A commercial display freezer keeps frozen product where the customer can see it and reach it, instead of shut behind a solid door in the back. Three cabinet types do that job, and almost every bad purchase in this category comes from comparing them on the wrong number. This guide starts with the one that actually decides it — temperature — then works through floor efficiency, lid style and capacity per inch with the real figures.
1. Temperature is the real dividing line
Shape gets all the attention in this category. Temperature is what decides whether a cabinet will work.
| Type | Temperature | How it opens | What it is for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chest display freezer | -8°F to -4°F | Sliding glass lid, customer reaches down | Packaged ice cream, novelties, frozen product you want seen |
| Ice cream dipping cabinet | -8°F to -4°F | Well opens to the operator, glass to the customer | Scooping shops, gelato, self-serve counters |
| Glass door merchandiser freezer | -10°F to 10°F | Upright swing glass door | Packaged frozen goods, grab-and-go, convenience aisles |
Look at the top of that third range. 10°F is fine for packaged product a customer carries home, and far too warm for ice cream anyone is going to scoop. An upright merchandiser holds three to four times as much as a chest in the same floor space, so the spec sheet makes it look like the obvious buy — and if you are opening a scoop shop it is the wrong machine no matter how good the capacity looks.
2. Chest or upright: count floor, not cubic feet
A chest cabinet buys capacity with floor; an upright buys it with height. Floor is the expensive one, so comparing raw cubic feet is misleading. Work it out per square foot the cabinet actually stands on:
| Cabinet | Footprint | Floor area | Capacity | Cu ft per sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLM-S560 chest | 71" × 28" | 13.8 sq ft | 20 cu ft | 1.45 |
| PLM-HGD23F upright | 26 3/4" × 31 7/8" | 5.9 sq ft | 23 cu ft | 3.88 |
| PLM-HGD48F upright | 53 15/16" × 31 7/8" | 11.9 sq ft | 48 cu ft | 4.02 |
The upright holds roughly two and a half to three times as much per square foot it stands on. On paper the chest loses badly.
It earns its floor a different way. A customer looks down into a chest without opening anything, at the moment they are walking past on the way to the register. That is why chests remain the standard for impulse novelty sales even though they are the less efficient cabinet. Uprights go along a wall and get shopped deliberately; chests go in the traffic path and get shopped by accident.
3. Curved glass or flat sliding lid
On the chest line the same cabinet is offered with either lid at the same widths, so the trade is easy to price rather than argue about:
| Width | Curved lid | Flat lid | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40" | PLM-S260 — 6.7 cu ft | PLM-S260F — 7.4 cu ft | +10% |
| 60" | PLM-S460 — 11.65 cu ft | PLM-S460F — 13.1 cu ft | +12% |
Same footprint, same power, same temperature. The curve costs about a tenth of the cabinet, because curved glass eats interior space where product would otherwise stack. What it buys is visibility: a curved top lifts the product into the sight line and reads from across the aisle.
Curved where customers walk past and have not decided yet. Flat where the sale is already made, or where you need the most product in the least wall.
4. When you need a dipping cabinet instead
A dipping cabinet holds the same -8°F to -4°F, but the well opens toward the operator and keeps tubs in place while staff portion out of them. The curved glass front is for the customer to look through, not reach into.
That service well costs volume. On the same cabinet width a dipping cabinet holds 19 to 24% less than the display freezer:
| Width | Display freezer | Dipping cabinet | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40" | PLM-S260F — 7.4 cu ft | PLM-S260FG — 6.0 cu ft | -19% |
| 60" | PLM-S460F — 13.1 cu ft | PLM-S460FG — 10.0 cu ft | -24% |
That is not a worse cabinet. It is what buying a working service position rather than storage costs. Size a dipping cabinet by the flavour count you need in the window, not by cubic feet — volume beyond what fits in the window does nothing for service speed.
5. The upright line, and the 220 V trap
Two things in the upright range are worth stopping on, and both are easy to miss on a comparison table.
