If memory serves me correctly, the last time the subject came up in this forum the idea was roundly trounced! Inefficient spacehog...

Not too worried about the space issue, but inefficiency would be of some concern. I tried to search this board on the term, but came up with nothing. Anyone else have input?

We are building a house with a walk-in cooler/freezer. Concept includes insulated wall with SIPS panel (like styrofoam) with exterior compresser/refridgerator unit from restaurant supply company. Also includes built in drain. Haven't worked out all the details yet but my designer seems competent. Will update with details as available.

hardin - this is not an appliance, it's one of those things like a yacht, plane, or supercar. If you really wnat one and can afford it you already know a small cadre of people who can talk authoratitively about them, and you just order one. You tell people eaxctly what you want or want it to do and others sweat the details. A broad forum like this is more suited discussing things like a bass boat, cheap airline tix, and regular cars.

It looks like you get far more refrigeration space for less money than a refrigerator. 6' x 8' for around $4500 - $5500. I wouldn't want it in the kitchen, but just outside in pantry or garage might be doable. No more issues with party trays or items bought in bulk. I even keep my flour under refrigeration, so we do use a lot of space.

It looks like you get far more refrigeration space for less money than a refrigerator. 6' x 8' for around $4500 - $5500.

But what does it cost to operate? A regular fridge costs less than $60/year in electricity. In addition, be sure to budget for shelving. Nothing can sit on the floor, as it will get wet from condensation. In commercial kitchens, everything must sit 6" or higher above the floor. I realize you are not setting up a restaurant, but it is still a good practice to follow.

Lastly, be SURE of service availability before you purchase. Many commercial service companies do not have insurance that covers their workers in homes, so they cannot provide service.

My brother has had a "cold" room for years. We all love it. It is not as cold as a refrigerator, but is sufficient for wine and soda and vegies and fruit- plus it is fabulous for forcing bulbs or keeping flowers fresh. Finally, when my niece got married outside in the summer in Illinois it was a very hot day. My brother had the A/C off as the doors were all open. My aunts and I took turns "cooling off" in the "cold" room. Saved my life!

shelves: Chrome racks from costco, inexpensive, heavy duty, tall enough, customizable and moveble. You could put 3 directly next to each other with one aisle, move as needed. FYI sold my husband on this outlandish idea because we brew beer and have kegs. He can plumb taps directly to the living room. My dad was the originator of this idea, he's an appliance repairman for Sears, primarily refridgerators. Also, think used restaurant equipment, restaurants are always going out of business.

I've always wondered what people put in those big side-by-side refrigerators that you see in pictures, let alone a walk-in. We refrigerate all our flours too and have one 32" wide frig. It is crowded, but it works. I guess I'm unusual in that I shop every couple of days. Most food doesn't stay fresh that long anyway. We store potatoes, onions, etc, from the garden in the basement or garage. A lot of other things could be kept cool there too, without having to refrigerate them.

What would you put in it?

"What would you put in it?"

If ever there was a time for a mother-in-law joke...

For the record, I think my mother-in-law is wonderful.

Considering that I am a appliance tech, I consider the idea only for the very rich. Even a high dollar appliance is ojnly for the rich. The repair needs a very well trained tech. I could easily convert a closet to a refrigerator room, but do not see the benefits to me. On the otherhand, I can see building a custom range using individual magnetic burners made in Europe and in purchasing a spare burner. The total cost would be less than $1000 for 5 burners?

"What would I put in it?"
Right now the "spare" refrigerator (a side by side) has 2 bottles (gallon size) of oil for the deep fryer - one for savory and one for sweet - don't want the donuts to taste like onion rings!Also 5 lbs of whole wheat flour, 5 lbs unbleached flour, 2 lbs corn meal, 12 pak diet coke, 12 pak Coke for the kids who hate diet, 6 pak ginger ale for the member of the family with stomach virus, 6 bottles of beer, a quarter wheel of Parmesan, large wedge of Asiago, large wedge of Romano, large chunk of Blue Cheese, chunk of Feta, 2 cubes of box wine, 12 cartons yogurt, 4 heads of Romaine, casserole with leftover Gumbo that will be polished off tonight, 5 lbs of ground meat to start chili tomorrow, and a 5 pound bag of cracked pecans I need to shell and seal in smaller containers. The main fridge had milk, butter, margarine, 2 dozen eggs, 5 types of mustard, 2 dozens brats my hubby grilled yesterday and I need to freeze, jam, 2 different containers homeade salad dressing and a backup bottle of store dressing in case nobody makes homeade, small chunks of several cheeses, jars of condensed chicken, beef and vegetarian stock, sour cream, cream cheese, large jar of Miracle Whip, small jar mayo, large jar greek olives, pickles, catsup, chocolate sauce, a slice of leftover chocolate cake, leftover pizza, large bottle V-8 juice, loaf of bread and buns for the brats.

We almost never eat out, cook a lot, tend to buy in bulk and except for milk and bread, shop every 10 days to 2 weeks. I also put up fruit in the summer when it is ripe and sometimes need to chill a bushel of peaches for a day or so until I can get to it. I can and do run out of fridge space, particularly when entertaining or during summer produce season. That's why I'm interested in the walk in.

