Chest freezer vs. fridge?

I'm looking at replacing my kegger. Most people have used fridges, but I'm thinking of using a small chest freezer, as my brewery doesn't have A/C or heat and the extra insulation would be a plus. A 5 cu ft is about the same price as a 5 cu ft fridge.

I'd like to hear from people who have gone with chest freezers. What kind of problems are involved. Taps in lid vs. side. Did you use the stock lid or build a counter top, etc.

I love the chest freezer. You can fit more cornies in it and as you point out, it is well insulated. I rebuilt the whole top on mine. Some units are not as deep and so a collar is needed to allow a cornie to fit in. This then also creates a great surface for your taps.

I've found that most 5 cu ft chest freezers don't fit that many cornies (two tops, sometimes just one) without following Brewpastor's suggestion of building a collar. The shelf that's built over the compressor makes the usable space in that area shorter than the height of a keg. Raising the height of the top via a collar is a way to gain more usable space from the same freezer.

Option two might be to go with a 7 cu ft chest freezer which most of these fit 4 kegs quite nicely.

I built one from a 7 cu ft freezer. 7" polished stainless steel tower with two faucets on top of a tiled surface. Works beautifully.

My next one is being built from a chest freezer that fits 9 kegs. Not sure of the cu ft, but it's about 5 ft long. I have a coffin box going on the top of this one.

I would probably only have two cornies in it, one for soda water & something lagering (near freezing). Most of my cornies would stay in the aging chest and I'd run lines over. I'd also be using the unit to supply cooling to the aging cabinet, so it can sit at 50F. Running the lines & air circulation would best be handled by adding a collar on a chest. I'll take two cornies with me when I look at units. Most stores in the PNW will understand

BP - I doubt I'll ever be up to your level.

I have a 9cu and a 12cu foot chest freezer. The 9 is used as a kegerator with a collar that will hold 4 5-gallon cornies and 2 3-gallon cornies. The 12 is used as a fermentor/lagerer and will hold 2 5-gallon buckets or 9 5-gallon cornies. Either one beats out my beer fridge for space and convenience.

Wild