What size freezer do I need?

Plan on roughly 1.5 to 2.5 cubic feet per person, then add capacity for bulk buying, hunting, fishing or freezing a garden harvest. A 5 to 7 cubic foot model works as a second freezer for a couple or small family, and 9 to 15 cubic feet suits most households that shop in bulk. Do not buy far bigger than you need, because a freezer runs most efficiently when it is full.

Can I put a freezer in my garage in Florida?

Only if it is rated garage-ready, and it is worth reading the specification rather than trusting a badge on the box: manufacturers publish an ambient temperature range, and a garage-rated model covers a far wider one than a standard freezer built for a normal indoor room. An unconditioned garage in Florida or Georgia falls outside that range at both ends, so in summer the compressor never gets a break, and in a cool snap the thermostat may not call for cooling at all, which can let the contents thaw. A chest freezer generally handles garage heat better than an upright, because the lid keeps cold air in and the walls are thicker. Wherever it ends up, leave a few inches of clearance for airflow and plug it into a grounded outlet of its own rather than an extension cord.

What is the difference between manual defrost and frost-free?

A manual defrost freezer needs you to empty it and melt the frost once or twice a year, but it runs quieter, uses less energy and holds a steadier temperature, which is better for long-term storage. A frost-free model runs short heating cycles to clear the coils so you never defrost it, at the cost of slightly more electricity and small temperature swings. Chest freezers are usually manual; uprights are usually frost-free.

Why does my refrigerator's ice maker not keep up?

A fridge's internal ice maker makes only a few pounds of ice a day and shares the freezer's cooling and volume, so it empties fast when you have guests. That is normal, not a fault. If you entertain often, a dedicated countertop or undercounter ice machine will produce several times as much and keep a bin full.

Is a second freezer worth the money?

It usually is if you buy food in bulk or cook from a stock of frozen ingredients, because buying meat on sale, freezing a garden crop or splitting a warehouse pack adds up over the years a freezer stays plugged in. It also takes the pressure off the refrigerator, so the fridge freezer stops being a jammed drawer you cannot see into and your weekly shopping stops dictating what you cook. Where it does not pay is sitting half empty, since a freezer runs most efficiently full, so size it to how you actually shop rather than to the biggest one that fits the garage.

Is a countertop ice maker worth buying?

If you have ever run out of ice with people in the house, yes. A countertop machine plugs into an ordinary outlet, gets filled by hand and turns out soft bullet or nugget ice in about ten minutes, which is far faster than trays or a refrigerator dispenser and a fraction of the cost of a bigger fridge. Know the limits before you buy: it has no freezer, so it will not keep what it makes for long, and it needs refilling. For a bar, an outdoor kitchen or anywhere you want clear, slow-melting cubes in real volume, a plumbed undercounter machine is the better answer.

Chest & Upright Freezers, Ice Makers

Freezers and Ice Makers

A second freezer is one of the few appliances that pays you back. You can buy meat on sale, freeze the garden harvest, and stop playing shelf Tetris in the fridge. Add an ice maker and you stop running out of ice at every gathering. BrandsMart USA carries chest freezers, upright freezers and ice makers in the sizes that actually fit a garage, a utility room or a bar.

Measure the space and check the doorway you have to carry it through before you buy, or visit a showroom in Florida or Georgia and open the lids yourself.

Shop Freezers and Ice Makers by Type

Friendly, expert help in the showroom. Our appliance team works with these models every day and will happily walk you through chest against upright, defrost type, and whether a garage-rated model is needed. No pressure and no jargon: tell them your space and your budget, and they will help you shortlist.
Chest freezers. The most usable cubic feet per dollar, and the best choice for bulk buying, whole cuts of meat and long-term storage.
Upright freezers. Shelves and door bins you can actually see into, in a footprint about the size of a refrigerator.
Ice makers. Countertop and undercounter machines that make ice far faster than a freezer tray or a fridge dispenser.
Refrigerators. If your freezer keeps overflowing, the real fix might be a bigger fridge and freezer combination.
Compact refrigerators. Small fridges with a freezer compartment, for dorms, offices, garages and second-fridge duty.
Wine and beverage coolers. Dedicated cold storage for bottles and cans, so the freezer and fridge stay free for food.

