It houses the bounty from last month's orchard expedition, a nice supply of chicken stock and single-meal portions of lasagna, and countless paper- and plastic-wrapped packages marked unintelligibly with a dry Sharpie. When the freezer compartment of the refrigerator can't accommodate the stockpile of a busy cook or a big family, the stand-alone freezer steps in. This appliance is usually found quietly chilling in the basement, garage, or other out-of-the-way space, its deep, icy compartment offering all the room one could want for long-term food storage-and then some.

Like refrigerators, stand-alone freezers consume a great deal of energy, as they must operate 24 hours a day. Fortunately, also like refrigerators, new freezers are much more efficient than they used to be. In fact, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), freezers manufactured today use only half as much energy as those made just 15 years ago.

If you have an old freezer, therefore, it makes good sense to upgrade-or to unplug and recycle that energy-guzzling dinosaur if it's not getting much use. (One other reason to part with an ancient model: Very old chest-style freezers-that is, those manufactured before 1970-present a safety hazard for children, particularly when not in use, since they have latches that prevent them from being opened from the inside. And everyone knows what tempting hiding places they make. If you have one of these old machines in your basement or elsewhere, remove the latch or the entire lid to eliminate the hazard. Better still, have the freezer carted away and recycled.)

If you're thinking of buying one for the first time, think carefully: Do you just want extra freezer space around the holidays, or do you really need it day-to-day? A freezer should be at least two-thirds full to run efficiently, and it's not smart to pay for more cold space than you need. On the other hand, if you tend to buy in bulk and store foods for long periods of time, a stand-alone freezer can be a smart buy, especially when you consider that the USDA says a refrigerator's freezer compartment doesn't stay sufficiently cold for anything but short-term use.

Ready to shop? Here's what to look for:

Elements of style: your configuration options
While refrigerators are available in a variety of shapes, sizes, and styles that is downright dizzying, with freezers there are really just two configurations to choose from: chest-style and upright. The former are less expensive to purchase and to operate; they can be as much as 25 percent more energy-efficient because they have better insulation and they are better than upright models at retaining cold air (which sinks, so it doesn't escape easily when the lid is lifted). But chest freezers can be trickier to organize: Since everything is stored in bins-rather than on shelves at eye level, as in uprights-items can be lost in the pileup. Upright freezers, naturally, take up less floor space than chest-style freezers of similar capacity.

Big, bigger, and simply ridiculous: choosing the right size
What size freezer will meet your needs? Some of them are hulking beasts, large enough to hold two sides of beef and whatever you'll serve with them. But are you planning to bring home an entire steer at any point? As mentioned earlier, the most efficient freezer is one that is at least two-thirds full, so you'll want to be careful not to choose one that's much bigger than you need. Models range from compact sizes (under 7.75 cubic feet) to upward of 25 cubic feet. Consider the amount of food you need to store: Do you save large quantities of produce from the garden for year-round use? Do you buy meat in bulk? A rough guideline to use: you can store 30 to 35 lbs of food in one cubic foot of freezer space, although odd-shaped and bulky packages will take more room.

Rime after time: automatic defrost or not?
If you choose a chest-style freezer, this question is answered for you: Manual it is. But upright freezers offer the choice of automatic or manual defrost. Automatic is a nice luxury to have, but manual will mean a lower purchase price. It also means a more energy-efficient machine, as long as you keep up with chipping away that ice. Frosty buildup will make your freezer work too hard, and that will in turn drive up your power bill. Fortunately, frost builds up more slowly in stand-alone freezers than in refrigerator freezer compartments, since the door isn't opened as often. Another benefit of manual defrost is a lower chance of freezer burn, since the air is not as dry as it is in auto-defrost models.

Cold, hard facts: deciphering the labels
Energy Star This program is sponsored jointly by the EPA and the Department of Energy. For a freezer to earn the Energy Star rating, it must use at least 10 percent less energy than the federal standard (compact freezers, with volumes of less than 7.75 cubic feet, must use 20 percent less energy). When you see that familiar blue star, you know the model is among the better performers. But keep in mind: The federal standard is different for each freezer configuration and capacity, so there is no one "magic number" that all units must fall below. Therefore, an upright model with automatic defrost can be Energy Star-approved, yet still be a significantly worse performer than a chest-style model that defrosts manually.

EnergyGuide This yellow sticker-created by the Federal Trade Commission-is required to appear on all freezers and numerous other household appliances in retail stores. It tells you the amount of electricity, in kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, that the freezer will use, and compares it with the consumption of similarly configured models. This sticker also gives an estimate of annual operating costs. The top-performing chest freezers with a volume of 15 cubic feet, for instance, consume in the neighborhood of 350 kWh per year (translating to an energy cost of around $32), while the most efficient upright models with the same capacity will use about 410 kWh per year (an energy cost of about $37). Energy use tends to increase with larger capacity and the addition of automatic defrost.

Cheat sheet: where to find the current recommended models
Once you have a general sense of the style and size you're looking for in a new freezer, you can do one last bit of homework before making a purchase: Check the Energy Star website's pages on freezers (they're listed along with refrigerators) and take a look at the product list. You'll see every Energy Star-approved model on the market, and can compare them by energy consumption and the percentage by which each exceeds the federal standard. Armed with that information, you can decide what's smartest for you.

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