Can you experiment and mock it up? Mark off a 12" area on your hood and use just that area when you dig in the freezer. We must use our freezers differently because I don't really ever need much landing space in the garage. For me, a 12"x24" space would be plenty. YMMV.

I wonder if it is the nature of chest freezers in general. You have to load and unload to rotate the stuff from bottom to top and also just to dig out what is on the bottom. You have to use up all those bags of 2011 frozen blueberries, before starting on the 2012's, right? I think 12 inches can be made to be enough, but it needs to be a very clever 12 inches, maybe a rolling cart with multiple shelves instead of a cabinet, or some kind of flip out/flip up shelf to get more room when needed> I am thinking a door that turns into a gateleg table or something like an ironing board drawer but just used as a table?

Oh, duh. Chest freezer. My mind went to upright as I've never owned a chest unit even when growing up. Sorry.

Never had or used a chest freezer, so this is an idea born of inexperience, but how about shelf (with lip) or maybe wire bins mounted on wall above freezer? Perhaps too much bending & straightening up, but could let you keep wider freezer?

I've never used a chest freezer either. What about switching to an upright all-freezer and using the extra horizontal space for a landing space? I don't imagine chests being as efficient space users since you need to be able to swing the lid up so I can't imagine you would use the vertical space much.

I would strongly suggest doing an upright freezer instead. You will get MUCH easier to access storage, and then you can place a counter between the fridge and freezer than can serve a landing space and extra storage for little used items. An upright freezer is also a lot easier to defrost, and you don't have to worry about draining it out onto your floor as much.

JBGB-that's an amazing idea! We were already planning to build cabs above, so that would work well. We would do a long open shelf. You do have a lot of wasted space because you have to allow for the door to open upwards, but I could reach a shelf above that. As far as the fridge, I think the top of the chest freezer should be an adequate landing area.

They do make commercial chest freezers made for ice cream that have sliding doors but they are much more expensive and I can't find much reliability info...

Thank you for the inspiration, I am going to pursue that line of thinking!

Shannonaz: sounds like you've found an answer so I wanted to chime in with the upright/chest comparison. We have a chest freezer for the simple reason that everytime you open an upright, the cold air 'drops out' AND if there (or when there) is a power outage, a chest freezer will keep the food frozen longer than an upright. It's more energy efficient overall.

I have had both chest and upright. The chest is supposed to be more efficient but I found was I spent a lot longer digging in the chest freezer because it was difficult to keep organized so I think it cancelled the efficiency.