No suggestion as to freezer, but could you cook some of the things you'd otherwise throw out into finished meals to refreeze?

I agree that new appliances are not as long lived as old ones, although I'm told they are more efficient.

I've never had a freezer actually quit on me (thank goodness), but now it'll probably happen. I current have four (yeah, four), one upright that Elery bought 12 years ago, it's a Frigidaire. My oldest one is a chest type Gibson, it was Dad's before he died, so it's about 20 years old. The other two are newer, both less than 5 years old.

The oldest refrigerator in the family is at Amanda's, I gave it to her when she and Dave built their house, right after Makayla was born. That was 15 years ago, and it was more than 10 years old then. It's an upright Kenmore, so it's between 20-30 years old, conservatively.

I don't know about any of the "high end" models, but we liked the Frigidaire enough that we bought another one. Consumer's Reports, however, found them unreliable and suggests Maytag. An online review, though, Consumer Search, named them as their #1 choice, so I guess that balances it out. I think it's all basically a crap shoot.

The salesman told me my Frigidaire freezer was made in St. Cloud, Minnesota and I've been told that GE is spending a billion or so dollars to increase American production of their appliances. Some Bosch appliances are made in LaFollette, Tennessee, near my SIL. So, maybe, more are being made here.

Good luck, sorry about the thawed food. I did have approximately the same experience when I bought my 5 burner cooktop. Lowe's could order one, it would take about a month, Menard's could have it in three weeks. Sears said they could have one in a week, but when the week was done they rescheduled another week away, then another. I finally ditched all of them and drove the 50 miles to Grand Rapids where we went from appliance store to appliance store until we found one that had a 5 burner Bosch in stock, and we bought it, brought it home and installed it ourselves. No one ever seems to actually have anything in stock, whether I'm looking for fence posts or freezers.

Annie

Not really. SWMBO is hosting a fundraiser tomorrow am and then we have another fundraiser here tomorrow pm, so Saturday is shot, and then Sunday is looking like a day of working on chores and cleanup. Then it's back to work.

We did save much of the good stuff. The stuff that is getting dumped is mostly did that probably didn't deserve to be freezer stored and was taking up space. Or is stuff that I don't want to eat on my lowish carb diet. We did make a mass batch of smoothies with the frozen berries and ice cream.

Hey, maybe a solution. I am seeing a few used commercial upright freezers that look to be in decent shape, for $900-1,000. That isn't so much more than a new consumer model.

GE FUF17DLRWW Garage Ready 17.3 cu. ft. Frost-Free Upright Freezer in White ($799):

• Home Depot (342 reviews)
• Lowes (300 reviews)

I was going to suggest used commercial....they just don't; make stuff like they used to....last freezer I had was an old Frigidaire and came with the house when we bought it in 71....lasted until about 95.....guessing that freezer was about 42 years old when it died. The guy who took it out for me saved the door because it was cool stainless 50's piece.
When I needed a new air conditioner about 5 years ago, the old guy who helped install it ( and owner of the business) said to me "did So and So used to live here?"....turned out he remembered installing it...looked up the records on the model # and that air conditioner was 45 years old!!
Hope your new freezer lasts a good 10 years!

I've had good luck with GE freezers too. My current one is old enough to run for congress, but it's behaving nicely in the garage and doesn't complain about being banished when the new kitchen was done.

You probably know this, but for less expensive, more reliable, better freezing, get a model that's manual defrost and has freezer coils on most of the shelves. Stack the already frozen things. Put the new-in's directly on the coil shelves to freeze better and faster. This is old tech and reliable, and they look the same as the old models, though who knows how they might have scrimped on the guts.

There is no lifespan guarantee, only average. It sounds like your old one did its best....

The second hand commercial one sounds like a good addition to your appliance collection, however. Especially if it isn't terribly loud.

Frigidaire FFFU17M1QW manual defrost freezer ($647)

The last chest freezer we got was used, on Freeycle. Works like a charm and is big enough for the 2 of us. It still had the energy savings sticker on it.

Now that it's just me, it's still full. I keep buying meat on sale along with the frozen fruit, homemade soups etc etc, and in it goes.

