I was chatting with our friends at Southeast Steel, the downtown Orlando appliance warehouse, and was not surprised to learn that they’re getting lots of calls for new freezers.

Some people, I suppose, have done a lot of panic buying at the grocery store, purchasing more meats and frozen entrees in the event that their favorite Stouffer’s dinner disappears from the shelves.

Others, like me, are cooking more, making stocks, sauces and soups, too much to be consumed within a few days. So we package it up – my vacuum sealer has been getting a workout – label the containers and toss them into the freezer.

Which is quickly filling up at my house. And I have a refrigerator/freezer in the kitchen and in the garage. I’m at the point where I might have to take the bottle of vodka out of the freezer to make room for packages of homemade moussaka.

So I understand the demand for an extra freezer.

But here’s something really cool, and I didn’t mean that as a pun, but there you go: It’s a conventional kitchen appliance with a flex-space drawer between the refrigerator on top and the freezer on the bottom.

Need extra freezer room? The drawer’s temperature can be lowered to as low as minus six degrees, increasing freezer volume by 40 percent.

Then, after you’ve eaten all the frozen lasagna and homemade chicken noodle soup that you’ve stored away and you don’t need all that freezer space anymore, the flex drawer’s temperature can be turned up to match the refrigerator compartment, so you can store all the fresh fruits and vegetables you’ve pledged to eat instead of spaghetti sauce.

Like I said, pretty cool.

Southeast Steel is featuring a Frigidaire Gallery model with Custom-Flex Temp Drawer. So if you’re thinking about a new freezer, take a look at this compromise.

Added benefit: You can lay the bottle of vodka down in the flex drawer and not have to bend over to grab it.