Hiding a freezer

[mrs.jacinthe]

The new house does NOT have a basement, garage, or shed. So our chest freezer will have to go somewhere inside the house. Our OH house had room in the laundry room, but sadly the new house does not include a spacious laundry room. There is a laundry room, but it is tiny.

Our chest freezer is ~15 cu ft, so approximately 30"D x 35"H x 48"W.

It's going to have to go in the kitchen ... against this wall:


There's plenty of room. But it's going to be an eyesore, honestly - completely visible in 3 rooms, unless we keep the kitchen door shut. Any ideas for hiding it? My original thought was to have R built a cabinet around it, but it's a top open ...

[thewop]

Can you make a cabinet around it with a hinged countertop?

[peach]

I would get rid of it before I would have a huge freezer in my kitchen, honestly. Can you at least downgrade to a smaller one? Two people should be able to get away with using the fridge freezer and a small freezer, unless you do a ton of freezer cooking or buy a whole cow every year.

Can you keep it on your porch? hmmm....Do you have a spare bedroom? In our first house, we kept our freezer in the office/spare room. We just had a desk, bookshelf, and the freezer in there. weird but it worked for us.

[peach]

ooh..I like the idea of turning it into a cabinet with a hinged countertop....you could make a nice space there for buffet style meals or a wet bar at parties and no one would know it was there...

[wawa]

Building something around it also has issues because most chest freezers use the exterior surface to shed heat.

I've looked at lots of builds for big fancy DIY chest freezer to kegorator conversions, and the ones with a cabinet built around the freezer generally include a fan and venting system inside the cabinet. I'd imagine the same thing would apply to a non-kegaratorfied chest freezer.

[mrs.jacinthe]

peach - Getting rid of it is out of the question. For two people, that size freezer is almost completely full all the time - I've actually considered buying a bigger one. We buy meat in bulk when it's on sale, process a garden, etc. (LOL, I sound like little house on the prairie here).

On the first floor my options are in the living room or in the "library". R is taking over the dining room until summer with his workshop, and the wood dust would be problematic for its compressor.

[april37]

Yep, I would do a cabinet with a hinged counter top. Kinda like this without the keg:

[wawa]

You could do something with a curtain around the bottom and lightweight piece of....something pretty...hinged on top. It sounds kinda country looking at first blush to me, but if you did a nice tailored skirt it could look pretty cool.

[thewop]

Jan 9, 2013 16:48:07 GMT -5 april37 said:

Yep, I would do a cabinet with a hinged counter top. Kinda like this without the keg:

Um...I NEED this.

[mrs.jacinthe]

Hmmm, we could do a cabinet with a hinged countertop.

I've been wondering if I could just get away with some sort of skirt on it, but I'm thinking not ... *sigh*

[april37]

Jan 9, 2013 16:50:21 GMT -5 mrs.jacinthe said:

Hmmm, we could do a cabinet with a hinged countertop.

I've been wondering if I could just get away with some sort of skirt on it, but I'm thinking not ... *sigh*

I think you could do a skirt but, I agree with wawa, it would need to be tailored.

[wawa]

Jan 9, 2013 16:50:18 GMT -5 thewop said:

Jan 9, 2013 16:48:07 GMT -5 april37 said:

Yep, I would do a cabinet with a hinged counter top. Kinda like this without the keg:

Um...I NEED this.

this is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about. MOST of the tutorials I've read to build one of these babies (and I've read many) include a secondary cooling fan somewhere in that exterior cabinet to vent the heat that comes off the sides and front of the freezer. Without it you'll burn it out.

We are TOTALLY going to have one of these eventually. It's the secret reason I really want to the laundry room done. Sure...dirty baby clothes, blah blah blah, but the fact is I miss brewing and the laundry room is where our brewing equipment is supposed to live.

[TBM]

Jan 9, 2013 16:47:03 GMT -5 wawa said:

Building something around it also has issues because most chest freezers use the exterior surface to shed heat.

I've looked at lots of builds for big fancy DIY chest freezer to kegorator conversions, and the ones with a cabinet built around the freezer generally include a fan and venting system inside the cabinet. I'd imagine the same thing would apply to a non-kegaratorfied chest freezer.

I would think that if you used some kind of louvered doors or decorative screen that there would be enough air flow.

I think that radiator cover ideas would be good inspiration. I do like the idea of using it as a buffet or bar.

[wawa]

Jan 9, 2013 16:56:58 GMT -5 TBM said:

Jan 9, 2013 16:47:03 GMT -5 wawa said:

Building something around it also has issues because most chest freezers use the exterior surface to shed heat.

I've looked at lots of builds for big fancy DIY chest freezer to kegorator conversions, and the ones with a cabinet built around the freezer generally include a fan and venting system inside the cabinet. I'd imagine the same thing would apply to a non-kegaratorfied chest freezer.

I would think that if you used some kind of louvered doors or decorative screen that there would be enough air flow.

I think that radiator cover ideas would be good inspiration. I do like the idea of using it as a buffet or bar.

That would probably work. Weirdly nobody on the brewing forums I frequent has tried that...I think they all like the BIG HEAVY wood look.

They're also 99% dudes who say things like, "wow man, your wife let you put that in the living room? Does she have a sister?"

[Deleted]

I wouldn't get rid of the freezer. I have one too and it's not an option. I have a whole cow and a half pig plus tons of garden produce and frozen sale veggies. I don't grocery shop once a week with little stops in between, so my fridge freezer just doesn't cut it.

I like the cabinet idea, but mine says right on the label, needs ample space for heat release, do not closet or put in tight space.

Put some shelves above it, high enough so the door opens and some shelves around it. Make those pretty and live with the rest.

I've reached the conclusion these days..we've all got something to deal with in our house so work around it.

[Deleted]

I also know people who keep them in their office if there's no other space. Still not the prettiest but at least out of the mainstream and hidden from most other visitors.

[sierramist03]

We had ours in our tiny dining room at one point but id probably put it in the office

[emjacobs]

Growing up ours was on the porch. It didn't get rained on (much) and wasn't a terrible eye sore.

[FoxInFiji]

Wawa is correct it will need some air circulation for the back or it will not run very efficiently if at all. I honestly wouldn't built some big elaborate setup unless you know it's staying there long term. When you build a workshop/garage this summer can you make some space for it out there?

We have the exact same problem with our mini chest freezer (sounds like the same size as yours) in our finished basement when we redo it. The only spot to put it would be a huge eyesore that you can see from every angle of the room which will be a multi-use family room and office area so we're going to ditch it and buy an upright freezer that can be covered by cabinet panels to look built in (I'm forgetting the name of that feature...). It will have some built in shelving next to it and just look like white built in cabinetry. That makes it hidden and yet super easy to bring in groceries from the garage because it's just a few steps away.