I was appliance shopping with a g/f for a new dishwasher for her, and I'm currently looking at a bottom-mount frig. Geez, I'm glad I don't have a house that I have to buy all new appliances for at once. Soooo expensive. And the salesperson said 5-7 years is the normal life for an appliance these days.

They don't make things like they used to that's for sure. My small freezer died, too, sometime between the end of May and now. I don't use it all that much and it's in the basement. Gosh what a stinky mess! I'm waiting for a guy to come haul it off and take it to the dump. I'm not getting a new one -- it's just the two of us and we have a big bottom freezer in our fridge so I'm happy with that. We don't buy beef by the half anymore nor do I buy or pick tons of berries to freeze. What little I put by for the winter is canned.

They don't make things like they used to that's for sure."

Couldn't agree more! We just recently had to replace the fridge/freezer in our garage. Didn't realize it had died and everything had defrosted. Had the old one for 25+ years and don't expect the new one to go anywhere near that long. Bought the new one (no-frills, 18 cubic ft "garage" model) at Lowe's which was delivered the next day, and they took the old one.

The limitation on a lot of new appliances is the electronics. If you get a low tech model, it'll have a much longer average lifespan.

Remember we're talking average. Including that salesman. That means that some are duds and might even die during the warranty period and some last forever. Like where I live average rainfall isn't typical. We usually have drought or flood and rarely in between where the average is.

Same as you, we have a commercial True refrigerator, and I'm impressed with the build quality. I also believe it is easy to service and repair should that ever become necessary.

These appliances take years and years of abuse in restaurants, I expect mine to live practically forever if I do take minimal care of it (e.g. clean the coils every so often).

While I don't have a True freezer, I wouldn't hesitate to buy one. The extra cost might very well be money well spent. But I second the suggestion of looking for used commercial freezers. That could be the optimal compromise for your particular situation

True Residential TR30FRZLSSA* 30" upright freezer (C$12,550 = US$9,630)

*Prices of US products are hidden on Internet (not surprising).

Yikes. I can't buy a new True at those prices. A used one, if I can find...

Finished cleaning up after our fundraiser. Whew. Tired and going to bed.

I've decided to look for a commercial icemaker too.

That's the price for the residential models. Completely different beast and not at all what was recommended in this thread. That's not what you would want for your garage or your basement. It's what you would build into your kitchen. The residential product line competes with the likes of Sub-Zero and is priced as such.

The commercial product line is much more appropriate for utility space, and should cost on the order of $2000. That's not bad for an all-metal all-freezer column. And if you buy a properly serviced used model, you should get it a heavy discount.

We went through this 5-6 years ago. We have a half size commercial basically free that served us well for years. Still use it for extra ice and a 'blast chiller'. Maybe two months a year. Plug it in a week before a party or a couple days before a stock making weekend. Probably used commercially in a pastry chefs area so flavors don't meld with savory.

I went through the Lowes/HD game for weeks. In stock/order/then out of stock. Very frustrating and felt like a scam over and over. Started looking at commercial but a Fridgedare was finally delivered and in stock. It has been great.

It is all about need. I did not need it but DH wanted it for Fall harvest veg, meats, seafood, juices and stocks. We have been buying farm bulk. Seasonal rotation. Large enough for bulk herbs, grains, seeds, nuts. Grains alone is worth it. Shopping lists are a minor chore having quality proteins in the freezer.

I don't get the hesitation for frost free if contents are properly sealed and used timely. All our proteins are 2019 and nothing else older than 2018 except for some herbs and grains, nuts and seeds.

A chest freezer for bulk if you hunt or raise chickens.

We did consider this one.

If you are buying new, make sure to call around to your local restaurant supply stores. While many of the web-based restaurant stores have good prices, local stores can be surprisingly competitive.

I found that some web-stores would charge extra freight charges, if you don't have a loading dock. And the appliances arrive fully packaged, which can take an hour or two to uncrate and frequently require another person's help. My local store charges minimally more before fees, but they would deliver right to where I needed my fridge and plugged it in for me. They also had additional accessories in stock, which was nice.

Had everything up and running within 2 days instead of having to wait for 10 days when ordering online.