I think I have a Kenmore. (It was given to me so I can't remember exactly.) It's probably about 7 years old. Kenmores are made by another major major manufacter, but Sears puts the Kenmore label on them.

The feature I like about the freezer is that it isn't self defrosting. The freezer in my refrigerator is and I hate it. I've lost a lot of food because of the freezing and thawing.

Having just purchased a chest freezer in the last few months, I would have to recommend a chest freezer. When you open the door they don't spill all their heat, and from what I've seen _none_ of them are self-defrosting. The uprights tend to self defrost, but chests don't. Mine has something called a "flash defrost" where, when you tell it to, it runs hot liquid through the refrigerator coils, and you open a drain in the bottom to let the water out. Of course, you've taken your food out of it first...

I've heard good things about it, in a couple months I'll know for myself. We haven't had to defrost yet.

We gave away our appartment sized chest freezer after 32 years. We gave it to a friends mother who lived in the country. That was 7 years ago and she is still using it! Based on our experience we would have to buy another Kenmore....even though we don't know who's making the Kenmore now or then! Maybe their requirements are high...

A little late on this, but....
Service technician for Sears told me that Kenmore's actual maker depends on the model. Most of their higher end models (but not all) were Amanas in the past. Unfortunately, Amana was bought by Maytag in the last couple of years and Maytag made many changes. per this person, "Maytag doens't know squat about cooling systems." We considered selling ours when we moved since it was almost as expensive to move it as to buy another. We have an Amana made by Amana. Tech told us "Better hold on to it. It's solid."