Best GE Brand Freezers Guide: Should You Consider GE?

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Barry Juma

Barry began to teach himself to repair appliances as a teenager. In later years, his love of cooking led Barry to learn to troubleshoot kitchen appliances around his home. His background in education allows him to combine his love of repair work and passion for writing to bring the most helpful troubleshooting and repair guides to this site. He encourages appliance owners to plan ahead, think about their goals, and always read the manual!

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GE remains one of the top appliance brands according to JD Power’s 2022 appliance satisfaction study. This means that you can’t go wrong with a GE brand freezer. Thankfully, the company has more than a dozen freezer models with prices ranging from as low as $350 to over $1000, so there’s literally something for everyone. 

In this GE Brand freezers guide, you’ll find out more about the types of GE freezers, their main features, and what to consider when choosing your new freezer. I’ve also put together a list of my top GE freezer recommendations and some alternative brands that you should consider. Read to the end to find out all you need to know.

Bottom Line Up Front

GE’s freezers are competitively priced compared to the competition, making them worth considering if you’re looking for a new freezer. I love the GE® FCM7SKWW Chest Freezer, an affordable 7.0-cubic-foot chest freezer for a small household. If you’re looking for a large capacity upright model, I recommend the GE® FUF17SMRWW 17.3 Cu. Ft. Upright Freezer.

GE Brand Freezer Recommendations At a Glance

Types of GE Freezers and Which to Choose

GE sells both chest and upright freezers, but which one is right for you? Chest freezers have a horizontal orientation with the door at the top of the unit that opens upwards. 

Upright freezers have a similar orientation to refrigerators, and their doors are found in front of the unit.

Here’s a look at the main difference between the two to help you decide.

Which One Should You Choose?

If you want a freezer that can hold large foods like a whole turkey or big food containers, consider chest freezers because of their spacious unpartitioned cavities. Chest freezers are also able to keep food frozen for longer in the event of a power outage. So consider these models if you’re planning to store bulk food for months.

Consider an upright freezer if you don’t plan to store large food sizes and you need the extra organization options in these models. These models are also perfect for those who store food for just a few weeks at a time. Also, upright freezers are good for people with back issues as there’s little bending to access food in these models.

GE Freezer Features to Consider

Organization

GE’s chest freezers (and other brands) offer just one or two baskets for food organization. If you’re planning to store large food portions, then this won’t be an issue. However, if you intend to store smaller portions, consider an upright freezer.

The upright freezers in GE’s lineup have several wire/glass shelves (the number depends on the freezer’s capacity), baskets, and bins. These make it easy to organize smaller food portions.

Freezer Locks

This feature makes it easy for you to control access to the freezer. It would come in handy if you have kids or if you’ll install your freezer in a less secure part of your home, like a barn or garage. 

Thankfully, you can find both chest and upright GE freezers with a lock.

Internal Light

If you’ll have your freezer installed in a dark space, consider a model with an internal light. Some of GE’s freezer models have an interior LED light, and it’s a feature found in both upright and chest freezers. All the company’s upright models have this feature, but cheaper GE chest freezers don’t.

Defrosting Type

Consider a freezer with either manual or automatic defrosting. Manual-defrost freezers require you to clean built-up frost yourself, while auto-defrost models have in-built heating coils that keep ice from building up in the freezer.

All of GE’s upright freezers have automatic defrost, while all chest-freezer models are manual defrost. 

Automatic defrost chest freezers are easier to maintain than their manual counterparts, but they cost more. They’re also a bit noisier as a result of the defrosting coils constantly preventing the build-up of frost.

Manual defrost models, on the other hand, require you to empty the freezer when defrosting, meaning that you need to cook and eat whatever food is left beforehand. However, they are more energy efficient since they don’t have defrosting coils.

Turbo Freezer

Whenever you add food that’s at room temperature in the freezer, it slightly raises the internal temperature of the freezer, thus compromising already stored food. With Turbo Freeze, the freezer is able to quickly lower the temperature of the freshly added food, thus keeping food already there from being affected.  

Other Things to Consider When Choosing a Freezer

Size and Capacity

It’s recommended to factor in about 35 lbs of food per cubic foot of freezer capacity. With this in mind, consider the total amount of food you’re likely to store in your freezer at a time to help you find the ideal capacity for your needs. GE has freezers from 5.0 cubic feet to 21.7 cubic feet. 

You can also determine the right size for your needs by multiplying the number of people in your household by 2.5 cubic feet. 

For example, a household of 4 would find a 10-cubic-foot freezer ideal.

Energy Rating

All appliances come with a yellow Energy Guide label showing the energy consumption per year and an estimate of how much you should expect to spend on energy annually. This information is found on GE’s website in each freezer’s listing.

Also, consider freezer models that are Energy Star certified since these are assured to use the least energy.

