Best place for freezer?

[HeatherAtHome]

We're still settling into our little house and trying to decide where everything should go. Right now, I'm stuck on the freezer. It's a chest freezer about 4 feet long and however deep they are.

Right now, the options are:

1-Carport/porch. At the back door, we have a porch like area and carport. The porch area is closed in on three sides, has a raised floor and is open to the carport which is fairly open to the elements. I like the idea of this and it would be really easy to put groceries away. BUT. We'd have to run new wire out there (BIL is electrician so not *that* hard to do). Also might have to put a lock on it because it *is* open. We shouldn't have people poking around but you never know. And we plan on tearing off the shaky carport next summer (or the one after that?!) when we insulate and put new siding on the house which it really needs.

2-Basement. We have steep steps down to a dirt floor basement. There's plenty of room down there with no use. Its a bit damp and smells a bit because of the dirt floor. It's not supposed to leak down there but we want to wait and see it with our own eyes. We have some work we plan on doing down there... at some point... to fix these problems.

3-In the house. It's a fairly small house and I'd really have to juggle furniture around to make it fit.

Right now my decision is to just not use it (it's sitting empty in carport) but I want to have it plugged in someday so we can buy a side of beef etc from local farm and to store garden produce.

Ideas?

[Alyantavid]

Ours is in the basement, in the laundry room. Our spare fridge is down there as well, along with our pantry so it made sense.

[nurturebaby]

Ours in in the garage and I'm happy with that.

I think you should put it in either the basement or garage - whichever is most convenient for you to grab something. If there are dampness issues in the basement, I'd opt for the garage.

The other thing to consider is safety and your children - our freezer carried a warning that children could climb in and not be able to get out, so keep it in a place out of reach of children. So I would definitely not put it in your main living space.

[nurturebaby]

One more thing - if you choose to keep it in your garage and you live in a cold climate, check the manual and make sure it will operate in freezing conditions as some models won't.

[HeatherAtHome]

It's been out in the cold before and ran fine so that should be ok. I'm thinking about it and what I really want is to have it in the carport but can I justify running new wiring out there for outlets when we're going to tear off the carport this summer... or next? I don't know.

Then I wonder what to do with the basement. We're planning on fixing it up a bit so that it doesn't smell so musty, but for now it seems too gross to do anything with. All that space with nothing to go into it.

[nurturebaby]

Are you going to be building a new carport or just getting rid of it? If you're getting rid of it, you'll have to figure out where to put the freezer anyway, and it sounds like the basement may be the only option, other than on the main living floor.

You're right to consider the future - I wouldn't have a problem running new electrical, esp since your BIL can do it for you, but if you've only got a year or two before having to go through freezer placement decisions again.... well, I'd probably put it in the basement. Perhaps look into some options in the basement like checking for dampness, installing a sump pump/french drain or at the very least, get a dehumidifier...

[*bejeweled*]

I'd put it in the garage too.

[artemis33]

Nice outdoor outlets are very useful even if you don't keep the freezer in that spot long term, so that shouldn't be a waste! Just make sure to get the kind that have flip down covers so that if that area ends up exposed they won't be unsafe.

If you opt for the basement, consider putting the freezer up a little on a platform to protect it a bit in case there is a dampness problem.

We have a very old basement that is not dirt floor, but is very old concrete and isn't the sort of space that could be 'finished off'. It is more for storage/root cellaring (sort of - not a true root cellar, but it works ok). We had several free standing wire racks in the basement of our last home, so when we moved here last year, we put those all around the perimeter of the basement and can now store things on the shelves without worrying about potential water issues (we have only had standing water once, but there is a stream right next to our house so we know it could happen again). I also don't keep they type of things down there that could be easily damaged by water - those go to the attic. I keep things like canning supplies, and other seasonal kitchen stuff, etc. down there and the electrical stuff (ice cream maker, dehydrator) go on higher shelves. Other things like wrapping paper that I use occasionally and don't want to have in the attic I store in plastic totes for protection.

Sorry for the tangent but thought that might help give you some ideas for using your basement as it is for now!


ETA - OH yeah, our freezer is actually out in our barn/garage. It isn't super close to the kitchen, but there is plenty of room out there for access and it is protected. Our weather is usually pretty mild here so I wasn't worried about that issue.

[HeatherAtHome]

Thanks for the ideas artemis!

Our basement is... special. Has incredibly steep stairs due shortage of space. The walls are fieldstone and the floor dirt. At some point, someone dug down further pulling dirt away from the stone walls so that it doesn't look so great. When we bought the house, the home inspector said it was stable for now but suggested making a concrete form about 1' high, 1' deep around the edge of the walls to stabilize it. I think at that point we'll build shelves on the concrete forms for storage. The musty smell issue; the inspector said we could pour concrete or level out the floor nicely, pour sand then lay down plastic and more sand on top. It would keep the moisture level down I guess.

I talked with DH and we're thinking of putting off the siding for another year instead of trying to get it done this summer. So, I guess we'll run wiring for a new outside outlet and plug the freezer in there. I believe we will be rebuilding the carport after we do the siding.

Thanks for the tips!

[cristeen]

I'll say that ours is in the basement and I HATE it. We actually have 2 of them - one with food and one with breastmilk. The food one is full and I never use the stuff because it's such a hassle to go get it. I do have to go down there once a day right now to get milk for the baby, but it's a huge hassle when it's pouring rain (have to go outside to get into the basement). Once we get the sunporch redone this spring/summer we'll be bringing one of them upstairs.