Shopping by brand works too. Compare Frigidaire freezers for garage-ready uprights and chests, or Avanti freezers for compact models that fit under a counter. GE and other major names are here as well; see the full brand lineup.

Why Buy Your Freezer From BrandsMart USA

Financing is one of the better reasons to buy here. There is more than one way to spread the cost, and they work differently. The BrandsMart USA credit card carries 0% promotional financing on qualifying purchases, with the length of the term depending on the category and the amount. Katapult lease-to-own needs no credit at all, and you can check your buying power without affecting your credit score. Klarna splits a purchase into interest-free installments with a decision in seconds. Because those are three separate programs rather than one, a route that is not a fit for you does not have to be the end of it.
A clear return policy. If it turns out to be the wrong choice, our return and refund policy explains exactly how exchanges and refunds work. Return windows are shorter on major appliances than on small items, so check the terms before delivery day.
Freezers and ice makers in every size. From a compact chest that fits a closet to a full-height upright, plus portable and undercounter ice machines.
Large showrooms across Florida and Georgia. Lift the lid and see how deep a chest freezer really is before you commit, or use in-store pickup and take it home today.
Delivery, installation and haul-away. Freezers are heavy and awkward, so review our delivery and installation details and tell us about stairs or tight doorways when you order.
Competitive pricing, and offers worth checking. Our 110% low price guarantee applies if you find the same model advertised for less, and it is worth looking through today's appliance deals before you order.

What temperature should a freezer be set to?

Zero degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 18 Celsius. That is the point where food stops deteriorating rather than just staying hard, so it is the setting to use for anything you are storing for months. A few practical notes: a freezer in an unconditioned garage works harder in a Florida or Georgia summer and may need a colder dial setting to hold zero inside, an appliance thermometer costs very little and is the only way to know what the cabinet is actually doing, and a freezer runs most efficiently when it is full, because frozen food holds the cold. Give a newly delivered unit several hours to come down to temperature before you load it.

How long will a freezer keep food frozen without power?

A full freezer generally holds a safe temperature for about 48 hours if you keep the door or lid closed, and roughly 24 hours if it is only half full. Chest freezers usually do better than uprights because cold air does not fall out when they are opened and the insulation is thicker. Keep it packed, add sealed jugs of water to fill the gaps, and resist opening it to check.

Do I need a plumbed water line for an ice maker?

Not for a portable countertop machine, which you fill by hand and plug into a normal outlet. A built-in or undercounter ice maker does need a water supply line and, in most cases, a drain, so it belongs in a spot where those can be run. Ask about the plumbing when you review our delivery and installation details.

How long do freezers last?

Chest freezers commonly run 15 to 20 years, and uprights a little less, because a chest has a simpler system and no defrost heater. Keeping the coils clean, leaving airflow clearance, and not siting the unit somewhere unreasonably hot all extend that. A protection plan is worth a look given how much food a full freezer holds.

Where can I see freezers in person near me?

BrandsMart USA has large showrooms across Florida and Georgia with chest and upright freezers on display, so you can lift a lid, judge how deep a chest really is and check whether you can reach the bottom. Find your nearest showroom and bring your measurements and the doorway widths.

What financing options are available on freezers?

Three separate programs, which is the point. The BrandsMart USA credit card carries 0% promotional financing on qualifying purchases, and major appliances are usually where the longer terms apply. Katapult is lease-to-own and needs no credit, and you can check your buying power without affecting your credit score. Klarna splits the cost into interest-free installments with a decision in seconds. Because they underwrite differently, it is worth asking about more than one. Current terms are on our financing page.

Portable, Undercounter or Built Into the Fridge

There are three different ways to get ice, and they are not interchangeable. A portable countertop ice maker plugs into a standard outlet, gets filled by hand, and produces soft bullet or nugget ice in about ten minutes. It is the cheapest and most flexible option, but it does not store ice for long because it has no freezer, and it needs refilling. A built-in undercounter ice machine is plumbed to a water line and drains away, makes clear, slow-melting cubes in real volume, and is what you want for a bar or an outdoor kitchen. A refrigerator's internal ice maker is convenient and free with the fridge, but it makes the least ice per day and steals freezer volume. If you regularly run out of ice at parties, a dedicated machine from our ice makers selection solves the problem that a fridge dispenser cannot.

