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Proline PFZ115WA
by zoe_page_1
I needed to buy a new freezer when I moved back into my house and barely lasted a week before I bought one because I was going crazy with having half loaves of bread and nowhere to freeze them etc. I wanted a smallish freezer that would be cheap to run, but I'm lucky because my freezer goes in my utility room and so doesn't need to be a ... certain size to fit under a counter in a kitchen. Often the smallest ones are more expensive because the manufacturers know it's the only one that'll fit, so I liked the fact I didn't have these constraints and could just opt for the cheapest. This freezer would be a bit too tall for my kitchen, I think, even though it is sold as an 'under counter' model, so if it needs to fit into a specific place I'd advise you to measure carefully using the dimensions below, taken from the website.
A freezer is a freezer in my mind, so price was the deciding factor on this one. After checking Argos and Tesco, I ended up with this from Comet as it included free delivery on a day of my choice, and was just £139.99. You can pay £9.99 for installation which is just ridiculous as nothing needs to be installed. The delivery men offered to unpack it for me, but I said I could do it myself (and quite fancied keeping a nice big box, albeit a bottomless one).
The freezer arrived in a folded rather than taped up box which was handy as it didn't need attacking with scissors or a knife, I could just slide it out. It didn't even have a base, just a layer of polystyrene that the freezer was sitting in. The freezer is ready to go out of the box. Although the door is reversible, it was on the right way for me, so I just removed the tape from the door, opened it to remove the instruction manual that was inside, and then plugged it in for a couple of hours. You are advised to start it on the colder-than-cold setting and then, once it's chilled, change the dial to medium, so I did this. The dial is nice because it's not numbers (which I hate on fridges, never knowing whether on a scale of 1 to 5, they mean 5 is the coldest, or 5 degrees and therefore the warmest). Instead, the dial here is min / normal / super / max which is nothing if not novel.
Some people have complained about the length of the lead on this model, so I was a little concerned though not massively so as unlike them I have heard of an exciting thing called extension leads. In the end, I didn't need one and had no clue what they were on about. My sockets are about a third of the way up my wall, and this reached with no problem, plugging in nicely next to my washing machine and tumble dryer.
You can see the freezer clearly in dooyoo's picture. The door has an inset handle rather than a sticky out one, which is much more convenient for where I site the freezer as there's nothing to bump into as you walk past. It's not the largest crevice, but it's definitely usable and I can open it with a couple of (unsprained) fingers without needing too much leverage. The freezer has a good seal on it, and only requires a slight push to close the door properly, but it's also not one of those annoying ones that won't let you back in for half an hour if you shut the door and then realise you need something else.
The freezer has 4 shelves with drawers on, and unlike in some models, the bottom one is a proper drawer not a small useless basket. I could not get over how big the drawers were. I went shopping for a lot of frozen food to fill it up, and still had tons of space left over. You can easily store, for example, 3 full large loaves of bread in a drawer, or 6 bags of frozen vegetables. I bought a huge fancy pizza and though I might need to remove it from its box but no, it fitted in easily with lots of room for other things on top, because the drawers are both deep and high. It seems to hold so much more than my previous freezer but isn't massively bigger.
The drawers are fully removable which makes them easy to clean, and they slide in easily as they sit on shelves rather than you having to line them up on side coasters. The drawers have a greenish tint to them, and are not really see through which means you do have to pull them out to see what's in each, unless you innately know the contents of your freezer (which I do unless anyone's been messing with my bread at the top, ice cream at the bottom default). However, because the drawers pull out rather than sliding and getting stuck, it's easy to see quickly what is where, and you don't waste time and power hanging around with the door open.
As I said, mine sits in my utility room so is nice and out of the way. Others have commented that this is a noisy freezer but I think that maybe depends on the room it's in, or rather than type of floor it's on and how warm the surroundings are. While it hummed a bit the first time I switched it on, it's not noticeably loud now, but it is tucked away in a cold annex on a nice tiled floor with sufficient space behind it for air to circulate, all of which I think help.
The freezer has a shiny plastic coating which shows fingerprints if you grasp it when your fingers are cold from putting stuff in and out, but these soon fade and it goes back to nice, plain and clean looking. It's an all white design which will suit most people, and with the handle carved out of the door, and the smallest of dials, it really does just look like a big white box. Inside it looks brand new, though obviously feels a little colder... It is a frost free design which makes life easier - no more bowls of boiling water and hairdryer frenzied defrosting moments for me!
I thought I'd pretty much be replacing like with like, and didn't think there was much to choose between small freezers once you'd decided between upright and chest, but this freezer is so much better than my old one in terms of size / capacity (it doesn't seem much bigger to look at, but somehow it stores much more) and also in the way it's giving no indication it will ever get super frosted up. It's plain to look at but that means it fits in subtly (and you can always cover it in magnets if that's your thing). For the price, I am very pleased with it and expect it to last a nice long time.
