Best freezers and chest freezers for garages

Most of the freezers you can buy are made to be kept inside your home, rather than in an unheated garage.

The lowest room temperature that these appliances are designed to work in is 10°C. 

Keep your freezer in a room that gets any colder, and there’s a chance it will stop working properly, causing all of the food inside to defrost.

But there are freezers that are designed to work in sub-zero temperatures as low as -15°C. Read on to find out our pick of the best of them.

To see some of the best freezers we've tested, go to Best freezers for 2022 

Best freezers for garages

Below we round up some of the highest-scoring freezers that manufacturers claim will work in sub-zero temperatures. Keep in mind, though, that we only test freezers in room temperatures as low as 10°C, so our test results won't indicate how these freezers fare in extremely cold rooms.

But if a model scores four or five stars for 'temperature stability in cold rooms' in our test, that should give you some assurance that it might be able to handle even colder climates.

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To see all the freezers we've tested, go to our freezer reviews.

Freezer climate class

Every fridge, freezer and fridge freezer has a climate class. This is the range of room temperatures the freezer is designed to work within.

Climate classes are set by an international standard and range from 10°C to 43°C to cover hotter and colder countries. Here’s the full list of climate classes and the temperatures they cover:

• 10-32°C: SN
• 16-32°C: N
• 16-38°C: ST  
• 16-43°C: T  

Most UK freezers have a climate class of SN and will work in rooms that range from 10°C to 32°C. You can find out the climate class of your freezer by checking the rating plate or instruction manual.

The best freezers freeze fast so food is fresher when you defrost it and keep food safely frozen 24/7, even when the outside room temperature changes.

To see which models fit this bill, check out our freezer reviews.

Can I keep my freezer in the garage?

In practice, lots of people keep freezers in their garages for years without experiencing any problems. Plus, you may not have room for a freezer in your kitchen, so it’s very much a personal judgment call.

We wanted to check for ourselves whether freezers can continue working properly in very cold conditions, so we tested a mix of four chest and tall freestanding models that had all scored fairly well for temperature stability in our standard tests.

We tested two models that came with guarantees that they would continue working as normal in sub-zero conditions – the Beko FFG1545W freestanding tall freezer (£329) and another from Haier.

We also tested models that came with no such guarantees – including the Hoover HMCH202EL (£299).

Somewhat surprisingly, all four continued working as normal at -15°C temperatures – even those not guaranteed for use in such conditions.

If you do decide to keep your freezer in your garage, it’s worth bearing in mind that this might invalidate its warranty – so check the small print first.

On a budget? Find out the Best cheap freezers and chest freezers for 2022 on the market.

Are there are any freezers designed for use in garages?

Yes. Beko, Fridgemaster, Lec, Russell Hobbs and Hotpoint claim many of their freezers are suitable for use at -15°C.

Some Hoover models, such as the Hoover HMCH202EL chest freezer, are guaranteed to work at -10°C, while Haier has models it says will work in temperatures as low as -12°C.

It’s best to check for whichever model you’re considering, as not all freezers from these brands are guaranteed for use in temperatures lower than 0°C.