re: Chest freezer vs Upright freezer

My experience is with ultracold -80C freezers in a research setting, but it has application to consumer freezers.

Chest freezers are as inconvenient as can be and take up lots of room. Yes, food packages do seem to vanish into the bottom. But, every time you open an upright all the cold air spills out and is replaced by warm air that must be cooled. There is far less spilling of cold air when a chest freezer is opened.

The compressor on a chest should last longer than on an upright.

A good practice if you need longer-term freezer storage is to get a small chest for the garage. Open it as seldom as possible, shifting food as needed into the household upright fridge/freezer combo.

Once upon a time families could rent space in icehouse walk-ins. The same icehouse usually hung meat and chilled local produce. For an extra fee they would keep the space stocked with below-grocer prices.