Price

Finally, your budget will determine the freezer you choose. GE’s models range from about $340 to $1200. If you’re on a tight budget, consider a chest freezer, as these are more affordable than their upright counterparts. 

You can get chest freezers for less than $400, while the lowest-priced upright freezer costs $850 at the time of writing.

GE Brand Freezer Recommendations

Selection Criteria

• Price – The recommended GE freezers fall in different price categories to give an option for people with different budgets.
• Size and capacity – I considered a variety of freezer sizes to share a variety for those with different needs.
• Rating – These models have a rating of at least four out of five stars, with at least 80% of those being five-star ratings praising the performance and value for money. 
• Freezer type – I selected both chest and upright freezer recommendations.

GE® FCM5SKWW 5.0 Cu. Ft. Chest Freezer

This 5.0-cubic-foot chest freezer is one of the cheapest freezers that you can get from GE, retailing for about $350. At this price, you don’t expect lots of bells and whistles like an interior light or automatic defrost, but those are all just frills that don’t add to its performance.

It does keep food frozen solid and fresh for months, which is the job you want it to do. Plus, it comes with GE’s Power Outage Promise, assuring you that the food will remain frozen for two days in the event of a power loss. 

Key Features

• 5.0-cubic-foot capacity.
• 28.75-inch width, 21.25-inch depth, and 33.5-inch height.
• Garage ready.
• Adjustable temperature.
• Manual defrost with defrost drain.
• 218 kWh annual energy consumption.
• One sliding wire basket.

Pros

• It’s affordable.
• Frost doesn’t build up quickly.

Cons

• There’s no interior light.
• It has no caster wheels for easy movement.

GE® FCM7SKWW 7.0 Cu. Ft. Chest Freezer

This chest freezer is the bigger version of the FCM5SKWW model above, and it retails for about $400. So, for $50 more, you get an extra two cubic feet of interior space, which is a good deal if you ask me. However, you don’t get any extra frills in this model either, but I’m guessing you only want a freezer that, well, freezes. And freeze it does, with ample space to serve a three-person household.

Inside, you get two wire baskets as opposed to one in the smaller model above. However, just like its smaller sibling, this model doesn’t have an interior light. It also doesn’t come with a lockable door. 

Key Features

• 7.0-cubic-foot capacity.
• 37.25-inch width, 21.25-inch depth, and 33.5-inch height.
• Garage-ready build.
• Adjustable temperature.
• Manual defrost with drain.
• Power-on light.

Pros

• It’s an affordable freezer.
• The model comes with two baskets inside.
• It’s very easy to install and use.

Cons

• There’s no lock.
• It has no interior light.

GE® FCM16SLWW 15.7 Cu. Ft. Chest Freezer

If you’re looking for a large-capacity freezer, the GE FCM16SLWW model is a great option. However, you’ll need to budget for about $800 to own this, but that’s expected of a massive chest freezer such as this one. 

This model comes with a bright interior LED light, which illuminates every corner of the large interior. GE also added two baskets in this model, but I think such a large-capacity freezer should have at least three baskets for better organization. However, if you’re planning to store large food portions, you probably won’t need the baskets.

Key Features

• 15.7-cubic-foot capacity.
• 65-inch width, 28.5-inch depth, and 33.4-inch height.
• 308 kWh annual energy consumption.
• Lockable door.
• Power on and high-temperature indicators.
• Manual defrost.
• Garage ready.

Pros

• It’s spacious enough for a large household.
• The interior light is very bright.
• The freezer is quiet.

Cons

• It only has two baskets.

GE® FUF21DLRWW 21.3 Cu. Ft. Upright Freezer

GE’s FUF21DLRWW upright freezer may cost over $1000, but I believe it’s worth its price. For starters, it’s a large-capacity freezer designed for large households of nine or even ten people. In fact, this is one of the largest freezers in GE’s lineup. 

Inside, it has ample organization compartments; there are four glass shelves, two bins, one storage drawer, and four door bins. Illuminating the cavity is an LED light at the top, but it might easily be covered by food on the top shelf. I wish GE placed the light on the side so that it illuminates all shelves. 

Still, this is a trivial issue that doesn’t take away from this freezer’s excellent performance that’s underscored by the company’s Power Outage Promise. 

Key Features

• 21.3-cubic-foot capacity.
• 32.8-inch width, 76.5-inch height, and 31.4-inch depth.
• 495 kWh annual energy consumption.
• Turbo Freeze feature.
• Garage-ready build.
• High-temperature alarm.
• Lockable door.
• Automatic defrost.

Pros

• It has a large capacity.
• There are lots of food organization compartments.
• It’s Energy Star certified.

Cons

• It’s easy for the LED light to be covered by food on the top shelf.

