The 10 Best Freezers of 2026, Ranked

A chest freezer gives more storage for its footprint and holds its cold longer in a power cut, but it takes floor space, needs manual defrosting and makes food at the bottom hard to find. An upright has drawers or shelves, so it is easier to organise, and it is often frost-free, but it holds less for the same floor area. Choose a chest for bulk storage in a garage or utility room and an upright for a kitchen or where you want to see your food.

A rough guide is 50 to 100 litres per person, plus more if you batch cook or buy in bulk. Under-counter models of around 85 to 107 litres suit one or two people. A 170 to 240 litre upright suits two to four people, and a 300 litre chest or larger suits a family who stocks up. Measure the space too: an under-counter freezer is about 84 to 85cm high and 54 to 55cm wide, and tall uprights reach 187cm. Large chest freezers are 1.1 to 1.3m wide and weigh up to 61kg, so check delivery access.

Only if it is rated for the cold. Look at the climate class and the stated ambient range: class SN works from 10°C, N from 16°C, ST from 16°C and T up to 43°C. Beko with Freezer Guard, Hisense chest models and the Haier HCE420EK state a -15°C ambient minimum. The Samsung here is rated from 10°C ambient, so keep it in a heated room, not a cold garage.

For most people with an upright, yes. Frost-free freezers never build up ice, so you skip the yearly defrost and drawers stay clear. They often use a little more energy than static models of the same size. Chest freezers are normally manual defrost, which is fine if you can empty them once a year. Fast-freezing capacity (about 5kg to 21kg in 24 hours here) and power-cut hold-over (about 8 to 43 hours) differ more between models than frost-free status.

Check the kWh a year on the energy label and multiply by your unit rate. At around 26p a kWh, a 200 kWh chest freezer costs roughly £52 a year, and the 260 kWh Haier HCE420EK about £68. The Beko UFF4584W uses about 162 kWh. The Samsung is energy class E, so check its label for the exact figure. Keeping a full freezer, away from heat, and defrosting regularly all lower the bill. A garage in winter often makes it work less.

An under-counter freezer such as the Beko UFF4584W is 84cm high, 54cm wide and 59cm deep, so it fits a standard worktop gap. Leave a few centimetres behind and above, and fit any supplied spacers, as most makers ask. Keep it away from the oven, dishwasher and radiators, and plug it into a 13A socket you can reach. Even a frost-free model needs a ventilated gap, because a blocked back pushes up running costs.