March 2008
Appliance sleuthing
The nameplate doesn’t always indicate who makes your fridge, oven, or washer
Our recent tests of refrigerators included more than 80 models from 25 brands.
That's a lot of companies, until you play appliance detective and discover that the $23.3 billion annual market for refrigerators, ovens, washers, and other major home appliances isn't such a vast place after all. That activity turns out to be a bit like playing Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, though instead of the well-connected actor popping up repeatedly, a few mammoth manufacturers and brands do.
Got pen and paper ready? We haven't covered every manufacturer, but this rundown will give you a good idea about who actually makes all those appliances. It's also worth noting that the manufacturing arrangements change all the time.
The Whirlpool Corporation, based in Benton Harbor, Mich., makes Whirlpool, KitchenAid, and Gladiator products. The company accounts for about 17.8 percent of major appliance sales in the U.S., following closely behind General Electric brand (21.3 percent) and the Sears Kenmore brand (18.8 percent). Over the years, the Whirlpool company has gobbled up Admiral, Amana, Jenn-Air, Magic Chef, and Maytag, and makes appliances for Ikea (ovens, ranges, cooktops, microwaves, refrigerators, freezers, and dishwashers) and Kenmore (some of the brand's refrigerators, dishwashers, washers, and dryers). Gladiator and KitchenAid are two "Whirlpool bred" brands.
Whirlpool's certainly not the only Kenmore supplier. Frigidaire and LG also manufacture Kenmore refrigerators, Haier handles some of its compact fridges, and Danby makes some of its wine chillers, Bosch makes some of its dishwashers, and Electrolux and Sanyo builds some of its freezers.
General Electric is well known for a vast array of products—lightbulbs, jet engines for military planes, and "The Today Show." But this corporate colossus, based in Fairfield, Conn., also makes appliances under the GE, GE Monogram, GE Profile, GE Café, and Hotpoint brands.
Across the Atlantic, BSH Home Appliances is a leading purveyor of high-end appliances. This German company brings you upscale kitchen and laundry appliances under the brand names Bosch, Gaggenau, Siemens, and Thermador.
BSH has other bedfellows, including KitchenAid, for which it will start making makes induction cooktops in the summer. Keeping it in the family, KitchenAid turns out a built-in side-by-side and a built-in bottom-freezer refrigerator for Thermador. Bosch's relationships spread as far as Asia-South Korea's Daewoo Electronics makes a Bosch side-by-side refrigerator.
Elsewhere in Europe, you might think of Electrolux as the onetime producer of those old, quirky-looking canister vacuums. But this Swedish manufacturer has also brought you refrigerators, freezers, washers, and more under its own nameplate and brands like Frigidaire, and Tappan. Proving the Kevin Bacon theory, Electrolux is also connected to Sears: It makes fridges, freezers, dishwashers, washers, dryers, stoves, wall ovens, and cooktops for Kenmore and high-end Kenmore Pro appliances.
Viking sounds Scandinavian, too, but the company, known for its pro-style ranges and built-in refrigerators, is actually based in Greenwood, Miss. It's a small world after all: Sweden's Asko company currently makes some of Viking's dishwashers. Viking does manufacture its other appliances (and by the end of 2008 will make its own dishwashers), except for a freestanding refrigerator that's made by Amana and undercounter fridges from Marvel. Got all that?
THE RELIABILITY FACTOR
One thing to keep in mind when you're shopping for new appliances: Even though a company manufactures several brands, differences in reliability exist among those nameplates, according to Mark Kotkin, director of survey research for Consumer Reports.
Moreover, says Kotkin, you shouldn't assume that an appliance made by a manufacturer for another brand offers the same reliability as the same appliance sold under the manufacturer's mark.
Learn more about brand reliability in the May 2007 cover report, "Most & least reliable brands," which is based on hundreds of thousands of responses to our Annual Product Reliability Survey conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center.
That's a lot of companies, until you play appliance detective and discover that the $23.3 billion annual market for refrigerators, ovens, washers, and other major home appliances isn't such a vast place after all. That activity turns out to be a bit like playing Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, though instead of the well-connected actor popping up repeatedly, a few mammoth manufacturers and brands do.
