Fridge freezers downsize or not?

Our freezer has 7 drawers and I have to get a stool to get to the top two proper drawers! The very top one has a pull down flap.
The other one is fridge freezer with open shelves and door space.

I bought myself a small chest freezer recently as I was due to go to Spain for Christmas and was concerned about maybe having to quarantine for 14 days when I got back (the break was cancelled anyway). I am still so pleased that I got it as it's keeping me supplied with food without having to shop every few days.

Callistemon

JackyB I suppose it's also dependent on how near you are to the shops and, at the moment, how comfortable you feel going shopping.

Also whether or not you grow and freeze your own produce.

Perhaps you're right, Callistemon. However, I don't live near the shops and have to drive there, and, as I have explained before, here in Germany, the supermarkets don't do food deliveries. Out in the sticks where we are, there is no independent delivery service either, such as Ocado. I do organise my menus and shopping so I only have to go shopping once every 10 days to 2 weeks. Now in winter, I can keep stuff in the garage. So far we haven't had any mice at it.

I have a reasonable sized fridge in the kitchen and a freezer with 9 drawers. If I had less, I reckon I could manage.

We have an American style fridge/freezer plus, until recently, we had another fridge, which was for drinks. We still lacked space in the freezer, so have replaced the smaller fridge with another large fridge/freezer. For some reason, both of my freezers are now full to bursting! There is only two of us now at home! Do not downsize!

My friend hates her integrated FF. Very little storage. Next time, she wants a freestanding model in the same spot and it will be much cheaper than an integrated model.

No, don't down size.

I wouldn't downsize. Even with only two of you you never know when you might need the space. It's so frustrating to suddenly find that you haven't got the fridge or freezer space that you need.

We’ve just had a large integrated f/f fitted, our old, smaller one has gone along with the under counter small separate fridge and freezer. I think we’ll be ok, the smaller fridge tended to be for Christmas beer and soft drinks, the freezer I used to fill as I felt I ought to. As I’m not a baker, only two if us and good local shops I hope so.

JackyB I suppose it's also dependent on how near you are to the shops and, at the moment, how comfortable you feel going shopping.

Also whether or not you grow and freeze your own produce.

I gave away a small chest freezer kept in the garage a few years ago as it was rarely full and managed with just the FF in the kitchen.

However this year, due to COVID and only shopping once a fortnight, I have felt a bit fidgety about not having enough food!

We bought a new FF for the kitchen and have moved the old one to the garage where the fridge holds drinks and I went OTT in Asda and Tesco and stuffed the freezer with enough food to last til Xmas!

I have a drawer for bread etc, one for meat, another for fish and I am very good at doing a weekly menu plan so that I use stuff in rotation (they’re all movable feasts if we change our minds and eat out) - there’s no danger of something lurking for years past it’s edibility!

We are two people. When we had a new kitchen fitted 5 or so years ago we had a fitted fridge freezer in our kitchen. Its tiny, hardly room for anything so we ended up buying another for an outhouse.
Wishing i hadnt given away our small Chest freezer.

Well I must be in the minority because although my fridge is full to the brim when I've just been shopping, most of the time it is half empty.

I have to keep reminding myself to use up stuff in the freezer - such a faff.

My mother had a chest freezer in the kitchen and another in the garage. She never used any of the stuff in the garage and we finally decommissioned it and had to throw out most of the contents. The kitchen one was full but only the top layer ever got used.

You fill the space you have, but if you have too much space, much of the stuff gets forgotten and never used.

If there are only 2 of you I would downsize.

But as I say, I am in the minority.

I find it hard without a larger freezer, especially this time of year and during the summer when i have a surplus of soft fruit from the garden. But as there are only two of us and i shop weekly i do manage for the rest of the year. I keep a good store cupboard and have tinned fish and meat so if necessary we could ruzzle up a meal from there. If you do a lot of entertaining then i would defo stick with the larger freezzer but bear in mind the running costs of larger appliances if you are on a budget.

Greeneyedgirl

Crikey Georgesgran that is a lot of food. You may be laughing after Brexit! We only keep enough food in our freezer for about 2 wks. Freeze bread and milk from weekly supermarket delivery so that takes space. We are not going into shops, and there are only two of us with no visitors at the moment

Yes definitely wait to see what Brexit will be doing.

MiniMoon

No, do not downsize your freezer. Mine is tiny below a decent sized fridge. I wish I had the space for another one, but I haven't. There are only two of us, but the freezer is full to bursting.

We have a table top freezer in one of our spare bedrooms, which has been worth its weight in very little gold?

Crikey Georgesgran that is a lot of food. You may be laughing after Brexit! We only keep enough food in our freezer for about 2 wks. Freeze bread and milk from weekly supermarket delivery so that takes space. We are not going into shops, and there are only two of us with no visitors at the moment

Only an integrated larder fridge in our kitchen, so it only holds what we are currently using and there’s no icebox. There’s an upright fridge/freezer in the garage - the freezer stores breads, puddings and sweet stuff while the fridge is stacked with milk, spare butter, cheeses and yogurts, plus all vegetables that can be kept there. A matching tall freezer alongside holds meat, fish, frozen vegetables and a few ready meals and pizzas. There’s only 2 of us, but I think I’d never be away from the shops if I downsized.

I was going to replace a large upright freezer with a fridge freezer as the fridge in the kitchen is tiny but I’m so glad I didn’t. I now freeze everything as part of my zero waste policy. Even milk if I think I have too much. It does concern me how much energy those large American style fridge freezers use up, though, especially as they’re kept in warm kitchens. I keep my freezer in a unheated utility room. I assume they’re well insulated though.

We had an integrated FF in the kitchen when we bought the house from new. We have no garage so no room for a separate freezer. When it packed in earlier this year it was a nightmare trying to replace it as doors have to fit exactly to the units. We replaced it with a freestanding FF which has more space, and would never get another integrated.

We replaced two medium size freezers with one taller freezer plus we have a fridge/freezer.
We use both, filled to capacity as we freeze home-grown food as well.

horror of horrors I some times don’t have ice for G&T.
Sometimes I've had to take the bottle cooler and large ice cube container out to make room

I'd like a fridge/freezer that dispenses cold water and ice.

No, I wouldn't downsize a fridge/freezer. Even with just myself , to be able to store frozen food, made-up meals, baking etc in case there comes a time when you can't get out for whatever reason. Sometimes what I've got isn't big enough but it's a family sized ff so I make do now.

No definitely do not do it.
I downsized to a f/f and it was just ok because I could get to the shops easily.
Now I can’t , it is so stuffed sometimes I can hardly close the door and horror of horrors I some times don’t have ice for G&T.
As soon as Christmas is over I am making space for a new separate freezer.

If there is room, keep what you have. I am on my own but I use the freezer a lot, especially through the lockdown. I have always had the freezer on a separate motor to the fridge but the fridge is stacked on top of the four-drawer freezer. This allows the fridge to be switched off when I go away for a long time.
Best keep the old appliances as news ones have such a short lifespan these days.

In my opinion you can never have too much fridge/ freezer space.

We have an American fridge freezer in the kitchen, a drinks fridge in the utility room plus a fridge freezer and a freezer in the garage.

I personally would not downsize- you would regret it later, If you have space, keep what you can.