It sounds like you sometimes need more fridge, sometimes more freezer, and sometimes both at once...if so, then 2 units are probably the best way to go. I would point out, though, that many small fridges/freezers are significantly less efficient than their larger brethren....2 small units will use more power than a single big unit, most of the time, so if your concern is energy efficiency/cost it may be more complicated than it first appears, If you never need both at once , there is one other really good option - the Fisher Paykel "Cooldrawer" unit. Its an undercounter drawer which can be set as a fridge, freezer, wine fridge, "chill" (extra cold refrigerator, for meats and fish, etc), or "pantry" (for things that need cool and dark, but not true refrigeration). It might work for your needs...

I've had chest freezers for most of my life and never had any issues with finding food (nor do I hate a chest freezer). I use boxes to organize my frozen veggies (one box per type). I have sections for meat and other frozen stuff. I use baskets for butter and stock. Anything else is labeled with a marker. I rotate the contents with each shopping trip (quarterly or so) or when I make stock/soup/chili etc. I've never lost anything nor have I had mystery product. I also put bottled water in there for storage and to fill up space. I defrost once a year, usually in the fall or early winter. Everyone is entitled to their personal opinion and should use what works best. If you are planning on long term storage, a manual defrost is the best option. The frost free (or self defrosting) units cycle heat to keep frost from building up inside. That seriously diminishes the life of any product you store in the freezer. In terms of size, go with larger. In terms of brands, well, that's personal opinion. You can buy the same products pretty much any where. That's personal preference too. The freezer we had when I was a kid conked out at 40 years old. In the past 22 years, I've had two. The current one is about 10 years old and has spent it's life mostly in an unheated garage (in TN). Having said that, note that manufacturing of appliances has gone the way of everything lately; seems like they are disposable and it's cheaper to replace than fix. Stick with a brand name you're comfortable with and purchase from a store you feel good about. Just keep dead bodies out of there.

I don't know where they got that CITE from but it's NOT from either the 2008 or 2011 NEC. Here's the exact verbiage of that passage lifted straight from the NEC text itself: (5) Unfinished basements � for purposes of this section, unfinished basements are defined as portions or areas of the basement not intended as habitable rooms and limited to storage areas, work areas, and the like See related Illustration Staff Note Exception to (5): A receptacle supplying only a permanently installed fire alarm or burglar alarm system shall not be required to have ground-fault circuit-interrupter protection. As you see, there is only one exception to the unfinished basement clause and it applies to alarms. In fact, to find that text you have to go back to the 2005 code. The non-normative text in the 2008 and later codes even specifically show the freezer plugged into the GFCI.

A 5 cu. ft. chest freezer should handle a hog. A whole hog can be too much for a couple to eat all by themselves in a year, but, OTOH, having more meat can be a reason for socializing with friends and neighbors. Maybe some entertainment value in curing hams and shoulders and/or bacon. (Assuming time and interest.) Roasted pork belly has become trendy, too. As for makes, there many brands but only three manufacturers currently producing small chest freezers for sale in the U.S. Pretty much all go for close to the same price. The makers are: Frigidaire/Electrolux, Woods (a Whirlpool subsidiary with a factory in Canada), and Haier (the Chinese conglomerate). Anything with a GE brand is by Haier. Beyond that, though, it can be hard to tell who made it. I discovered that when I helped a friend buy chest freezer last year. Turned out that there were very minor differences between brands and models (one will have a digital touchpad for temp control where another will use a dial ; one will have an LED to show it is running, another won't; some have one or more baskets, some have none; etc.). The prices were all within a few dollars of each other with the cheapest varying from week to week depending on who was having a sale. Those with recognized major brand names (Frigidaire, Amana, GE) tended to be higher priced unless they were on sale, which was often. I don't recall seeing any models with Energy Star tags, which may say something else about how similar they all are. What I recall from Consumer Reports (who did measure and report on energy consumption) was that there was one Frigidaire model that they believed would cost $5 or $10 less per year to run than others in that class. My friend wound up with one of the Haier models (sold at Costco.). As for getting a freezer off Craig's List, that might not be a bad idea. Just be aware that really old small chest freezers are going to be relatively large and very heavy, making them awkward to move. They also tend to be much noisier than models made within the last couple of decades, something that would be an issue for putting one in a bedroom as you indicated might be done. (In contrast, my friend with the Haier has his in his bedroom while doing some home renovation and never hears it running). Older Small capacity models seem to be pretty rare around here (on the times that I've looked, all of older models listed here were 14 and 28 cu. ft models). Newer ones (that is, ones made since the turn of the century) are considerably lighter, much quieter and pretty efficient . I had a vintage 2000 five-cubic-foot Fridgiaire in a pantry for a while and barely heard it run. (I have since replaced it with a larger capacity upright in the basement and that model is louder and a lot more noticeable when running). The small Frigidaire was light and roughly square in shape (about 24 x 24, IIRC). It was easily moved on a handtruck. (It is now the basement of the house of friends.) The newest 5 and 7 cu. ft. chest freezers are more rectangular in shape and seem to be even lighter. IIRC, the 5 cu , is more like 20 inches by 30 inches or 22 by 28 and the 7 cu. foot models are more like 36" wide. Something to bear in mind when planning to move one in to a house or apartment.