A Guide to Finding the Right Ice Cream Freezer at Chumart
If you sell ice cream, the freezer is not storage — it is the display case, the portioning station and, in a lot of shops, the reason someone buys at all. A cabinet that holds the wrong temperature costs you texture; one that hides the product costs you the impulse sale. This guide covers what a commercial ice cream freezer has to do, the models we carry, and how to pick the right size.
Our ice cream freezer lineup is built around our own brand, Polarman, which is where most of our refrigeration volume sits.
Why a commercial ice cream freezer, not a chest freezer
A domestic chest freezer is a solid-lid storage box, opened a few times a day, set to a temperature meant for keeping food frozen — not for holding ice cream at serving consistency. A commercial ice cream freezer is a different machine:
- Temperature. Ours hold -8°F to -4°F. That is the band where ice cream stays firm on display and still portions cleanly. Run warmer and the surface softens, refreezes coarser overnight, and eventually shows ice crystals the customer can see through the glass.
- Presentation. Glass sliding lids with interior LED lighting mean the product is doing the selling. A customer looks down into a chest on the way to the register without opening anything.
- Duty. Built for a lid sliding open all day in a warm room, on casters so the cabinet can be pulled out and cleaned behind.
- Organisation. Removable baskets keep flavours separate so staff find product without digging.
The Polarman chest line
All models below are 115 V single phase, R290 refrigerant, bottom-mounted compressor, 28" deep and 34 1/2" tall, holding -8°F to -4°F.
| 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 |
Curved lid or flat lid?
We build both lids on the same cabinet at the same widths, so the trade is easy to price. At 40" the curved model holds 6.7 cu ft against 7.4 for the flat one; at 60" it is 11.65 against 13.1. The curve costs about 10 to 12% of the cabinet, because the glass takes interior space where product would otherwise stack — and it buys you a display that reads from across the aisle. Curved where customers walk past and have not decided yet; flat where the sale is already made or you need the most product in the least wall.
The one step worth stretching for
Capacity does not scale evenly. Going from the 60" PLM-S460 to the 71" PLM-S560 costs 11 inches of extra floor width and adds 8.35 cubic feet — a 72% increase for 18% more width. If your wall can take 71 inches, there is no argument for the 60-inch cabinet.
If you scoop to order: dipping cabinets
A dipping cabinet is the counter version of the same machine. It 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 rather than reach into.
| Model | Width | Capacity | Sneeze guard | Amps | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLM-S260FG | 40" | 6 cu ft | — | 3.5 A | 128 lb |
| PLM-S360FG | 49 3/5" | 8 cu ft | — | 3.5 A | 170 lb |
| PLM-S460FG | 60" | 10 cu ft | — | 3.5 A | 174 lb |
| PLM-S460FGS | 60" | 10 cu ft | Flat sneeze guard | 3.5 A | 258 lb |
Two things to know. The service well costs volume: on the same cabinet width a dipping cabinet holds 19 to 24% less than the display freezer — 6.0 cu ft against 7.4 at 40", 10.0 against 13.1 at 60". And the guarded PLM-S460FGS holds exactly the same 10 cu ft as the unguarded PLM-S460FG but weighs 258 lb against 174, all of it glass and frame, so plan the delivery and the final position before it arrives.
Size a dipping cabinet by flavour count, not cubic feet. Its job is to keep a set number of tubs in the window and reachable; volume beyond that does nothing for service speed.
Choosing the right cabinet for your setup
Size and capacity
Start from the wall you have, then check what each inch buys — the line is not linear. Below 60 inches the flat-lid models carry more per inch than the curved ones at the same width; at 71 inches the PLM-S560 is far and away the most capacity per inch in the range. Count baskets too: they are how staff keep a long flavour list straight.
Visibility
If customers browse the freezer themselves, the curved glass lid with interior lighting is what earns the impulse sale. If the cabinet is behind a counter or in a back-of-store position, that money is better spent on volume.
Location and power
Every cabinet here runs on a standard 115 V circuit, drawing 2.0 to 4.0 A. Give it a dependable outlet rather than a shared strip, and keep the front base clear — the compressor is bottom-mounted and breathes at the front, so a cabinet pushed tight into a corner or fenced in with stock will hold overnight and drift warm by afternoon. Casters make cleaning and rearranging straightforward.
Indoors only
These are indoor commercial cabinets. Outdoor use puts the condenser in an ambient it was not rated for and the glass will condense heavily in humid air. If you need frozen product at an outdoor service point, talk to us about the specific location first.
Why buy from Chumart
- Our own brand. Polarman is our line, so we know the spec sheets rather than reading them off a distributor catalogue.
- Commercial only. Everything we carry is built for a working room, not a garage.
- Free nationwide shipping on this range.
- Someone to ask. Send us the wall measurement and your flavour list and we will tell you which cabinet fits.
Final thoughts
Whether you are selling packaged novelties from a chest or scooping cones to order, the deciding factors are the same three: the temperature the cabinet actually holds, the width your floor can give it, and whether the customer or the operator opens the lid. Get those right and the cabinet pays for itself in product quality and impulse sales.
Browse the full Ice Cream Freezer collection, or go straight to the dipping cabinets if you scoop to order.