Whirlpool WRFF5333PZ01 Review: Very clever fridge space

Verdict

A French Door fridge freezer, the Whirlpool WRFF5333PZ01 makes the most of its width to give a large and flexible full-width fridge.

With dual crispers, a temperature-controlled drawer and the most flexible shelves I’ve seen in a fridge, this model makes it easy to store and organise a lot of fresh food. The compromise is that the freezer section is a little smaller than the competition. I found that running costs were a touch higher than the nearest competition’s, although temperature control is spot-on.

Introduction

If you can’t fit in a very large fridge freezer, then the Whirlpool 33-inch Wide French Door Refrigerator 22 cu. ft. WRFF5333PZ01 could be a good compromise.

This large appliance offers a flexible and large fridge space, with a more compact freezer space than many of its rivals.

Design and Features

• Clever shelf design
• Integrated water dispenser
• Ice maker in the freezer compartment

French door fridge freezers are becoming more popular, and with the Whirlpool WRFF5333PZ01, you can see why. With this type of model, the fridge is at the top, and the freezer is underneath, rather than the usual side-by-side layout.

The difference that this makes is that the most commonly used items are all available without having to bend down, and the fridge is full-width, making it easier to store larger items. Overall, with a total fridge space of 15.66 cu. ft. you get a similar amount of fresh storage space as you do on a much wider fridge freezer, such as the LG LRF0C2606S.

Typically, with a fridge like this, the shelves would normally offer only a couple of height adjustment options, with each shelf the full width of the cavity. Here, Whirlpool has done something different and, arguably, better.

Although the bottom shelf, above the crisper boxes is fixed, there are then four shelves, each half-width. And, each shelf has a wide choice of positions, thanks to the mounting bracket at the back, which looks similar to the brackets you get for traditional shelving.

That makes it easy to adjust shelves based on need, such as having one side with more space for tall bottles and the other side more evenly spaced for jars.

There are two crisper boxes on the Whirlpool WRFF5333PZ01, both with humidity controls, so you can choose between storing vegetables or fruits.

Underneath is the full-width temperature-controlled drawer, which has space for wider items, such as pastry sheets, or you can just load it up with cheese and meat, stored at the best temperature for longevity.

Whirlpool provides six large door pockets, with the lower ones big enough to take gallon jugs of milk or juice.

Whirlpool has built a filtered water dispenser into the side of the fridge, so you can get fresh, cold water with the doors open. It’s a nice option to have, although not as neat as the integrated Beverage Zone in the Samsung RF23DB9700QL.

There’s a fairly limited amount of freezer space, with just 6.45 cu. ft. of storage space. It’s available via a pull-out drawer that has two large baskets below, plus a pull-out wire rack in the top section. That, at least, makes it easy to get to the items you need most often.

There’s an ice maker in the top part of the freezer section, which makes cubes and tips them into the storage box below. A simple wire switch, which looks a little cheap, let me turn this feature on and off.

Control of fridge and freezer temperatures is via the simple control panel at the top, and there’s no smart control for this mode.

Performance

• Good temperature control
• A little expensive to run

To test the Whirlpool WRFF5333PZ01, I loaded it with ice blocks to simulate a load of food, and then monitored power usage and temperatures.

At the end of the test, I pulled the temperature sensors and found that the fridge compartment was kept at an average of 38.97°F, which is 1.03°F colder than the target temperature of 40°F. Standard deviation showed that most temperatures fluctuated +/-1.39°F from this average, which is a great result and shows that the Whirlpool WRFF5333PZ01 doesn’t have big swings between high and low temperatures.

It was a similar story in the freezer section, where I measured an average temperature of -1.42°F, compared to target temperature of 0°F. Standard deviation showed that most temperatures fluctuated +/-1.44°F, which again shows that there aren’t big differences between the high and low temperatures.

Measuring power usage, I estimated that this fridge freezer would cost around $104.73 a year to run, with a cost of $4.74 per cu. ft. That’s with the fridge freezer running in our Florida-based lab. Even so, that’s a touch higher than the competition, with the similar-sized Samsung RF23DB9700QL costing around $80.95 a year to run when tested in the same way.

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