Chest freezer under counter/on wheels

krlyr

Has anyone done this?

We're renovating the kitchen and I'm trying to think of some slightly more practical layout ideas. We currently have a chest freezer that sits in front of the chimney breast, taking up space - ideally we'd remove the chimney breast, but that's out of our budget at the mo.

My potential temporary solution is to move our washing machine as the freezer will fit in the alcove it lives in. However, we currently have a worktop there which houses the combi microwave - which is too big to go anywhere else. So trying not to lose the worktop space, I thought putting the freezer on rollers would allow it to be stored under a worktop but be rolled out for access. I've found appliance rollers on Amazon that can apparently be used for up to 500lb, which should be plenty sufficient. They only roll one way, but we only need the freezer to roll in and out really.

We're planning to do the floor with lino though, so not sure this will cope with the frequent movement. We currently have a cotton dirt-trapper rug infront of the washing machine, but I'm not sure how easily the wheels would roll on a rug (it's not a particular deep pile though)

It'd be great to hear if anyone else has done this. All I can find from Googling is a few people who've done it with "kegerators", which seem to be chest freezers converted into beer dispensers, and as they tend to live in garages or basements I guess flooring isn't such an issue, and that it wouldn't be moved for access so frequently (we use the chest freezer daily - might be able to rotate food in the upright freezer to minimise this but it would be at least several times a week)

phill99

Buy an under counter upright freezer.

krlyr

It's a large chest freezer, an upright just wouldn't provide enough space.

rustyboy21

By the time it is loaded up with food it will weigh a lot. These type of rollers are only for temporary fixes and the weight on any new lino will be immense. One little miscalucaltion with pulling it out, will make the lino rip/score.


If it was s small (50-60cm) one it may not be that bad, but if your worktops are set at the average height, it wont fit in, as they were/are designed to have the top used as additional worktop space.


I just cant see it working.

krlyr

I know that my average monthly dog food order roughly half fills it - and that's 90lb of meat. However, most of the dog food lives in the upright freezer now, and the chest freezer is used for our stuff. Lots of lightweight things - garlic bread, pizza, burger buns, etc. so would say it's 100-150lb max. I've found appliance rollers that claim to support up to 500lb, there may even be stronger.

One concern is how it could affect the floor, so I'm thinking it would need something additional underneath it. First idea that comes to mind is moving the cotton dirt trapper rug that would side infront of it so it's underneath the freezer as well as in the space infront of it, but I'm not sure how easily it will roll back and forth on what's essential a very short-pile carpet.
My other thought was perhaps creating some kind of track for it to roll on, but that probably wouldn't look the best. We're most likely going for dark grey lino though, so something of a similar colour might not really stand out much.

It's wider than it is tall - it's about 5cm shorter than our base units in the kitchen (and since we'd just be fitting a worktop to the wall above it, we can just fit it at the right height anyway, if the wheels add more than 5cm height)

Inch_High_2

Why not remove the work top and put the microwave on the wall above the height of the top when it's open?

Ruski

Outside the box a little : hinge the worktop - you say it gets very little use, so the upheaval of moving a few items to the side to lift the worktop shouldn't be that much of a issue.
Most of the weight of the worktop could easily be supported by rams/pistons.

Whaddya reckon??

HTH

Russ

krlyr

The shelf idea is in consideration, but the combi microwave is quite deep - don't know of a 50cm shelf would look odd. Plus I can be so clumsy, I can see food going flying as o try to retrieve it from that height (I'm only 5'3). We'd lose some cupboard space too, which we're trying to avoid as we'll lose a base cupboard by moving the washing machine.

The hinged worktop was another thought, but the freezer is used daily at the moment. With the combi microwave being so big, I wouldn't really want to have to move it every time.

Blimmin' chimney breast is a royal pain in the neck, as without it the chest freezer would fit perfectly along the wall!

Ruski

ok - if you have enough clearance how about making a 'pull out drawer' to sit the freezer on using these here

HTH

Russ

themull1

We've just moved our chest freezer into little bedroom - would another room be an option for you?

krlyr

Drawer could be a good one, thanks.

Another room isn't an option, nowhere really for it and we use it far too often.

Looking into possibility of replacing with an upright tall freezer and finding a home for a fridge elsewhere..may lose a bit of freezer space though and I hate floor level access for fridges but it's another one to consider.