become dehydrated and lose their nutritional value.
Storage and Features
- Most freezers are not that technical and come with doors, drawers or baskets – you need to check that these are of good quality and are not likely to break easily.
- You can get a frost free option on most upright freezers which alleviates the worry of needing to defrost your freezer regularly. Frost free freezers however, although more convenient are often more expensive to run.<br>
- As well as the added feature of frost free you can also get built in alarms, digital temperature displays, push button controls and auto-defrost options on your new freezer.
Energy
- You will find that there is an energy efficiency labelling scheme on most appliances you buy including freezers.
- The energy scale ranges between A and G with A being the most efficient.
- An appliance marked A uses approximately half the energy of one marked G.
- It is said that you can save up to £50 a year buy switching to an appliance marked A.
- Chest freezers are also seen to be more energy efficient than upright freezers as upright freezers let out cold air every time they are opened.
Saving Money and Hidden Costs
- Make sure you shop around before purchasing your freezer to ensure you get the best and most competitive price. Make sure too that you compare brands, many of the top brands including Hotpoint, Bosch, Proline, Zanussi and Beko have a wide range of fridges at varying costs.
- Make sure you know about your warranty, whether it is included in the price of your freezer or whether you will be charged extra. You should also check how long it will last, what exactly it covers and whether you can renew it.
- You also need to ask about delivery and installation costs although many companies will offer this service for free.