Kenmore 78882 Refrigerator Review

Design & Usability

Mind the gaps

Budget appliances like the 78882 are almost always more focused on functional design as opposed to fancy style. Yes, this one's white matte finish is fingerprint-proof, but it’s downhill from there.

The full-width shelves slide forward for rear access, but aren’t 100% stable in their slots. Plus, the sides have no spill guards: if anything drips, you’re going to need to take out the bottom drawers for a thorough cleaning. With four height levels for two adjustable shelves, the 78882 gives you a little control over the layout, but you’re always going to end up with two tall shelves and one shorter one.

Over on the fridge door, we find an arrangement of built-in shelves, one of which is deep and wide enough to comfortably fit two gallon-sized containers. The problem here—yet again—is spill protection: There’s a substantial gap between the bottom of the shelves and the front edge guards, and anything from a bar of chocolate to a jar of olives could easily slip through it if you’re not careful. The same is true of the door shelves in the freezer, though the gap is smaller.

In the freezer, one wire shelf splits storage into an upper and lower section. If you want to use the built-in icemaker, though, the shelf has to stay in its lower rung.

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Performance & Features

It’s getting hot in here…

The biggest problems with the 78882 are calibration and consistency. Trouble is, only one of those is fixable. Controls for this top freezer are very basic: At the front of the fridge’s bulky light fixture is an adjustable knob with markings going from “cold” to “colder.” A small asterisk in the middle marks the manufacturer’s “normal” setting.

Leaving the fridge at its recommended setting, we found that both the fridge and freezer were way too warm. Temperatures in the fridge went above and below 41ºF, which can lead to bacterial growth, while an average 15ºF in the freezer and fluctuations of over 2 degrees will most certainly lead to freezer burn. We won’t recommend a fridge unless freezer temperatures average at least 0ºF. Turning down the controls in the fridge will definitely help—buy an external thermometer and immerse it in water to double check—but there’s only so much you can do with a freezer that flaky.

The 78882 only has one adjustable crisper drawer. It was decidedly mediocre at retaining moisture, so salads might suffer. Fortunately, energy consumption was quite low, and much of its advertised 18.2 cubic feet were usable for storage. As long as you don’t plan on filling this Kenmore with sensitive perishables, you could be okay.

For in-depth performance information, please visit the Science Page.

At Least It's Inexpensive

Rock-bottom costs, for a price

If you’re a foodie looking for a basic top freezer, stay away from the 78882. Temperature issues are too severe for us to recommend it for primary food storage. You’d be much better off spending more money to get a superior product, such as the Kenmore 78002 which retails for about $350 more. It's just up the aisle at Sears, and will likely help your food stay fresh longer.

That said, if you want something extra for less delicate items—soda and other drinks, for instance—the 78882 would make a great addition to your garage, basement, or bachelor pad. If you want to save even more, you can also check out the Kenmore 68802. It’s the exact same fridge without an icemaker, the removal of which saves you another $30.

The Cold Hard Facts

Inconsistent and ineffective cooling are the two greatest death knells for a fridge, and both apply to the Kenmore 78882 (MSRP $789.99). An erratic fridge simply cannot effectively preserve food, especially when the baseline temperatures average much warmer than they should.

Temperature Performance

Giving us chills, in a bad way

Temperatures in the main fresh food storage area weren’t hugely out of whack. Over the course of 72 hours, our sensors recorded averages of 40.2ºF at the top, 40.61ºF in the middle, and 42.37ºF at the bottom. Fluctuations throughout the fridge came in at ±0.7ºF. Together, that means temperatures regularly fluctuated above and below 41ºF. That’s the point at which bacteria can really ramp up reproduction—a really, really bad thing. Turning down the controls should fix this, as long as you have a thermometer to aid in calibration—a 0ºF average is the highest we like to see to ensure good performance.

The freezer was even worse. Average fluctuations of ±2.05ºF are flat-out bad and lead to freezer burn. Ideally, we’d see shifts no greater than 0.7ºF. For average temperatures, we recorded 14.81ºF at the top and 14.79ºF at the bottom. While it’s surprisingly consistent throughout, it’s also outrageously warm despite using the manufacturer’s recommended setting.

Unfortunately, turning down the freezer controls likely won’t have as much of an impact as needed to make it perfect. The two compartments of a single compressor unit like the 78882 are at the mercy of each other. Turn down the fridge to make the freezer ideal, and you may be stuck with frozen carrots.

Moisture Retention

Passable produce protection

The 78882’s lone crisper left us with a decidedly lukewarm impression. Over the course of three days, our test material lost of an average of 0.2 grams of moisture per hour. That’s worse than average—we’d prefer something along the lines of 0.15 to 0.17 grams per hour—but not enough to spoil your produce.

Freezing & Thawing

Fast freezing

Despite the disappointingly warm temperatures in the freezer, the 78882 did a great job cooling things quickly. Our room-temperature test materials crossed the 32ºF mark after just one hour and 18 minutes, fast enough to preserve most of the original texture of meat and fish.

Also, even though the freezer was warmer than ideal when the fridge was running, 36 hours without power caused the 78882 to thaw up to just 28.59ºF. Unless you’ve got a terrible electricity provider, you’re food should be safe in a storm.

Storage Space & Energy Efficiency

Effective layouts

The interior layout of the 78882 is really quite basic. The fridge has two full-width adjustable shelves, with a third shelf underneath serving as the lid for two drawers. Only one drawer has an adjustable humidity control. Over on the door, an assortment of built-in shelves provides some fairly versatile—if completely immovable—storage. Allowing for obstructions such as the light fixture and control panel, the 78882 has 11.26 cubic feet of usable fresh food storage.

The freezer is even more basic: A single wire shelf divides the main compartment into and upper and lower level. The shelf can be moved, but has to remain in the lower slot if you intend to use the icemaker. On the door, two full-width shelves add some additional storage, totaling up to 3.24 cubic feet of usable space.

Energy consumption was one of this Kenmore’s high points, costing an estimated $35.76 annually. Factoring in the storage, we found that this fridge only needs 0.07 kWh per usable cubic foot, making it very efficient. Our numbers were calculated using a rate of $0.09 per kWh and assuming that the icemaker would be running. Turn the icemaker off, and the costs will go down.