Whirlpool ED5KVEXVB 25.3 Cu. Ft. Side-by-Side Refrigerator Review

Usable Space

Manufacturers are typically pretty lax with their volume measurements. They include every available inch of the interior, even if it's not directly over a shelf, assume shelves and lights are removed, etc. For our test, we only count the space that you can actually store objects, like on top of shelves or in drawers.

The Whirlpool ED5KVEXVB's refrigerator section can hold a good amount of product on its wiry shelves, but it's not anything spectacular. The shelves can technically hold an above average load, but chances are you won't be able to use most of that space. Since the shelves aren't very customizable, trying to accommodate an extra inch or two of headspace will result in a lot of empty air.

The door on the fridge can hold an average load. The shelves are wide enough to hold two gallon jugs of milk side by side with some breathing room left over.

The freezer has a lot less storage space than the refrigerator, because the ice maker and its chute take up a lot of real estate. The main area of the freezer suffers from the same problem as the fridge: there's so few places to slot your shelves.

Again, the ice maker and its chute come at a price: storage space. One shelf above the ice chute is very, very small and the three below it are awkwardly low to the ground and can't be moved.

Below are the manufacturers own figures for capacity, and our own measurements for usable capacity. The manufacturers figures do not take account of the shelves, drawers and other removable features, but our measurements do account for the space these take up.