GE® FUF17SMRWW 17.3 Cu. Ft. Upright Freezer

This upright freezer’s regular price is $950, but at the time of writing, it’s on sale for $830. This makes it one of the most affordable uptight freezers in GE’s lineup at the moment. Its large capacity is divided by wire shelves and bins; unfortunately, there are no fancy glass shelves in this model. 

Just like the upright-freezer model above, this one has an LED light at the top that may fail to illuminate the lower shelves. However, this won’t be an issue if your freezer is in a well-lit space. Thankfully, the freezer is lockable, allowing you to keep your stock of food secure. Sorry kids, you won’t have free access to the ice cream! 

Key Features

• 17.3-cubic-foot capacity.
• 32.8-inch width, 64.75-inch height, and 31.4-inch depth.
• 489 kWh annual energy consumption.
• Top-mounted interior LED.
• Garage-ready build.
• Turbo Freeze feature.
• Wire shelves and baskets.
• Automatic defrost.

Pros

• There are enough shelves and bins for food organization.
• The door is lockable.

Cons

• The wire shelves and basket feel basic for a $900 freezer.

GE Brand Freezer Alternatives

Whirlpool WZC5116LW 16 Cu. Ft. Chest Freezer

Whirlpool’s reputation for reliability cannot be overstated, that’s why I recommend this Whirlpool chest freezer as an alternative to GE’s large-capacity model. Granted, GE’s model on the list above costs about $100 less than this one, but the Whirlpool WZC5116LW has a larger capacity than the GE model, even though just slightly.

Unlike GE’s model, this one has a partition inside, and it comes with two wire baskets for extra food organization. Thankfully, you can remove the divider if you need to fit a whole hog inside. Moreover, this chest freezer can be converted into a refrigerator at the turn of a knob. 

Key Features

• It has a 16-cubic-foot capacity.
• The width is 55.25 inches, height is 36 inches, and depth is 29 inches.
• There’s manual defrost with a built-in drain.
• It has an interior LED light.
• This model is convertible into a refrigerator.

Pros

• Food organization is easy thanks to the baskets and divider.
• The interior LED is bright.

Cons

• It costs more than GE’s chest freezer.

Frigidaire FFCS0922AW 8.7 Cu. Ft. Chest Freezer

Consider this Frigidaire chest freezer, a model from another popular brand. This one costs slightly more than $500, so you’re going to spend more than what you would for the lowest-priced GE models.

However, this Frigidaire model has a larger capacity than the affordable GE models on the list above: 8.7 cubic feet. There’s only one basket inside, but this might not be an issue if you intend to store large food portions. But, unlike Whirlpool’s model above, there’s no divider in this freezer, but that’s not much of an issue for a sub-9-cubic-foot model.

As you’d expect in a chest freezer, there’s manual defrost in the Frigidaire FFCS0922AW with a water drain. Unfortunately, there’s no indication of this model being garage-ready.

Key Features

• The freezer has a capacity of 8.7 cubic feet.
• Its width is 38 inches, height is 33 inches, and depth is 24.4 inches.
• It has manual defrost.
• There’s an interior LED light.
• The temperature is adjustable.

Pros

• It is easy to use.
• This model is perfect for a small space.

Cons

• It isn’t garage-ready.

Kenmore 22152 15.3 cu. ft. Upright Freezer

The Kenmore 22152 is an affordable upright-freezer alternative to GE’s models as it sells for less than $900. Its 15.3-cubic-foot capacity is divided by wire shelves and bins, offering lots of storage space.

I complained about how the wire shelves and basket in the GE® FUF17SMRWW model are too basic and, unfortunately, this Kenmore freezer also has wire shelves. However, Kenmore gave this model glass freezer and door bins, so I can’t complain much about this one. 

This upright freezer boasts auto defrost, which is no surprise in a $900 upright freezer. What is a welcome feature is the reversible door, a feature that GE’s upright models on the list above don’t have. 

Key Features

• The freezer has a capacity of 15.3 cubic feet.
• It has a width of 33 inches, a height of 66 inches, and a depth of 27 inches.
• Its annual energy consumption is 461 kWh.
• There’s an interior LED light.
• It’s garage-ready.
• The door swing is reversible.

Pros

• It offers ample storage.
• It’s a reasonably-priced upright freezer.

Cons

• The top-mounted interior LED can be easily obscured when the freezer is full.

FAQs

Best GE Brand Freezers: Bottom Line

GE freezers are well priced compared to their competitors and are worth considering. Get a chest freezer if you store lots of large food portions like whole turkeys. If you do a lot of meal prepping, an upright freezer might be best for you as these models offer better food organization. 

I recommend the GE® FCM7SKWW chest freezer, as it is reasonably priced, or the large-capacity GE® FUF17SMRWW upright freezer.