I think it's wonderful that so many of us with differing locales and needs come together to swap ideas on these Boards. The different perspectives and ideas have been absolutely an inspiration.

Two fridges and only 6 bottles of beer? Yes, obviously you need more room. Get a walk-in.

;)

OK! We don't eat a lot of that stuff, or buy perishables in that quantity. That's not to say it's wrong, it's just foreign to me! Our frig is packed with condiments ((my husband and son love spicy ones), different flours, and cheese. Other than that, things turn over quickly (produce, dairy products, occasionally meat.) And our freezer is never full... I guess we're weird.

It sounds like, from what Bob Brown says, walk-ins are high maintenance. You might be better off with a couple of big refrigerators in the basement.

There is a lot to consider if you are planning to build a walk-in cooler. What size? What type of refrigeration system (self contained vrs split system)? What type of insulation? How much insulation? What design temperatures? You might consider having a look at some of the manufacturer's sites but some may not want to sell to a homeowner.

Here is a link that might be useful: walk-in coolers

Don't think that it's a good idea to have a refrigerator or freezer in your garage unless the garage is an insulated space that has temperature control like your house. Our garage gets much hotter than our house in the summer, and a refrigerator out there would have to work very hard much of the time to keep the interior of a refrigerator cool. If you don't care about your power bill or the your electricity is generated via nuclear or renewable source, then go for it.

-Roger

Every restaurant I worked in had a walk-in cooler. Super easy to find stuff, great for curing salmon/gravlax if you make your own, great for brining larger pieces of meat and/or turkeys, also can cool things super quickly after bulk cooking on sheet pans. Love them, love them, love them! Can't afford one, Can't afford one, can't afford one.

I saw the same magazine article and have been searching for residential walk-ins, but no luck. I've seen units from restaurants that have gone out of business priced anywhere from 3k down to 1k. My biggest concerns are whether the electrical hookup would work well with a typical 200 amp residential wiring and if the cooler is very loud. If anyone comes across a true residential model, please let me know!

yes, it's loud. yes, you'll need special wiring. and you'll probably need a drain as well.

I confess...I believe I was the one about a year ago that posed this as an option...and we were going to do it. It certainly was not trounched although there were lots of insightful comments.

I disagree that this is a subject for those who fancy yachts and mansions and the like since, installed, it was going to be less than the SZ we settled on.

The main reasons we moved away from the idea were many. First, I wanted to access it from the kitchen. Since these units have rubber sweeps as a floor gasket, I had a hard time figuring how to make that work with the kitchen floors. They would have sweep marks on them constantly and the temp barrier is not solid so the floor in front of the unit would always be cold. Next was coordination. How to coordinate the door opening with the rest of the kitchen and make it look well coordinated. Then came service issues. I have had walk-ins at hunting lodges before. Although we always bought used units (good but used), repair was a constant problem AND WAS EXPENSIVE. That said, we had no trouble getting service. Lastly, someone here mentioned running cost. My research indicated the unit I was looking at would average $150 a month to run. That was the final straw so to speak. We decided to put in the SZ 736, SZ refrigerator drawers and a backup frig in the garage just off of the kitchen. We converted the walk-in cooler space to a large pantry. In hindsight, it was a good decision. We have more than adequate cooler space and the pantry is heaven for storage since we have a lot of pots/pans/appliances etc. If we had used the space for the walk in cooler, I think it would have been, for us, seriously under used.

I do have a friend that put in a combo walk-in cooler/freezer in their home and they absolutely love it. If you really have the need, it would be nice since you can cook large quantities and stick them in the cooler with out warming up the whole unit. In the end, we love our decision but I did leave things so the pantry could be converted if I ever took a mind to.

I don't know... unless it's a family of 8+, it seems like overkill. It simply doesn't reflect how most people buy and store food these days. Hope it doesn't become another 'must have', like pot fillers and warming drawers, but if it does, it's just another trend that I'll happily ignore.

oruboris - I totally agree for those who have a large family or entertain a lot as does the friend I know who put one in. Anyway, as I said, the best part of our process was getting a huge pantry. The rough in for the walk in cooler was 6X8 and we increased it to 8X10 when we converted it to a pantry. We have been in for 6 months and the pantry is comfortably full. We had one of those closet/pantry companies design it and it is great!

Just because you have the money to buy this walk in cooler and keep it going doesn't mean you ought to run out and buy it. Hello! We have a major energy crisis going on in this country. I would encourage you to shop for something more energy efficient.

no single family residence has "the need" for this. you can rationalize it till the cows come home, but it's an ultra-indulgence, not something that fills a "need".

I'm right there w/ everyone else who's commented on the energy wastefulness of doing this. That said, we have a 2nd fridge in the garage, and I've had visions of putting in a closet-sized cold room for beer/wine cellaring. But I wouldn't do it without superinsulating and using maybe even an Energy Star rated window unit for cooling.

