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Couldn't you get the best of both worlds by having an upright fridge with drawers?

contravariant 4y ago
You could find out by filling a drawer with dry ice and water and trying to open it without the smoke spilling out. Seems to me a chest fridge is simpler.
rob74 4y ago
The advantage of a chest-style freezer/fridge is that cold air is trapped inside because the only opening is at the top. With drawers, the cold air from the drawers above the open one will still partly spill out. Plus then you have more seams that might not close perfectly than with a door.
- lordnacho 4y ago
  Yes that's all true but is the difference worth the money vs convenience tradeoff? I've used chest freezers before and it's not great to lean down to lift a large chunk of meat out of.
  - pmontra 4y ago
    You are right but the convenience I was thinking about is mostly the floor space. Many people living in cities have small houses and space is literally at a premium. The extra electricity cost of a vertical fridge could be offset by the cost of the space on the floor to accommodate the equivalent chest fridge. About that other kind of convenience, shouldn't a chest fridge be long and shallow to have everything reachable from the opening without having to lift stuff and dig?
    - nordsieck 4y ago
      > About that other kind of convenience, shouldn't a chest fridge be long and shallow to have everything reachable from the opening without having to lift stuff and dig? There's a tradeoff between interior volume and convenience. And since most people who want convenience get a vertical model, I think interior volume wins a lot of the time. Someone who buys 1/2 of a cow, or takes home a deer just needs to freeze the whole thing. They don't necessarily need convenient access to all of the contents.
    - bluebill 4y ago
      What would happen if you could get the chest freezer where the door doesn't swing open vertical, but rises vertical upwards? The door could become a work surface. When you need access, you could push a button, or lift it and the entire door would lift straight up. Anything on top, would remain in place. Now for something like this to work it would need a series of shelves (grated shelves to allow the cold air to remain inside) on the interior that could move up. Sort of like a vertical lazy susan. Essentially, the chest freezer could become part of the kitchen work surfaces or it could be come an island work area, not taking up valuable real estate - it would be the valuable real estate. I have always thought this could be the way instead of vertical standing models.
      - pmontra 4y ago
        I can imagine a permanently closed fridge with inspection cameras inside and an app to select which box to take out. Then something like this [1] will deliver the box to a tiny opening acting as an airlock, or take a box and park it inside. And of course $499 upfront plus $99 per month for the app, advertising, and front door delivery to refill empty boxes, and no self serviceable parts, and mandatory subscription to a $19 monthly cleaning service, and... I think I could keep going on like this for a while. Lots of ideas for a front camera /s [1] https://www.pouted.com/fully-automated-car-parking-systems/ https://www.pouted.com/fully-automated-car-parking-systems/
pja 4y ago
Not quite as good, but much better than open shelves. Our upright fridge freezer has deep drawers in the freezer compartment, presumably for this reason.
01acheru 4y ago
Or a chest fridge with vertical drawers (:
- h0l0cube 4y ago
  A cursory Google seems to say this is not a thing, but I don’t see why it couldn’t be, apart from having almost no market to justify its complicated manufacture.. and sliding baskets are probably cheaper and more practical

You could find out by filling a drawer with dry ice and water and trying to open it without the smoke spilling out. Seems to me a chest fridge is simpler.

rob74 4y ago

The advantage of a chest-style freezer/fridge is that cold air is trapped inside because the only opening is at the top. With drawers, the cold air from the drawers above the open one will still partly spill out. Plus then you have more seams that might not close perfectly than with a door.

lordnacho 4y ago
Yes that's all true but is the difference worth the money vs convenience tradeoff? I've used chest freezers before and it's not great to lean down to lift a large chunk of meat out of.
- pmontra 4y ago
  You are right but the convenience I was thinking about is mostly the floor space. Many people living in cities have small houses and space is literally at a premium. The extra electricity cost of a vertical fridge could be offset by the cost of the space on the floor to accommodate the equivalent chest fridge. About that other kind of convenience, shouldn't a chest fridge be long and shallow to have everything reachable from the opening without having to lift stuff and dig?
  - nordsieck 4y ago
    > About that other kind of convenience, shouldn't a chest fridge be long and shallow to have everything reachable from the opening without having to lift stuff and dig? There's a tradeoff between interior volume and convenience. And since most people who want convenience get a vertical model, I think interior volume wins a lot of the time. Someone who buys 1/2 of a cow, or takes home a deer just needs to freeze the whole thing. They don't necessarily need convenient access to all of the contents.
  - bluebill 4y ago
    What would happen if you could get the chest freezer where the door doesn't swing open vertical, but rises vertical upwards? The door could become a work surface. When you need access, you could push a button, or lift it and the entire door would lift straight up. Anything on top, would remain in place. Now for something like this to work it would need a series of shelves (grated shelves to allow the cold air to remain inside) on the interior that could move up. Sort of like a vertical lazy susan. Essentially, the chest freezer could become part of the kitchen work surfaces or it could be come an island work area, not taking up valuable real estate - it would be the valuable real estate. I have always thought this could be the way instead of vertical standing models.
    - pmontra 4y ago
      I can imagine a permanently closed fridge with inspection cameras inside and an app to select which box to take out. Then something like this [1] will deliver the box to a tiny opening acting as an airlock, or take a box and park it inside. And of course $499 upfront plus $99 per month for the app, advertising, and front door delivery to refill empty boxes, and no self serviceable parts, and mandatory subscription to a $19 monthly cleaning service, and... I think I could keep going on like this for a while. Lots of ideas for a front camera /s [1] https://www.pouted.com/fully-automated-car-parking-systems/ https://www.pouted.com/fully-automated-car-parking-systems/

pja 4y ago

Not quite as good, but much better than open shelves. Our upright fridge freezer has deep drawers in the freezer compartment, presumably for this reason.

01acheru 4y ago

Or a chest fridge with vertical drawers (:

h0l0cube 4y ago
A cursory Google seems to say this is not a thing, but I don’t see why it couldn’t be, apart from having almost no market to justify its complicated manufacture.. and sliding baskets are probably cheaper and more practical