An upright freezer is built like a reach-in refrigerator but holds frozen temperatures, typically −18 °C or colder. Shelves let staff see and reach every item without digging, which helps stock rotation, and the cabinet takes far less floor area than a chest freezer of similar capacity.
The cost is that cold air spills out every time the door opens, so uprights work harder than chests during heavy use and recover more slowly in a hot kitchen. Many use automatic defrost to manage the frost that forms as humid air enters, which keeps them usable without manual defrosting. Glass-door uprights are also used in retail to display frozen goods.
A hotel kitchen in Udaipur might run an upright freezer beside the pastry section for frozen puff pastry, laminated doughs, ice cream bases and fruit purées, all on labelled shelves so the pastry chef can pull exactly what is needed without unloading a chest.