Frigidaire FFFC09M1QW Freezer Review

It's also one of the best we've tested.

With no fancy extras and just one interior bucket for organized storage, this chest freezer is ideal for small households. It’s also great for folks who like to store large quantities of just a few items, like fresh meat from your local farmers market. With retailers offering it for as little as $350, it’s hard to go wrong.

Design & Features

A small white box

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When it comes to design, there’s not much to say about this particular Frigidaire. It has a textured white finish that's common on most chest freezers, and—unlike the stylish and expensive Kenmore Elite 27003—will probably end up in a garage, closet, or basement.

Inside, there’s no interior light, but the inside of the door does get an interesting wave pattern. (Gotta make these big ol’ boxes stand out somehow, right?)

You get just one sliding bucket to help organize your frozen food. Other than that, the interior is about as sparse as the outside.

Usability

Set it and forget it

Like many basic storage appliances, the Frigidaire can more or less be left alone once you’ve got it up and running.

A basic control knob is located at the bottom on the left hand side of the freezer. Instead of displaying temperatures, like higher-end models might, this one uses a scale of 0 to 7, which is common on freezers in this price range.

The dial is sturdy enough that it shouldn’t shift if anything should nudge it, but smooth enough that adjusting it for defrosting or for extra cooling is easy.

Speaking of which, this is not an auto-defrost model. As such, it requires you to periodically defrost it. As with most units like this one, a small drain is located near one of the interior corners, with a stopper on the outside by the floor for when you go about defrosting it. Be sure to check the manual for tips on how to deal with this process effectively.

Performance

Steady over time

Our week-long testing process involves measuring temperatures over time using thermocouples that are embedded in food substitute. We record fluctuations in temperature, because that's what causes freezer burn and food spoilage.

At the end of our tests, the data we pulled from our temperature sensors painted a pretty flattering picture of the FFFC09M1QW.

The default temperature setting, which we used for testing, didn’t quite get every section of the freezer down to 0°F, but temperatures throughout the interior remained very steady over time. That means freezer burn should be kept at bay, but you might want to consider turning the thermostat down a notch or two if you're storing food for a long time. We consider this a good showing because–when it comes to freezers–consistency is more important than raw power.

For in-depth performance information, please visit the Science Page

Compact, Consistent, Affordable

Economical for your wallet and your floor plan

Not only is the compact Frigidaire FFFC09M1QW a great performer, it's also affordable. With retailers serving it up for a mere $350, this model is great for folks who need just a little extra room for frozen food, whether you’re making the most of hunting season, cooking meals ahead of time, or stocking up at the nearest wholesale grocery store. Good consistency, sturdy design, and a low price make this freezer a solid buy.

The Cold Hard Facts

While not flawless, the Frigidaire FFFC09M1QW (MSRP $599) chills its interior consistently over time and with excellent energy efficiency.

Temperature Performance

We placed temperature sensors throughout the interior of our tested freezers, recording from multiple depths and at different corners. The average temperature inside this Frigidaire was recorded at 1.4°F, which isn’t quite as cool as we’d like—though it comes pretty darn close. Turn the thermostat down a couple of notches for optimal chilling performance.

We also measured temperature deviation over time and space. The difference in degrees from any two points was about ±2°F. While we’d have liked a more uniformly chilled interior, shifts over time only measured about ±0.4°F.

This means that, even though not every point in the freezer was chilled equally, temperatures aren’t shifting radically from day to day—arguably the biggest advantage when staving off freezer burn.

Freezing & Thawing

The results of our freezing test were somewhat lackluster. It took our room-temperature materials 1 hour and 46 minutes to reach 32°F, and a total of almost 42 hours to get down to 0°F. If you’re planning to stock up on something, we’d recommend hardier cuts of meat like hamburger or pork chops as opposed to more delicate cuts such as salmon filets.

Fortunately, the Frigidaire did a great job retaining its cold air. After 36 hours without power, it had only thawed back up to 28.1°F. That’s still plenty cold enough that you could easily refreeze most items.

Storage Space

When measuring internal storage, we remove all buckets and dividers as those organization tools are really used at your discretion. For the FFFC09M1QW, this meant only removing a single plastic bin. As such, we found that the Frigidaire chest freezer could hold about 8.69-cu.-ft.-worth of food, very close to the advertised 9.05.