Product Review: Whynter CUF-210SS Energy Star Upright Freezer
Company: Amazon
Price Range: $200 – $250
Feedback: Read Consumer Reviews on the Whynter CUF-210SS Upright Freezer
Who Would Buy This: Those shopping for a small, secure upright freezer for convenient access to frozen items where space is at a premium.
Features
- 2.1 cubic feet capacity
- Stainless steel door
- Two removable wire shelves
- Mechanical temperature control
- Door lock
Design
The styling of the Whynter CUF-210SS is bold and pure contemporary. This free-standing freezer features a black cabinet with a reversible stainless steel door, which has a long recessed handle for easy opening. The door is fitted with a cylinder lock, and comes supplied with two keys. This is a really useful feature for keeping your frozen items safe, particularly if you intend to use the freezer in a busy area, such as a dorm room or office.
Upright freezers are renowned for their good floor space efficiency. The Whynter doesn’t disappoint in this regard with it’s small footprint measuring only 17.5 inches wide with a depth of 20 inches. It’s flush back lets you place the unit close to the wall. However, you need to provide at least 4 inches of clearance at the back and 1 inch clearance at the sides of the freezer to allow for sufficient air flow.
To ensure proper, reliable operation, the freezer is fitted with two levelling feet of varying sizes. The feet can be turned left or right to easily adjust their height to help properly level the appliance.
Interior
The inside is as basic as expected for a small upright freezer. There is 2.1 cubic feet of space available for frozen goods. It has no interior light, so if you intend putting this freezer in the basement or any other dark area then a torch will come in handy.
It comes with two removable steel wire shelves to allow for a good level of food organization. There are just three shelve grooves, so only the top shelf can be adjusted upwards, in case you want to store larger items on the bottom shelf.
To maximize interior space, the adjustable thermostat is situated at the back of the unit. The mechanical rotary control knob can be adjusted from 1-6 which provides a temperature range of -10 degrees to 2 degrees F.
There is no auto defrost feature, so defrosting has to be done manually. It’s recommended that you defrost the freezer when the build-up of frost reaches ΒΌ inches in thickness, so expect to defrost it about every 3 months.
Energy Efficiency
Since upright freezers are known to be less energy efficient than their chest style counterparts, it’s a good idea to look for one that has a high energy efficiency rating. The CUF-210SS consumes 228 kWh which makes its estimated yearly operating costs $24.3, so it’s cheap to run on an annual basis.
Manual: Whynter CUF-210SS manual
Guarantee: 1-year limited warranty.
Summary
The compactly sized Whynter CUF-210SS is one of the best upright freezers in it’s class. Going beyond its cool sleek design, it’s also well-built with a tight door seal, maintains a consistent cold temperature and has the all important Energy Star rating. The inclusion of a door lock is a desirable practical feature that many will appreciate.
It’s only drawback is the lack of an auto defrost feature. However, most compact upright models do not have this feature, so we can’t complain much here.
