The 4.1 cubic feet offered by the ‘fridge just doesn’t cut it anymore (thanks Costco, family gatherings, holiday dinners and ice cream cakes), so I’ve started doing some research on chest freezers and discovered a suprising lack of centralized information/reviews.

The rough aproximation of additional space required is about 2x to 3x the current freezer capacity of 4.1 cu/ft.

Stop #1: EnergyStar.org

According to EnergyStar.gov’s Refrigerators & Freezers page, EnergyStar qualified freezer models use 20% less energy than required by current federal standards. After downloading and sorting the Product List excel sheet only a few chest freezer units in the 10-12.9 cu/ft made the cut and not all of them had a recent “Active Date”.

Step #2: Brand Website (to see if they still support the listed unit)

So far, I’ve only been able to find the following models available and current:

Whilpool/W.C. Wood EH101*
http://www.wcwood.com/cgi-bin/displayproduct.pl?option=feature&model=EH101FXR

W.C. Wood (Woods) C1011*
http://www.wcwood.com/cgi-bin/ListModel.pl?loc=usa&prod=chest&model=C1011W3

Frigidaire GLFC1326F
http://www.frigidaire.com/products/freezers/chest_freezers/large/prod_GLFC1326F.asp

Kenmore 16342 and 16352 (both appear to be the same unit)
http://www.kenmore.com/shc/s/p_10154_12604_04616342000P?keyword=16342
http://www.kenmore.com/shc/s/p_10154_12604_04616352000P?keyword=16352

While the EnergyStar list is a good starting place, for some reason not all appliance manufacturers are listed.

Haier, for example has a 10.6 Cu/Ft unit that supposedly uses only 212 Kilwatt hours per year (less than every single one in the above table).

Haier HMCM106EA
http://www.haieramerica.com/en/product/HMCM106EA/specs

Step #3: Locate Retailers

I’m guessing that due to the weight and nature online (e-)retailers are reluctant to carry such a large item. I’ve started checking local stores.

Step #4: Enjoy the Additional Storage

I’ll update this post when I get here =)