In your 2nd fridge inventory, a few things struck me. We don't ever fry anything, so keeping oil around is unusual to me. I assume it's used oil- why not keep it in a pantry or somewhere reasonably cool inside the house? We keep flour, grits and nuts in the freezer instead of fridge. The 12-packs of sodas go on top, with 3 or 4 dropped into the fridge at a time (more room for beer that way). Worst case, you grab a cup and ice if there isn't one that's cold.

Anyway, I'd attack it from the standpoint of management. Hit your nearest Sears outlet and get the biggest Energy Star rated scratch and dent you can for the garage. You'll probably save several grand over a walk-in and you can take it with you, instead of getting little (or nothing) for a walk-in on resale.

If your family is as big as your inventory implies, I'm sure you can find something else to spend it on.

Here is a "reasonably" priced walk in cooler for residential use. The Game Keeper cooler is a 4x8 fully self contained with a 110v outlet plug. It sells for $3400. They can also make a 6x8 for $5600. For the house builder wanting a big walk in, I would check in to a split freezer/cooler. An 8x10 cooler is a big cooler, I use one on a 3 acre strawberry farm. I don't see how anyone could need an 8x10 walk in COOLER. A split cooler/freezer would be nice for someone who could afford it, and to run it. It will cost around $150/month to run. An 8x10 walk in freezer/cooler will cost as much to run as a small house or mobile home.

Older post but here is my experience:
We just moved out of a house that had an old "root cellar" that was in the corner of the basement. It was about 10 X 12 and it had shelves and a large rack with a drain on top that was for blocks of ice. The walls were insulated with 12" of what looked like cedar mulch behind wood panels covered with aluminum flashing. The previous owner had removed the old wooden door and installed an equally old metal insulated door from a restaurant or whatever. They told us that the room stayed cool most of the year but in the dead of summer they would put (10) 20lb bags of ice in the rack and it would last almost a week. I tried this once and the room stayed about 15 degrees colder for more than a week, around 55 degrees. I thought this was neat but I didn't think the ice was practical.
5 years ago I was at an equipment auction after the local Dairy Queen moved and, after getting a bright idea, I inquired about the cooling units on the roof. The owner said that if I paid for them to be removed I could have them, and the indoor units in the freezer room. Long story short: I ended up with 2 working units and plenty of freon. I had the HVAC people install one of the units in the root cellar and I wired it up. The unit was way over-sized for my little room but it fit and looked OK. It had 5 fans, was almost 8 feet long and hung 2 feet off the ceiling. The outdoor unit looked like a regular A/C unit with no guards, but was ok since it was out back.
When I turned it all-the-way down the unit easily brought the room below 0'F and would cool down to -25'F before it seemed to "stall out". I knew this wasn't practical so I rewired the unit to only run 1 fan and to cycle it off and on when not actively cooling.
My wife was skeptical at first but soon found herself frequently using the room. She was really sorry to see it go when we sold the house. We had saved a lot of money shopping at Sams and saved many, many trips to town. I think it added $20-$30 to our power bill each month.
The unit drew about 120KWh/month if I turned it to 45'F, so it was reasonably well insulated. The HVAC people charged me $475.00 to remove the units and install the one, but I sold the second unit and made $525 profit. I personally had around 30 hours messing with the whole project, $155 for a new electronic thermostat (to cycle and defrost), $154.28 in wiring and mounting hardware, and I later built new shelves out of pressure-treated lumber at a cost of $318.00 and 6 hours work.
The Realtor said that the room was a big selling point and she thought that it added $10,000 to the value of the house. The purchaser said the "cooler" (as he called it) was a big reason he bought the house since he does a lot of hunting.
I am currently looking for the parts to build another cooler in my current house.

I would welcome the idea of having a walk-in cooler in my house, especially that I'm growing vegetables in my small farm. Improvising one would be the cheapest way but right now, I don't really know how so I'm welcoming the idea of just going out and buying a second-hand cooler. I think it's a good idea as long as it satisfies safety standards. I'm a safety freak. Found some good buying tips for walk-in coolers and freezers (see my link above). It talks about legal requirements (EISA, NSF, UL). I'm not really familiar with that so I have to read that stuff. Better check on it too if you're planning to buy a walk-in cooler.

Here is a link that might be useful: Walk-In Cooler Buying Guide

This thread seems much more relevant today where we are staging our kitchens into multiple rooms; i.e., front kitchen (aka pretty side), pantry, wine cellar, bakery, back kitchen (work side). Has anyone put in a walk-in cooler yet? Seems like you could even save some money versus having to buy multiple fridges.

Three years later I have found this thread and would LOVE to hear from some of the people who posted in 2008, especially @breezy_2 who has a friend with a combo unit. That's what we want... my husband and I do a lot of food preservation and cooking - he hunts, I cook. We have three freezers running now and it just isn't practical for us. Plus with the entertaining I do I want the ability to store large sheet trays, big bowls of stuff, etc. You get the idea. Anyone out there who has something to suggest - input to provide??

GREAT IDEA!!! We are in the design works for putting one in. Will just use a window AC unit to keep it cold. With a simple over ride type kit for a few bucks you can make the AC run colder. Lots of good insulation and ta da. You have a place to store produce for many months, cure meat, cure cheese, hang meat to age. So many things to use it for.