Got pen and paper ready? We haven't covered every manufacturer, but this rundown will give you a good idea about who actually makes all those appliances. It's also worth noting that the manufacturing arrangements change all the time.
The Whirlpool Corporation, based in Benton Harbor, Mich., makes Whirlpool, KitchenAid, and Gladiator products. The company accounts for about 17.8 percent of major appliance sales in the U.S., following closely behind General Electric brand (21.3 percent) and the Sears Kenmore brand (18.8 percent). Over the years, the Whirlpool company has gobbled up Admiral, Amana, Jenn-Air, Magic Chef, and Maytag, and makes appliances for Ikea (ovens, ranges, cooktops, microwaves, refrigerators, freezers, and dishwashers) and Kenmore (some of the brand's refrigerators, dishwashers, washers, and dryers). Gladiator and KitchenAid are two "Whirlpool bred" brands.
Whirlpool's certainly not the only Kenmore supplier. Frigidaire and LG also manufacture Kenmore refrigerators, Haier handles some of its compact fridges, and Danby makes some of its wine chillers, Bosch makes some of its dishwashers, and Electrolux and Sanyo builds some of its freezers.
General Electric is well known for a vast array of products—lightbulbs, jet engines for military planes, and "The Today Show." But this corporate colossus, based in Fairfield, Conn., also makes appliances under the GE, GE Monogram, GE Profile, GE Café, and Hotpoint brands.
Across the Atlantic, BSH Home Appliances is a leading purveyor of high-end appliances. This German company brings you upscale kitchen and laundry appliances under the brand names Bosch, Gaggenau, Siemens, and Thermador.
BSH has other bedfellows, including KitchenAid, for which it will start making makes induction cooktops in the summer. Keeping it in the family, KitchenAid turns out a built-in side-by-side and a built-in bottom-freezer refrigerator for Thermador. Bosch's relationships spread as far as Asia-South Korea's Daewoo Electronics makes a Bosch side-by-side refrigerator.
Elsewhere in Europe, you might think of Electrolux as the onetime producer of those old, quirky-looking canister vacuums. But this Swedish manufacturer has also brought you refrigerators, freezers, washers, and more under its own nameplate and brands like Frigidaire, and Tappan. Proving the Kevin Bacon theory, Electrolux is also connected to Sears: It makes fridges, freezers, dishwashers, washers, dryers, stoves, wall ovens, and cooktops for Kenmore and high-end Kenmore Pro appliances.
Viking sounds Scandinavian, too, but the company, known for its pro-style ranges and built-in refrigerators, is actually based in Greenwood, Miss. It's a small world after all: Sweden's Asko company currently makes some of Viking's dishwashers. Viking does manufacture its other appliances (and by the end of 2008 will make its own dishwashers), except for a freestanding refrigerator that's made by Amana and undercounter fridges from Marvel. Got all that?
THE RELIABILITY FACTOR
One thing to keep in mind when you're shopping for new appliances: Even though a company manufactures several brands, differences in reliability exist among those nameplates, according to Mark Kotkin, director of survey research for Consumer Reports.
Moreover, says Kotkin, you shouldn't assume that an appliance made by a manufacturer for another brand offers the same reliability as the same appliance sold under the manufacturer's mark.
Learn more about brand reliability in the May 2007 cover report, "Most & least reliable brands," which is based on hundreds of thousands of responses to our Annual Product Reliability Survey conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center.
WHERE TO FIND CLUES
Appliances. Solving a mystery requires some investigating. If you're trying to figure out who makes what products, there are some Web sites that provide clues found in the model numbers of appliances. One such site, www.appliance411.com/purchase/sears.shtml, says it can reveal many of the different manufacturers of Kenmore appliances.
Appliances. Solving a mystery requires some investigating. If you're trying to figure out who makes what products, there are some Web sites that provide clues found in the model numbers of appliances. One such site, www.appliance411.com/purchase/sears.shtml, says it can reveal many of the different manufacturers of Kenmore appliances.