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I wouldn't like to say this is a one person / couple / family freezer because it all depends on how often you shop, and how much stuff you need to freeze, but I think it holds a reasonable amount. The official specs say
3.1 cu.ft net freezer capacity / 116 litres gross freezer capacity / 87 litres net freezer capacity
which is nice in theory but hard to visualize, so instead I'll tell you what mine is currently storing:
drawer 1: 3 loaves of bread
drawer 2: a box of vegetarian burgers, plus some bread rolls, a packet of Quorn bacon, two packets of stuffed pasta, neatly put into portioned bags for easy use, a tub of butter and a small thing of milk,
drawer 3: bags of sweetcorn, peppers, spinach and mixed roasted vegetables, a pack of Quorn mince, a vegetarian lasagna ready meal
drawer 4: some french bread pizzas and a regular pizza, an amazing looking cookie mousse cake thing from Iceland, a box of frozen party food (hey, it's Christmas sort of)
and there's lots of room left for other stuff too.
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Specs:
Width: 55cm
Height: 85cm
Depth: 58cm
Energy efficiency grade: A
Energy consumption: 194 kWh/year
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Whirlpool WCN 11-3
by lak11
When we moved to our present house the kitchen was of a galley style, but one of the features which had made us decide to buy this house was the fact that it had an extension. We felt that this extension, with adjustments, had the potential to be turned into a decent sized kitchen. The house did need quite a lot of work done to it ... generally and, as soon as we were in a position to have the necessary adjustments done, we began to plan our new kitchen.
Finally the kitchen was planned and installed, but after a while we decided that our family of six really needed an additional freezer, as well as our existing fridge/freezer. But where could this go? We realised, if not doing anything too drastic, then there was just one suitable space for a fridge/freezer, although to access the freezer, for example, if it needs maintenance, (and I hope I'm not tempting fate by saying this) and it has to come out from its home, then the washing machine first has to be removed.
We looked at several chest freezers before deciding on the Whirlpool WCN 11 3, but I'm not sure if we ended up purchasing this from Curry's or Comet, ( I tend to think it was Copmet) as we often buy goods from both of these stores.
This freezer is free standing.
It is NOT frost free, although it doesn't seem to need de frosting often. Just as well, as this is a task I loathe.
I have had this chest freezer for quite a few years; I think around nine or ten, and now can honestly say that it is a good buy, from my point of view.
As to storage capacity it definitely holds lot of food. If I make a stew, casserole, bolognese or curry, I nearly always make enough to freeze so I need a large space in which I can easily place large containers (usually microwaveable type) as well as other items such as loaves of bread.
Although there aren't as many of us now living at home, I still seem to fill both freezers up very easily. Bad planning perhaps, but I do find as my youngest daughter and myself don't eat meat, I tend to buy a wide variety of foods, needing to buy Quorn and meat free products, as well as meat, fish, poultry and vegetables. I now try to use the shelves of the fridge/freezer for the smaller foods such as packets of Quorn foods and small packs of things such as beef burgers, sausages etc. I choose to store larger items, when possible, in the chest freezer, as they are much easier to fit into this. But in all honesty it doesn't always work out. Then I find myself removing many items to reach something elusive.
~~ FEATURES~~
DOOR
The top opening door lifts easily and remains open in any position. This is of utmost importance for where it is placed as I have cupboards over it and need it to stay in an open position while putting food into it or removing items.
REMOVABLE BASKETS
When I bought the freezer it had three removable basket/shelves. These are handy, I suppose, as items can be stored in these, making small items easier to find but the trouble is, we found that the freezer didn't hold so much when these were in place and so two of these were removed. But if you don't overfill your freezer then this is a very useful feature.
LOCK
As I don't have young children in the house I don't always use the locking action but however, it is useful if the freezer is a little too full, as if the door is pushed shut and locked, it then seals. The freezer has a lock. I find this useful when the freezer is probably too full, as if the door is pushed shut and then locked, the door will seal.
NOISE
I find this super quiet; it really isn't noticeable when in operation.
FAST FREEZE
This is very useful for home baking, and when the shopping has begun to defrost before being stored in the freezer.
TEMPERATURE WARNING SYSTEM
If internal temperature of the freezer becomes gets too high a warning light comes on.
SIZE
Approx dimensions-
Width 111.99cm
Depth 65.99 cm
Height 88.49 cm
FURTHER FEATURES (Taken from www, amazon.co.uk):
* Capacity (Litres): 301 To 400litres
* Energy Consumption per Year in kWh: 438
* Energy Efficiency: C
* Energy Label: C
* Energy consumption (kwh per annum): 438
* Energy consumption (kWh/24 hours): 1.2
* Frost Free System: no
* Gross capacity (litres): 320
* Net Capacity in Litres: 315
OVERALL THOUGHTS
I bought this several years ago and so it admittedly isn't state of the art and newer models would be more energy efficient. However, I consider it to be a reliable freezer which has been of the utmost reliability so far. It serves the purpose well; being a second place to keep frozen food.
This freezer can be bought from outlets such as Amazon and EBay.
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