A closer look at the Kenmore Elite 72482 refrigerator (pictures)

At 29.9 cubic feet, the Kenmore Elite 72482 is a king-size refrigerator loaded with helpful features. Click through to see what all we like about it.

The fridge compartment has about 17 cubic feet of storage space. That number is actually a little low for large French door models, most of which offer closer to 18 or 19 cubic feet of fresh food storage space.

However, factor in the additional 4 cubic feet or so that you get from the Pantry Drawer, and you're looking at more than 21 cubic feet of total fresh food storage space.

That Pantry Drawer comes with its own thermostat, meaning you can dial it between four different ingredient-specific temperature presets.

You'll only find three buttons on the front of the fridge -- touch sensitive icons to switch between water, ice and crushed ice. The rest of the controls are hidden up here, behind the doors. That helps Kenmore maintain a simple, streamlined look, but it also means that you can't access things like temperature settings without opening the doors.

The ice maker is built entirely into the left door, so it doesn't take up any space in the body of the fridge. It also features a flat design that doesn't block off any of the in-door shelves.

You'll get one slide-in shelf in the body of the fridge -- push it back to make room for tall items.

You'll also find a pair of good-sized crisper bins at the bottom of the fridge.

The one on the left comes with an adjustable humidity vent. This is a Kenmore-specific upgrade -- the LG model this fridge is based on doesn't have humidity controls at all.

In front of each crisper sits a "Convenience Bin." Slide the tempered glass lid back and under the crisper to expose a recessed pocket for storing fresh ingredients.

Those glass lids come right off, so be careful not to break them.

At the top of the right door, you'll find your classic butter bin.

With so much capacity (and so many features to help you take advantage of that capacity), we weren't surprised at all when the Kenmore Elite 72482 aced our storage tests.

It was a strong performer, too -- though the right door and the Pantry Drawer both ran a few degrees warmer than we would have liked in this test.

Here are the results of that last test graphed out over 72 hours. The butter bin gets a pass for running warm (that's its job), but the purple lines representing the other shelves in the right door are too warm for our tastes, coming in at 40 degrees F or above for almost the entire test.

The fridge did much better at the 33-degree setting.

The Kenmore Elite 72482 has a fairly steep MSRP of $4,000, but Kenmore appliances are typically discounted pretty heavily on the Sears show floor -- more so than competing models. We've seen the 72482 for less than $3,000, which is a terrific value -- read our full review for the full story.