The cheapest capacity in the range is free floor
The 12 cu ft and 16 cu ft cabinets share an identical 25" × 26" footprint and an identical 5 A draw. The only difference is 13 inches of height — and 33% more capacity. Unless a shelf, soffit or sight line caps your height, there is no argument for the shorter one.
The three-door cabinet is 220 V
6. Every model, by type
Chest display freezers — -8°F to -4°F, 28" deep, 34 1/2" tall, 115 V
| Model | Lid | Width | Capacity | Baskets | Amps | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLM-S150 | Curved | 26" | 5.3 cu ft | 2 | 2.0 A | 99 lb |
| PLM-S260 | Curved | 40" | 6.7 cu ft | 3 | 2.5 A | 122 lb |
| PLM-S260F | Flat | 40" | 7.4 cu ft | 3 | 2.5 A | 128 lb |
| PLM-S360 | Curved | 49 3/5" | 9 cu ft | 4 | 4.0 A | 145 lb |
| PLM-S460 | Curved | 60" | 11.65 cu ft | 5 | 3.5 A | 171 lb |
| PLM-S460F | Flat | 60" | 13.1 cu ft | 5 | 3.5 A | 174 lb |
| PLM-S560 | Curved | 71" | 20 cu ft | 6 | 4.0 A | 205 lb |
The 71" PLM-S560 is the best step in the line. Going up from the 60" cabinet costs 11 inches of extra width and adds 8.35 cubic feet — 72% more capacity for 18% more width. If the wall can take 71 inches, there is no argument for the 60-inch cabinet.
Ice cream dipping cabinets — -8°F to -4°F, 28" deep, 34 1/2" tall, 115 V / 3.5 A
| Model | Width | Capacity | Sneeze guard | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLM-S260FG | 40" | 6 cu ft | — | 128 lb |
| PLM-S360FG | 49 3/5" | 8 cu ft | — | 170 lb |
| PLM-S460FG | 60" | 10 cu ft | — | 174 lb |
| PLM-S460FGS | 60" | 10 cu ft | Flat sneeze guard | 258 lb |
Glass door merchandiser freezers — -10°F to 10°F
| Model | Doors | Width | Depth | Height | Capacity | Electrical | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLM-HGD12F | 1 | 25" | 26" | 61 13/16" | 12 cu ft | 115 V / 5 A | 258 lb |
| PLM-HGD16F | 1 | 25" | 26" | 74 13/16" | 16 cu ft | 115 V / 5 A | 289 lb |
| PLM-HGD23F | 1 | 26 3/4" | 31 7/8" | 79 1/2" | 23 cu ft | 115 V / 8 A | 353 lb |
| PLM-HGD48F | 2 | 53 15/16" | 31 7/8" | 83 7/10" | 48 cu ft | 115 V / 9 A | 567 lb |
| PLM-HGD72FDV | 3 | 81" | 31 7/8" | 83 7/10" | 72 cu ft | 220 V / 9 A | 829 lb |
All models on this page run R290 refrigerant with a bottom-mounted compressor, and the uprights carry LED interior lighting.
7. Before you order
- Temperature first. If anyone will ever scoop out of it, it has to be a chest or a dipping cabinet.
- Measure floor, then compare per square foot — not raw cubic feet.
- Check the power at the spot, not at the panel. Most of this equipment draws 2 to 9 A on 115 V; the three-door upright is 220 V.
- Measure the route in. An 81" wide, 83 7/10" tall, 829 lb cabinet does not turn a tight corner.
- Leave the compressor air. These breathe low and at the front. Stock stacked against the base is the most common cause of a cabinet that holds overnight and drifts warm by mid-afternoon.
- Keep it out of direct sun and away from a door that opens onto the street in summer.
Not sure which type you need?
Chest display freezers, ice cream dipping cabinets and glass door merchandiser freezers from 5.3 to 72 cu ft, with free nationwide shipping. Tell us what goes inside and we will tell you which cabinet holds it.
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