Haier America HCM050WA Chest Freezer

Do you ever have enough space in the freezer? That question could be asked of the closet, your car trunk or the garage. It seems we fill up all of our space with stuff until we need a new place to put things. Lately, I've become a student of stuff, and a student of organization, if only by proxy. Finding a consumer product that delivers in the organization department earns it big points with me, and when it has other admirable features it really starts to garner my praises. This Haier chest freezer does just that.

Five Cubic Feet? What kind of difference would that pittance of cubic footage make? Trust me, combined with your freezer space in your refrigerator's freezer, the extra five cubic feet in this deep freeze chest will expand and organize your frozen storage horizons. I choose to use the chest to deep freeze large chunks of meat, such as roasts, pork shoulders, brisket and chickens. These are generally large and unwieldy lumps of cryovac'ed meat products that gobble up space in a side by side fridge/freezer. When you move these items from your fridge to the chest freezer, you suddenly have much more usable space in the kitchen, space for frozen pizza, popsicles, items that are used more often than a 10 lbs. brisket.

Exterior Dimensions: The Haier chest freezer is 29 1/4 inches wide x 24 inches deep x 33 1/4 inches in height. This unit has a scant footprint. The unit features four wheeled casters which allow one to ostensibly roll the freezer, if only to the left and right, not fore and aft. I would have recommended having the wheels roll fore and aft, that just seemed to make more sense to me. Nonetheless, it does have four wheels that allow you roll the freezer if you saw the need to. It seems that installing the freezer without the wheels would save an inch and three quarters to two inches on height if you had a restriction in that sense. Still, this chest freezer, for its capacity, is very tiny, really. You almost won't notice it.

Exterior Styling: Clean, in a word. The outside panels are of a smooth texture, and of a nice light cream color. The trim is gray, and a Haier emblem graces the upper left corner of the front panel. The handles are recessed into the right and left sides of the lid for easy opening. The lower right corner of the front panel has the thermostat control and on-light array. The on-light is visible in pure daylight, a very nice touch if you want to see if the unit is running with just a quick glance. The thermostat is fully adjustable without opening the unit, a very nice deign touch, and one not used often enough on even very expensive refrigeration devices. The lid on this freezer stands open by itself as long as its upward travel is not impeded, a nice feature for loading and unloading.

Drain: One very cool convenience in this model is its through body drain. When you eventually have to defrost this rascal, you'll have an easy time doing it. Such an excellent idea, too bad many other manufacturers put the onus on the operator to get the water out. A drain plug like the one on this Haier is the way to go. Simple, secure, convenient.

Interior: The interior is pure function, with aluminum lined body and two white, powder-coated baskets for items that you need quick access to, or items that you wish to segregate. It's hard to believe how deep and capacious this little chest is, you can stack brisket after brisket in the main body, and still have plenty of room for a few pounds of bacon or sausage and vegetables in the trays. The trays (or baskets, if you will) are super simple and work great. Allow me to emphasize just how much this little chest will hold; it will hold a breathtaking amount, especially if you stack it in there carefully. This freezer is an awesome force multiplier, and lying in wait if you find something frozen on sale for rock-bottom. Now you have the freezer space to take advantage of the savings!

Function and Finish: As far as function, look out, this chest freezer is a true deep freeze, going twenty below depending on installation. I have this unit installed in my garage, and it has no problem keeping the unit at temperature. It is possible that a garage installation may not be the best thing for this freezer in some locales. I live in West Texas, where it gets very hot but the humidity is not so much of a factor, so my freezer does not miss a beat. Also, the unit is not designed for an "in-wall" installation, which is fairly apparent by its design. Still, penning this freezer in to a tight spot would not be good for its ability to refrigerate, and would cause big problems in the long run. The freezer, for being 100 percent made in China, is actually very well built. The refrigeration section is neatly welded and configured, the cord installation is clean and seamless, and the body is nicely finished and well-packed for delivery. First-class job in this area!

Efficiency: Everyone knows that chest freezers are super efficient, even if they are not the most user friendly. Sure, you have to dig in a chest freezer to find things, and stuff gets lost in there, but for efficiency, it is unparalleled. When the lid is opened, very little of the chilled air comes out as it does with a side-by-side or top-loaded freezer. This is where you freeze your meat! Freeze things that are not accessed daily in this freezer, maybe game or fish, maybe in a remote location in the house, garage or basement. The federal sticker that compares this unit's energy usage with similar freezers has this one off the chart, off the low use side!. This thing barely uses a trickle of electricity!

Warranty: An impressive one year parts and labor, five years on the sealed system. That is an impressive warranty, because the sealed system (the refrigeration unit) is what is likely to fail in a fridge or freezer. This manufacturer obviously exhibits confidence in the construction and comportment of its products.

Finally, Value: and here's where this unit delivers. With as much room as any of the competition, with an exterior drain, two baskets, an external thermostat and an on-light, this freezer comes in at a very affordable price. As a package deal of efficiency, small footprint and value for your dollar, the Haier America chest freezer is a hard one to beat.

And one last word of advice, if you see this freezer at Wal-Mart, you should go ahead and pick one up if you have the mind to, because they don't last long at all, trust me.