Top hinged Keezer?

[bmellis]

Lately, I've been dreaming up a keezer for my 350 sqft NYC studio apartment. As space is obviously a commodity, the goal is to make it as narrow as possible (basically the width of a chest freezer that can hold three corny kegs and a CO2 tank, with a collar if necessary), with less concern for the height or depth of the keezer. I'm designing it in the style of a vertical liquor cabinet, with the freezer at the bottom, a bar on top of that with three taps on the back wall, and then some sort of liquor shelf and hanging glass space above that, and possibly a little horizontal wine bottle storage if I have space. The entire thing will be covered in a nice stained veneer with trim, be very attractive, etc.

Because there will be a "back wall" to the cabinet that won't move, I have to build the bar top/top of the freezer so that it can hinge up without having to move the cabinet, the faucets, etc. This shouldn't be too much of a problem because like I said, the faucets will be attached to a vertical back wall and not to the lid of the freezer/bar top.

If I leave the hinges as is--attached to the bottom of the freezer lid--then when you lift the freezer lid, the top-back edge of the freezer lid will extend backwards and dig into the back wall, basically not allowing the lid to open. One way around this would be to leave a space equal to the thickness of the lid behind the lid on the horizontal plane. But this wouldn't be too attractive, unless you put a removable strip of wood or something.

What I want to do is re-hinge the lid so that the hinges are on top of the freezer lid/bar top and would, I guess, attach it to the back wall of the cabinet. With this setup the bottom-back edge of the lid will extend into the interior of the freezer, which is fine and would allow the lid to open.

Has anyone here done something like this before? If so, how were you able to ensure a tight seal? Are there any other considerations?

 

[Gremlyn]

I warn you that a tower on a freezer with a collar is almost stupidly high. I was originally going to do that until i got my freezer and realised that having the taps 4ft+ off the ground is OK for me (6'4), but not everyone else.

As for the hinges, they don't allow the lid to move anywhere but up on mine. The thickness of the hinge between the freezer and wall is more than enough to allow the lid to open without the wall getting in the way.

 

[headballcoach]

I warn you that a tower on a freezer with a collar is almost stupidly high. I was originally going to do that until i got my freezer and realised that having the taps 4ft+ off the ground is OK for me (6'4), but not everyone else.

As for the hinges, they don't allow the lid to move anywhere but up on mine. The thickness of the hinge between the freezer and wall is more than enough to allow the lid to open without the wall getting in the way.

I put a 12in collar on my keezer, along with a 2 tap tower....I love the height. I am 6 ft.

 

[bmellis]

I don't really see another option. Even without the tower, the taps are still going to be above the freezer with a collar in other people's keezers, except for the people that put the faucets on the front. I'm using a small freezer, and I'm 6'1". With my tentative measurements, the taps are about 4' off the ground, which I consider on the lower side compared to where taps are located in actual bars/pubs--it's below shoulder level. The total height of my cabinet should be about 6'4", with the top most part being used for hanging glasses. At my height that seems completely reasonable.

 

[bmellis]

To get a better idea of what I'm talking about, check out these two diagrams I quickly drew at work just now.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37392490@N03/4285766780/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37392490@N03/4285023347/

 

[MMTG]

I have a 6" collar on my keezer and shes' 48" high. I'm 6'2 so no problem lifting 5 gal sankes or cornies, but for 1/2 barrels we're using another front load/door kegerator.

 

[mosquitocontrol]

Isn't the amount of space you would save with a top hinge (if possible) needed for circulation around the HEX in the back of the freezer? You shouldn't push the coils directly up against the wall.

 

[bmellis]

Isn't the amount of space you would save with a top hinge (if possible) needed for circulation around the HEX in the back of the freezer? You shouldn't push the coils directly up against the wall.

I'm not sure what a "HEX" is. But the point of the top hinge isn't to save space per se, it is to allow the lid room to lift up even though the axis of rotation is flush with another board.

As for the coils, if you look at the second diagram, there is a hollow, open space behind the back wall of the cabinet. The coils will be on the other side of the back wall, and so with my rough calculations, they will still probably be 4-6" away from the wall--not to mention that the sides will be vented and blow w/ a small fan.

 

[bmellis]

It may be the mere 2.5 hours of sleep I got last night, but now I'm starting to think that I want detach the hinges all together and design some rail system that will allow me to slide the lid on and off of the collar horizontally. That way I wouldn't have to deal w/ the hinge issue I've been talking about and also I would have the widest possibly opening and would not have to prop the lid up.

Has anyone tried this? I know the big issue would be making a good seal. I'm not worried about the size of the lid, because I'm going to be using a small (5-7.2 CF) freezer.

 

[jturie]

Have you considered doing away with the hinges altogether? Just set the lid on top of the collar, and then when you need to get inside, just pick up the lid, slide it off to the front, and set it aside on the floor to pop in your kegs. You might be able to rig up some hardware on the sides to hold the lid in place (sort of like those closing hasps that you see on toolboxes) if you are concerned about losing cold air. Not sure how the existing catch on the front would work or interfere with this kind of setup.