The KitchenAid KRMF706ESS is a high-end five-door 36-inch standard-depth refrigerator. It offers two separate temperature-controlled pull-out drawers; you can set the leftmost one cooler than the rest of the fridge to suit a variety of foods. There are four split shelves in the refrigerator and three door bins in the right door, while most of the left door contains an in-door ice and water dispenser supplied by an ice maker in the fridge. The refrigerator's cooling system consists of dual evaporators and an inverter compressor.
Our Verdict
The KitchenAid KRMF706ESS is a decent choice for everyday use. It offers excellent temperature uniformity in the fridge and freezer; the door bins are especially well-cooled, allowing you to store temperature-sensitive items like milk with no concerns. The refrigerator has very good capacity, with the separate pull-out drawers providing customizable storage for meats, beverages, or produce, though this takes away some space from the freezer. The freezer is a little cramped, and its two upper pull-out drawers are very short and don't offer very effective use of the space. Also, produce preservation is only okay. The separate drawer doesn't retain humidity well, leading to wilted lettuce and soft celery within a week.
Excellent temperature uniformity in the fridge and freezer.
Door bins are well-cooled, just a little warmer than the rest of the fridge.
Excellent temperature uniformity in the freezer.
Produce drawer loses moisture faster than other high-end fridges.
Two very short pull-out drawers don't make good use of restricted freezer space.
The KitchenAid KRMF706ESS delivers only okay produce preservation performance. The temperature-controlled produce drawer doesn't retain moisture very well. Although the separate fridge evaporator keeps humidity slightly higher than a single evaporator refrigerator, it's not enough to prevent produce from drying out prematurely. Lettuce will wilt, celery will lose its crunch, and carrots will shrivel faster than you'd expect.
Excellent temperature uniformity in the freezer.
Produce drawer loses moisture faster than other high-end fridges.
Produce preservation performance could be better for a dual evaporator fridge.
The KitchenAid KRMF706ESS offers very good refrigerator capacity. There's lots of room in the fridge; the low-profile ice maker on the ceiling and the in-door ice dispenser don't take up too much space, and there are multiple height-adjustable options for storing tall items like wine bottles or fresh herbs. The two separate temperature-controlled pull-out drawers add customizable storage and extra capacity.
Excellent temperature uniformity in the freezer.
Very good capacity in the fridge.
Separate temperature-controlled pull-out drawers offer customizable storage and extra capacity.
The KitchenAid KRMF706ESS delivers decent freezer capacity. There's room in the lower drawer for some value-sized boxes of preprepared meals, and you can store a few pizza boxes or meal prep containers in the two upper pull-out drawers, but you won't be able to stack more than a couple at a time because the upper drawers are quite short. On the whole, the freezer section is shorter than it would be in other fridges since the two separate refrigerated pull-out drawers take some space away.
Excellent temperature uniformity in the freezer.
Two very short pull-out drawers don't make good use of restricted freezer space.
The KitchenAid KRMF706ESS delivers excellent temperature uniformity. In the fridge, temperatures are not only uniform between shelves but also between the shelves and the door bins; the door bins are quite well-cooled, and you'll be able to store temperature-sensitive foodstuffs like milk here safely. Things are even better in the freezer, with amazingly consistent temperatures throughout, assuring consistent freezing, lessening freezer burn, and leading to ice cream with a consistent texture wherever you place it. The inverter compressor barely produces a swing in temperature, as it can run consistently at low power to maintain the desired setpoint.
Excellent temperature uniformity in the fridge and freezer.
Door bins are well-cooled, just a little warmer than the rest of the fridge.
Excellent temperature uniformity in the freezer.
