[tshaddox]

If you completely remodeled a kitchen around a chest fridge it might not be too terribly inconvenient. But the major blocker is that virtually every kitchen is designed with a perfect spot for a tall, relatively shallow fridge.

[asutekku]

It's inconvenient as soon as you need to get something from the bottom of the fridge, kitchen layout does not change this one at all. And I grew up in a home with multiple chest fridges in addition to a shelved ones so I know the hurdles.

They are good to store something you're not accessing all the time though, like frozen berries etc.

[tshaddox]

I think that inconvenience could be manageable depending on how full the fridge is and what sort of organizing features it has.

It’s already pretty inconvenient to get something out of the back of a traditional fridge that is completely full.

[KPGv2]

Yeah, my in-laws literally stand around the fridge with it open for multiple minutes while they shuffle food around to get to things they've tetrised into the back, and then to re-organize once they've gotten what they need.

They periodically live with us because they're quite old at this point, and my wife and I have already discussed replacing our fridge/freezer combo with a standalone fridge and switching solely to a chest freezer in the mudroom just so they stop doing this with the freezer, too.

The freezer is almost entirely for things already in boxes anyway. Frozen wontons, frozen ice cream cones, microwaveable meals, frozen blocks of fish. It's all easy to organize in a chest freezer.

I'd never considered a chest fridge before, and if I didn't have a wife and kids, as of today I'd be seriously considering it. As it is, can't trust kids not to make an inaccessible mess of something like that, and wife wouldn't like the kitchen arrangement becoming wonky. Though the fridge's current position makes it clear a previous owner didn't understand anything about kitchen layouts when they remodeled a MCM home.

Maybe I could put a chest fridge there with cabinetry above (gap between), and then some place we currently have cabinets all the way to the floor, remove the bottom and put in another chest fridge.

Might be something to consider once we've fixed all the supreme fuckups previous owners did.

[ghaff]

I find French door refrigerators work well. The bottom compartment makes it pretty easy to see everything.

I do have an upright freezer in the basement. If I ever needed to replace it I’d probably get a chest freezer.

[ajb]

It inherently takes more usable space, there's no design that won't lose space, which makes them impractical in smaller homes. To visualise it, for those living in more spacious areas, imagine a "galley" kitchen: 8 spaces one standard unit size, arranged in 4 on each of two opposite walls, with an aisle in between. One unit may be lost to a door. One must be a hob, another the sink. The hob must not have storage above within 60-70cm vertically, due to fire risk; and limits what may be adjacent as well. A window may prevent the use of some spaces above waist height.

A door that opens outwards uses space that has to be clear anyway because that's where you walk. A door that opens upwards takes space that could have been used for another appliance or storage, or the upper half of a fridge twice the size.

The only way round that would be for it to be able to slide outwards, but that's also inconvenient.

Having said all that, they are a great idea if you have the space.

[stock_toaster]

Indeed. I could imagine a very neat one built into the cabinetry where the counter top could be lifted up or something.

[femto]

It would be inconvenient to have to clear the counter each time you want to access the fridge.

[throwaway173738]

I keep my counters largely clear so I can cook, anyway.

[ajb]

Well, but do you never have to open the fridge to get an ingredient, half way through cooking?