Which? Don't Buy freezers

The worst freezers take ages to freeze so your food won't be as fresh or nutrient-rich as it could be when you come to defrost it. Find out the Which? Don't Buy freezers you should steer well clear of
William O'Connor

Don’t Buy freezers are slow at cooling, power-hungry and can’t keep a stable temperature when the room temperature fluctuates.

Our expert and independent lab tests expose the Don’t Buy freezers that will leave you with food that isn’t as fresh and nutrient-rich when you come to defrost it.

What makes a Don't Buy freezer?

Don’t Buy freezers are everything a good model isn’t. They take ages to freeze fresh food, can’t keep a stable temperature inside the freezer when the room temperature outside changes, and are difficult to use. They’re power-hungry, too, so even though the freezer might cost less than others upfront, you’ll pay the price over its lifetime in higher energy costs.

Our lab tests will help you to avoid these substandard freezers. You can use our expert reviews to choose a model which chills quickly and won’t cost a lot to run.

  • The worst freezers struggle to freeze our food-equivalent gel packs quickly. The longer food takes to freeze, the more nutrients and freshness it will have lost when you get around to eating it.
  • Our temperature stability tests expose the freezers that can’t maintain a stable temperature when the temperature outside rises or falls, with some of the worst models causing food to partially thaw and re-freeze.
  • We've seen some real energy-guzzlers that cost a fortune to run for their size - your freezer is switched on around the clock so it must be efficient.

Finding a freezer that is great at its job can be tricky, but our tests have uncovered some fantastic freezers that won't leave you out of pocket or disappointed. 

Join Which? to find out which freezers we've named as Don't Buys. 

How we test freezers

Every year, we test and review the latest freezers from all the big brands, including Samsung, Hisense, Hotpoint and John Lewis. We don’t want you to end up with a shoddy appliance, so our lab experts put freezers through an exhaustive series of tests, including investigating how effective and quick each model is as freezing, and how energy efficient they are. 

  • We load each freezer up with food-equivalent gel packs to simulate food already stored inside and then also test how quickly the freezer cools a load of room-temperature gel packs to see exactly how well the freezer will look after your food. 
  • We measure the volume of freezers from the space you can actually use for storing groceries. Some manufacturers include unusable space as they measure with the drawers and shelves taken out. 
  • We also rate how energy efficient each freezer is – based on the amount of energy each appliance uses for the usable storage space available. This shows you whether a freezer is energy efficient for the space you’re paying to power.

All our tests go towards calculating the Which? test score. There's no room for unconscious bias, so you can trust our results and easily compare the best and worst freezers. We're not influenced by third parties and we don't accept freebies from product manufacturers or retailers. We buy all the products that we test ourselves, so our advice helps you to make the right choice first time and avoid costly mistakes. 

Our reviews will help you avoid a bad choice when it comes to buying a freezer. Join Which? for instant access to our Best Buy and Don’t Buy recommendations.