The KitchenAid KRMF706ESS's ice-making capabilities are only okay. There isn't much room for much ice capacity, with a low-profile ice maker on the fridge ceiling and a small ice tray crammed in the left door behind the in-door ice dispenser. There will be enough ice for a couple of drinks over dinner, but you'll have to carefully ration out ice to supply a family's daily needs. The ice tray can hold enough ice for a small family meal, but not enough for a larger event, so you'll have to store several days' worth of ice in bags or buy ice separately for a cocktail party or backyard barbecue.
Excellent temperature uniformity in the freezer.
Low-capacity ice maker.
Small ice bucket can't store much ice.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The KitchenAid KRMF706E comes in two variants, differentiated by their finishes: the Stainless Steel KRMF706ESS and the Black Stainless Steel KRMF706EBS. We reviewed the Stainless Steel KRM706ESS; here's its label.
If you come across another variant, please let us know in the comments so we can update our review.
Popular Refrigerator Comparisons
Five-door refrigerators are rare, so the KitchenAid KRMF706ESS has little direct competition. However, there are a few French door refrigerators with separate, temperature-controlled drawers like this KitchenAid, only with one drawer rather than two. One such fridge, the GE Profile PVD28BYNFS, offers slightly better capacity and produce preservation, but is notably worse in temperature uniformity, particularly its overly warm door bins, whereas the KitchenAid delivers superior door bin cooling. The similar-looking GE Profile PGE29BYTFS lacks the KitchenAid's externally accessible water dispenser in favor of having one inside the refrigerator. It addresses the poor door bin cooling in the GE Profile PVD28BYNFS, making it nearly as good as the KitchenAid. It also greatly improves ice-making rate and ice capacity over the KitchenAid's low-capacity ice maker. Unless the lack of an in-door water and ice dispenser really bothers you, the GE Profile PGE29BYTFS performs similarly or better than the KitchenAid KRMF706ESS in almost every metric, and can produce and store more ice as an added bonus.
Test Results
The KitchenAid KRMF706ESS refrigerator delivers very good storage capacity. There are four split height-adjustable shelves, one of which is a fold-away shelf that will provide extra clearance for tall items like wine bottles without requiring you to remove the shelf entirely. The ice dispenser and ice bucket in the left door occupy most of the space, although there's still a shallow door bin. The ice maker on the fridge's ceiling is fairly low-profile and doesn't occupy much fridge space. There are three deep, variable-height door bins on the right, large enough for tall items like large soda cans, 2 L pop bottles, or champagne bottles.
Two separate pull-out drawers are underneath the main fridge compartment, each with adjustable depth dividers. You can cool the drawer on the left more than the rest of the fridge for flexibility in storing meat, beverages, produce, or cheeses, while the drawer on the right shares the warmer air with the fridge cabinet. Using a control panel on the top of the left drawer, you can select:
- Meat/Fish: 32 °F (0 °C)
- Cold Drinks: 34 °F (1 °C)
- Greens/Herbs: 36 °F (2 °C)
- Deli/Cheese: 38 °F (3 °C)
- Thaw/Marinate: 39 °F (4 °C)
Each drawer adds 0.7 cu ft (19.5 L) of capacity.
Note: there are several Reddit posts (post 1, post 2, post 3, post 4) detailing issues with this fridge's lights and ice maker failing; the solution is to disconnect the reconfigurable drawer's control panel. The drawer will continue to follow its last temperature setting, and you'll restore your fridge's functions.
The freezer offers decent storage capacity. The three pull-out drawers are convenient for access, but the space is limited since the separate refrigerated pull-out drawers above restrict the freezer section's height. The two top pull-out drawers aren't very tall, so you'll only be able to fit bags of vegetables, meal prep containers side by side, or a pizza box with nothing on top. The only deep space is in the bottom drawer, where you can place a few value-sized boxes of burgers, fish, or chicken pieces. There are two dividers that you can use to keep savory items separate from tubs of ice cream or containers of popsicles.
The KitchenAid KRMF706ESS uses dual evaporators with a single inverter compressor. There's an evaporator in the fridge and another in the freezer. This arrangement improves temperature, humidity, and odor control since the cooling system doesn't share cold air across the fridge and freezer compartments.
