I am looking for some advise on purchasing a freezer. Upright or chest freezer. I have a side by side refrigerator, so of course the freezer space is very limited. My grandson's Christening is in a month, and I would really like to get started baking. My daughter wants cross cookies as favors, and I'll also be baking cakes and cupcakes. Believe it or not, but there are 100 people invited! Any advise, or pros and cons would be appreciated.

A chest freezer is cheaper but it's not as easy to get things in and out of. As long as you'll use it for other things and can justify the expense, an upright freezer would be better. They also often have indicator lights on the front to show it's working and the cheaper chest freezers don't.

My mom has had her upright freezer for 30 years and it's still going strong I just bought a cheap old chest freezer from someone on Craigslist two weeks ago, and I'm already thinking about upgrading to an upright freezer next tax time.

You really should get a NON-self defrosting freezer. Cheaper, and really a must for baked goods.

Self defrosting freezers self defrost by cycling the temp up and down. Baked goods need to stay at a constant frozen temp. Freezing and thawing is not a good thing.

I have an upright freezer (non-self defrosting) and I love it for my cakes and baking! It's so easy to get in and out of and a couple of times I've even frozen a 2 tier cake in tact as I can remove a couple of the shelves. I will never go back to a chest freezer!

I have both, my chest freezer is for meat and my upright is dedicated to cakes, and it has a quick freeze setting on it for when i'm in a hurry.

I also think it depends on what you're planning on using it for (or using it for more). I use my chest freezer to freeze my cake layers (after baking, before decorating) and store them until used, plus my cookie dough (i have pre-cut sugar cookies and then dough balls of my drop cookies) I also store butter and some other ingredients in there too.

But if you're looking at freezing decorated cakes or during the decorating process then I would go with an upright.

Not to say everything in the first paragraph can't be stored in an upright... it just works better for me, this way in the upright there is plenty of room to move shelves around etc... as needed if i'm freezing tiers.

Thanks everyone for your help. I've been looking online at the freezers, both upright and chest, and now I'm really confused. It would be used for baked goods only. I saw what Leah said about getting one that is Non-frost free, and I get it. I also see why an upright would be good, but now what size would be best? And possibly make? My main concern right now is making those darn cookies my daughter wants as favors. I figure I can bake them, and freeze them, than decorate. She also wants a cross cake, so I'm going to need to freeze and than carve & cut. OOOOOH BOY! What the heck have I gotten myself into?

I have a non defrost chest freezer. Upright freezers are great if you plan on freezing fully decorated cakes but I don't freeze cakes once they are finished. Chest freezers are more energy efficient and I'm all about saving money.

I hear you with saving money! I'm just a hobby baker, so there are times when I need the room in my freezer, and its just not there. What make and size chest freezer do you have? There are so many out there.

When I went to buy mine, I wanted an upright just for convenience and the non-self defrosting because I knew that was better. When I got to H H Gregg, I had a choice of one model. Since almost no one actually *wants* non self defrosting any more, they're pretty cheap to start with.

Thanks everyone. At least I know that I want a non self defrosting. I'll have to go looking this weekend, and decide on the size. Thanks again.

We started with a chest freezer, but once I got into caking, we knew we really wanted more space for meats and frozen veggies, so we upgraded to an upright - and I got the chest freezer just for cakes. Both are manual-defrost and Kenmore. About once a month, Sears has and friends and family shopping event after hours on a Sunday. When we bought the first freezer, the salesrep told us about it and signed us up. We got great deals on both freezers by waiting for that discount shopping day. I still get emails notifying me of their next sale.

I was looking at the Sears products online. What size chest freezer did you get? Do the chest freezers have shelves?

Sorry it took so long to respond. We had a garage sale this weekend, so had a lot on non-caking stuff going on - would have rather been caking!!!

Mine is the 6.9 - keep in mind I'm a hobby baker, but it's more than enough space for my needs. No shelves, but there is a section that is higher on one side, due to the inner workings. If I need shelves, I use foamboard, cut to the size needed. It also comes with a basket that fits in the top portion of one side - it's removable if you find you don't need it or just need more space. It's small enought that it fits in my kitchen and gives another surface space. Actually, I put my black boards on it for cake photos!

Good luck with your shopping and I hope you find a great deal on the freezer that works for you!!

Mine is a GE. I think I bought it at Sears but it could have been Sam's Club. It was about 260.00 at the time. I have had it for at least five years. I got a mid range size freezer 14.8 cubic feet. I don't recommend Kenmore or Frigidaire. Kenmore is made by Whirlpool and I haven't had great luck with their products lately.