Can't believe how LARGE this is- more than enough for my needs (I'd estimate large enough to hold at least a month's worth of frozen food). Glad I didn't get the 3 cubic feet one. It holds MUCH more than the photo (or video) suggests (more below). Well-packed, in perfect shape. Indeed, as the instructions assert, if the freezer isn't level the door doesn't stay closed. I'd never done this before, have poor manual dexterity and it took me quite a while to adjust the feet on each side, using a level horizontally and vertically (checking the side to side tilt and the front-to-back). It wasn't difficult, but it required time and patience. The instructions say turn each foot (two at the front corners) to the right to lower, to the left to raise, which confused me a bit but it translates to counter-clockwise to lower, clockwise to raise. Once I finally got it level (I have a wonky surface in my travel trailer), the door closed tight. At one point I tried locking the door with the key and THAT did the trick, so if it ever becomes an issue (like when traveling) nice to have a surefire method for ensuring that the door remains closed.
Note- I got it all situated, THEN read the part about initially setting the temperature knob to 5, the highest it will go, so had to pull it out again and set it (see photo of the back- the white round dial on the left). SO, all ready to go, plugged it in, and put in an ice cube tray of water. It took less than TWO hours to freeze solid! (I read reviews of other freezers that said it took overnight for ice to freeze initially).
To give you an idea of what can fit in the freezer (I experimented), it can hold 39 full-size Banquet TV dinners + 2 smaller packages, like Lean Cuisines, + 4 small frozen juice containers + 8 smallish burritos, like Don Jose's. I've checked repeatedly, and regarding a large bag of ice, there's none of that slightly melting and then re-freezing again, which results in ice that's congealed cubes and requires an icepick (my house fridge does that). Ice cubes remain frozen solid and separate, and ice cream is as hard as a rock, the way I like it.
[UPDATE: The thing about the ice not slightly melting I've found is only true if you keep the ice on the bottom shelf. If you place it on the top shelf it does slightly melt, requiring an ice pick. But ice cream kept on the top shelf is always rock hard, as is other frozen food, so it seems the effect is slight and of little consequence, my house fridge/freezer does the same thing. I've kept chicken, fish, etc. frozen on the top shelf for months at a time, no ill effects whatsoever and cooks up fresh. Also, for what it's worth, we had a power outage of 10 hours and everything still seemed to be frozen solid. After five months of use still LOVE the freezer.]
I was unable to upload the video of the freezer from the Whynter site for some reason, you can go there to see it (but it also shows those little containers/cartons of Haagen Dazs-type icecream, which don't provide an accurate impression of how MUCH it holds). You can also download the owner's manual (note: the freezer is listed under refrigerators, for some reason). FYI, the owner's manual states that the freezer draws 75 watts, .88 amps. It comes with a small paper sticker on the front that removes easily after soaking for a few minutes with dishwashing lotion. So quiet, you can barely tell when it's running. And it's BEAUTIFUL. Couldn't be happier with this freezer! If it malfunctions or dies I'll update my review.
CT
Robert C. Waters
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trancelucence
Critic Guru