An inverter compressor operates at a variable speed depending on the cooling load. It can save power and lead to better temperature control than an older fixed-speed compressor since it doesn't have to cycle between off and full power constantly.
Note that this is an extremely complicated refrigerator to service. You must disassemble nearly the entire refrigerator to access the evaporators. Even removing the ice maker is overly complex: rather than simply removing the top two panels, you have to disconnect the wiring and water lines first. This refrigerator will have high labor costs for service, as a technician will work for many hours to access any part.
The ice maker sits in the upper left portion of the KitchenAid KRMF706ESS, and it supplies ice to the ice tray and dispenser in the left door. This location isn't ideal for an ice maker; the ice maker hardware must be in a separate freezer section in the fridge, so it's difficult to maintain sufficiently freezing temperatures throughout. In this fridge, you can see the ice tray behind a transparent plastic window in the door. The thin plastic provides little insulation, so cold air needs to be blown in from the evaporator to prevent the ice from thawing. All this makes the ice-making process harder than it would be if the ice maker were in the freezer, as it is with refrigerators like the LG LRFLC2706S, with potential negative impacts on reliability.
However, the ice maker is the ejector-type, which is generally a good thing. Ejector-type ice makers create ice in a metal mold. Once the ice has hardened, a heater briefly heats the mold, detaching the ice. A motor then rotates a plastic rake, ejecting the ice from the mold, where it falls into the tray. This design differs from the more problematic twist-tray type, which forms the ice in a plastic tray, then uses a motor to twist the tray, detaching the cubes. This twisting motion stresses the plastic, which could break as it gets brittle with age in freezing temperatures. It's subject to the mechanical and thermal stress of water expanding into ice repeatedly.
The KitchenAid KRMF706ESS's in-door ice and water dispenser supplies water, ice cubes, and crushed ice. The control panel allows you to activate a light and check the water filter status. Pressing the Measured Fill button dispenses a measured amount of water in ounces, cups, or liters, and you can adjust this value.
The refrigerator delivers amazing temperature uniformity. Not only is there just a tiny temperature difference between fridge shelves, but the door bins are only slightly warmer than the rest of the compartment. You can place items anywhere convenient and safely store even temperature-sensitive items like milk, butter, or sour cream in the door bins.
The freezer exhibits excellent temperature uniformity. The very small temperature difference is mostly due to the lower portion of the freezer being slightly warmer. Everything remains mostly below the ideal temperature setpoint, with the inverter compressor keeping swings very small, and the compartment warming up briefly during the normal defrost cycle. There's no concern for freezer burn, meats thawing, bags of vegetables forming ice, or ice cream going too hard or too soft, regardless of where you place these items in the freezer.
The KitchenAid KRMF706ESS delivers fair produce preservation performance. The dedicated fridge evaporator doesn't keep moisture in the fridge as high as other dual-evaporator refrigerators, and the produce drawer doesn't maintain humidity well; it's barely over the ambient humidity inside the fridge compartment. As a result, produce will dry out fairly quickly, causing lettuce to wilt, celery to lose its crispness, and carrots to begin shriveling in less than a week.
Note that the defrost cycle releases some moisture from the evaporator, leading to a rise in humidity in the produce drawer, but this comes too late, and the increase is too weak to affect the results.
The ice maker offers a production rate that's just okay. There should be enough ice for a couple of people, but you might run out of ice for a family dinner.
The KitchenAid KRMF706ESS's ice bucket offers decent capacity. With the ice bucket and ice dispenser sitting entirely in the door, there's not a lot of space for the ice tray, so it's fairly small. It'll hold enough for a small family dinner, but it isn't sufficient for a large event like a cocktail party or backyard barbecue. You should set aside several days' worth of ice in bags, make extra in separate trays, or buy some if you're planning a large gathering.