Best chest freezers for 2024

If you often find you're running out of freezer space, you might find a chest freezer useful. 

A chest freezers is a large appliance that can hold a huge amount of food. It's useful if you tend to buy and freeze food in bulk, or you like to freeze large loads of fresh produce in one go.

But the size does mean you’ll need a lot of space to house one.

Find out how to choose the best chest freezer for your needs and see our pick of the best models we've tested.

Not sure what type of freezer to buy? Head to our best freezers to see the pros and cons of each type.

Best chest freezers

These freezers are the best chest models we recommend right now.

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Table last updated April  2024

Not found the chest freezer for you? Browse all of our chest freezer reviews for more alternatives.

How to choose the best chest freezer

It's worth bearing a few things in mind while you're choosing a chest freezer to make sure you get the right one for you: 

• What do you want to freeze? Chest freezers are a great choice if you need to freeze bulky items like large joints of meat, or you tend to buy in bulk. Smaller items tend to get lost in cavernous chest freezers, so they're better stored in an upright or fridge freezer. 
• Do you have the room for a chest freezer? Most chest freezers are quite large and won't fit in many kitchens or utility rooms. You might opt to have one in your garage, but make sure you check the climate class, more on that below. 
• Do you have the patience to defrost it regularly? Chest freezers don't tend to be frost-free, so you'll need to go through the arduous task of defrosting it manually when ice starts to build up. Head to our guide on how to defrost your freezer for our tips. 
• Do you have difficulty bending over? Items at the bottom of a chest freezer can be tricky to reach, so an upright freezer might be a better option if you have trouble reaching down. The controls are also sometimes on the bottom corner at the front of the freezer.

Our guide to the best freezer brands will help you choose the brand for you.

Best chest freezer features to consider

Chest freezers don’t have many features to deliberate over. The biggest difference between them and other freezer types is that most need to be defrosted manually, as frost-free models are few and far between.

These are the main chest freezer features to think about:

Counterbalanced lid

A counterbalanced lid will stay fixed in an open position once you’ve lifted it, leaving you with both hands free to add food or rummage around to find the item you’re looking for. Without this, you’ll have to prop the lid up with one hand while you reach inside with the other.

Fast-freeze

Some chest freezers have a fast-freeze function, which gives an extra burst of cooling power. This can come in handy if any pre-frozen food you've bought from the supermarket has warmed up on the drive home.

High temperature warning

These are either alarms or lights that activate if the temperature in the freezer starts to rise. This should give you plenty of time to investigate the problem and ensure you don't have to discard the entire contents of your freezer.

Lock

Being able to lock the lid of your chest freezer is an invaluable safety feature, particularly if young children are around. It can also help prevent the contents of your freezer from being stolen – handy if you keep your chest freezer in your garage.

Storage baskets

Most models have these suspended over the main compartment and are really useful for keeping smaller items where you can find them easily. They’re also ideal for storing open packets of peas and chips upright, preventing them from spilling over into the main chest freezer section.

For more on freezer temperatures, see What temperature should a freezer be?

What's the best chest freezer to keep in a garage?

Given that chest freezers are quite large, you may be looking to keep it in your garage. Most freezers aren’t designed to work in rooms that get colder than 10°C, though, so there's a risk that your freezer might not work properly there, and it could invalidate the warranty. 

Some brands, such as Beko, Russell Hobbs and Fridgemaster claim many of their freezers are suitable for use in temperatures as low as -15°C, but it's worth checking for the specific model you're considering.

Head to our guide to the best freezers and chest freezers for garages for more advice on freezer climate class.

What size chest freezer should I buy?

Chest freezers come in all sorts of sizes, from small, square, 55 x 62cm deep models to large, deep chests that are more than 110cm wide.

The size you buy will depend on the amount of space you have to put it in, as well as the amount of food you’ll want to store. Some people want a large chest freezer to hold vast quantities of food. Others prefer a smaller space-saving model to hold the overflow of frozen food that won’t fit into the main kitchen freezer.

Our chest freezer reviews reveal the actual usable storage space inside each model. Our volume measurement may be lower than the figure provided by the manufacturer, as some manufacturers measure with the baskets or compartments removed. We measure the actual space, which makes it easier to accurately compare models.

How much should I spend on a chest freezer?

The price you pay will depend on the size and brand you buy. In general, the larger the freezer, the higher the price (when compared with models from the same brand).

Small chest freezer prices

You can get a small 63cm-or-less chest freezer for £120-200.

There aren’t a huge number to choose from and most are 55cm wide.

Large chest freezer prices

A cheap, large chest freezer that’s around 80cm wide or more will set you back around £200-300 from brands such as Hoover or Logik.

Expect to pay £300-400 for most larger chest freezers with a width of 90cm or more. 

Looking for a model with low running costs too? See our guide to the best energy-efficient freezers, which includes our top chest freezer models.