1. Chest or upright

A chest freezer gives you more usable space per dollar and per cubic foot, because there is no shelving stealing volume and cold air does not spill out when you open the lid. That last point matters here: a full chest freezer holds a safe temperature far longer than an upright when the power goes out, which is a real consideration in a Florida or Georgia hurricane season. The catch is organization. Anything at the bottom is buried, and you will be leaning in to find it. An upright freezer costs more per cubic foot and warms up faster with the door open, but shelves and door bins mean you can see everything, it takes up less floor space, and older backs will thank you. Baskets and dividers help a chest a lot; buy them with the freezer.

2. Size it to how you shop, not to the biggest one that fits

A rough guide is 1.5 to 2.5 cubic feet of freezer space per person, plus extra if you buy meat in bulk, hunt, fish or freeze a garden crop. A 5 to 7 cubic foot chest suits a couple or a small family as a second freezer. Between 9 and 15 cubic feet covers most households that shop in bulk. Above that you are into serious storage. A freezer runs most efficiently when it is full, so an oversized unit that stays half empty costs you money every month.

3. Manual defrost or automatic defrost

Manual defrost is the default on chest freezers. It runs quieter, uses less energy, holds temperature more steadily and is gentler on food quality, but once or twice a year you have to empty it, let the frost melt and mop up. Automatic or frost-free defrost, common on uprights, runs a brief heating cycle to clear the coils, so you never defrost it by hand. That convenience costs a little more electricity and cycles the temperature slightly, which can cause freezer burn on food stored for a very long time. If the freezer is for long-term storage, manual is the better technical choice. If it is a working freezer you open every day, take the frost-free.

4. Check the garage-ready rating before you put it in the garage

This is the mistake people make most often in the Southeast. A standard freezer is designed for indoor room temperatures, and an unconditioned Florida or Georgia garage swings far outside that range. Too hot and the compressor runs constantly; too cool in winter and the thermostat can stop calling for cooling at all, which lets the contents thaw. Look for a model the manufacturer explicitly rates as garage-ready, which means it is built to hold temperature across a much wider ambient range. Check the same rating if the freezer is going on a lanai, in a carport or in a shed.

5. Placement, clearance and power

Leave a few inches of clearance around the cabinet for airflow, and remember a chest freezer needs headroom above it for the lid to open fully, which rules out some under-shelf spots. Measure the doorways and any turns on the route in. Plug the freezer into a dedicated grounded outlet rather than an extension cord or a shared circuit, and check the door or lid swing against nearby walls. If the freezer will hold hundreds of dollars of food, an outlet on a circuit nothing else trips is worth arranging.

A chest freezer or an upright freezer?

Buy a chest freezer if food is going in for the long haul. It gives you the most usable cubic feet per dollar, runs a simpler manual-defrost system that holds a steadier temperature, and stays safely frozen far longer in an outage, which is not a small consideration in a Florida or Georgia hurricane season. Accept that you will be leaning in, that anything at the bottom is out of sight until you dig for it, and that it needs headroom above the lid. Buy the baskets and dividers at the same time, not later.

Buy an upright if you open it several times a week. Shelves and door bins put everything in view, the footprint is about that of a refrigerator so it can live in a utility room or a kitchen wall rather than the garage, and frost-free operation means you never empty it to defrost. You pay more per cubic foot, it warms up faster with the door open, and it will not ride out a long power cut as well. If you are only a shelf or two short of frozen space, a side-by-side refrigerator with a full-height freezer column may fix it without a second appliance at all.

A standalone ice maker or a refrigerator's built-in ice maker?

The fridge ice maker is enough for a household that fills a glass a few times a day, and it is effectively free with the refrigerator. It makes only a few pounds a day, shares the freezer's cooling and takes up frozen storage, so it stops being enough the moment you have people over. If you are choosing a new fridge and ice matters to you, a French door model with a second ice maker in the freezer drawer gives you more headroom than a single in-door unit.

Buy a standalone machine if you have ever run out of ice at a gathering. A countertop model fills by hand, plugs into a normal outlet and makes soft nugget or bullet ice in about ten minutes, though it has no freezer so it will not store what it produces. An undercounter machine is plumbed and drained, makes clear, slow-melting cubes in real volume, and is what belongs in a bar or an outdoor kitchen. Either one produces several times what a fridge dispenser can, which is why a dedicated machine is the fix rather than a bigger refrigerator.

Opening the doors and pulling out the drawers tells you more than any spec sheet, and every freezer here can be seen in person. We have eleven showrooms across South Florida and metro Atlanta.

Florida. Miami, Dadeland and South Dade in the Miami area, Sawgrass Mills in Sunrise, Outlet Center in Lauderhill, Deerfield Beach, Dania Pointe in Dania Beach, and West Palm Beach.
Georgia. North Atlanta, South Atlanta in Stockbridge, and Kennesaw.

Each store page has the address, phone number and current showroom hours. You can also find the store nearest you or order online and collect in store.

However you prefer to buy, the choice is yours. Come see the freezers and ice makers in person at any of our showrooms across Florida and Georgia, order online and pick up in store, or have yours delivered and installed, with haul-away of the old unit available on most major appliances. Financing is available on qualifying purchases, including a lease-to-own route that needs no credit. Measure your garage or utility space first, and confirm the model is rated for the temperature there.

Freezers and Ice Makers

Precision Trading Corp
7.4 Cubic Foot Manual Defrost Curved Glass Top Multi-Function Chest Freezer/Refrigerator with Three Baskets in White

Premium Levella
14.0 CuFt Upright Convertible Freezer in Stainless Steel

Element TV
7.0 Cu. Ft. Garage Ready Chest Freezer

Frigidaire Professional
19 CuFt Built-In Stainless Steel Single-Door Freezer

Premium Levella
14 CuFt Chest Freezer in White with One Storage Basket and Two Wheels

THERMADOR
12.2 CuFt Frost Free Panel Ready Built-In Freezer

KitchenAid
15'' Automatic Ice Maker — PrintShield™ Finish

KitchenAid
15'' Automatic Ice Maker — Black Ore

Whirlpool
15" Ice Maker with Clear Ice Technology

Avanti
23 CuFt MaxxSpace Garage-Ready Upright Freezer in Stainless Steel

Monogram
8.3 CuFt Premium Integrated Panel Ready Column Freezer

GE Appliances
21.2 CuFt Automatic Defrost Panel Ready Column Freezer

Whirlpool
15-Inch Freestanding Built-In Ice Maker in Black

Jenn-Air
8 CuFt Panel Ready Built-In Column Freezer - Left Swing

Whirlpool
15" Icemaker with Clear Ice Technology -White

Avanti
17 CuFt MaxxSpace Garage-Ready Upright Freezer in Stainless Steel

GREENLINE
9.2 CuFt Chest Freezer in White

Monogram
8.3 CuFt Panel Ready Integrated Column Freezer

Avanti
21 CuFt MaxxSpace Garage-Ready Upright Freezer in Stainless Steel

KitchenAid
15'' Automatic Ice Maker — PrintShield™ Finish

Whirlpool
25 Lbs 15" Residential Freestanding Ice Machine - Stainless Steel

GE Appliances
26 Lbs 15" Panel Ready Residential Built-In/Freestanding Ice Machine

Element Electronics
25.0 CuFt Convertible Chest Freezer in White

Element Electronics
21.2 CuFt Upright Convertible Freezer/Refrigerator in Stainless Steel

Freezers and Ice Makers

Shop Freezers and Ice Makers by Type

Why Buy Your Freezer From BrandsMart USA

Portable, Undercounter or Built Into the Fridge

1. Chest or upright

2. Size it to how you shop, not to the biggest one that fits

3. Manual defrost or automatic defrost

4. Check the garage-ready rating before you put it in the garage

5. Placement, clearance and power

A chest freezer or an upright freezer?

A standalone ice maker or a refrigerator's built-in ice maker?