Best Kitchen Appliance Brands of 2026
We leverage test and survey data on hundreds of products to help you choose the best cooktops, dishwashers, ranges, refrigerators, and wall ovens
In a professional kitchen, the need for great appliances isn’t negotiable. Having cooked in a few restaurant kitchens over the years, I can safely say that chefs simply have no tolerance for a fridge that runs warm or a stove that can’t deliver the heat needed for a serious sear.
You might not cook professionally, but you should expect just as much from the appliances in your own kitchen. But choosing a stellar suite of kitchen appliances is easier said than done.
That’s why we’ve analyzed data from our labs—independent testing on appliances we buy at retail—and our surveys, in which we ask tens of thousands of CR members about their experiences with appliances they own, to compile our 2026 rankings for the best kitchen appliance brands.
Which brands consistently excel? And which fall short?
To identify the best brands for kitchen appliances, our engineers and data experts build statistical models based on factors including not only lab-test results and brand-level reliability surveys but also features and price. (We give a boost to brands that offer high-scoring and reliable appliances for less money.)
The resulting brand scores can help you see differences at a glance. Note that the scores vary from one kind of kitchen appliance to another. It turns out that a company that makes great dishwashers might struggle with cooktops.
How to Use Consumer Reports to Choose Great Kitchen Appliances
We rate kitchen appliances in three distinct ways. Here’s how to use our findings and data to build your dream kitchen.
Model performance: Our individual model ratings offer the most in-depth look at specific appliances and will give you the best sense of how they will perform in your own kitchen—how evenly an oven bakes, for instance, or whether the crisper drawer in a refrigerator keeps veggies fresh.
Consumer Reports continually buys and tests kitchen appliances, adding new models and removing old ones when they’re no longer available. We have current test results on hundreds of kitchen appliances, including about 50 wall ovens, 75 cooktops, 130 dishwashers, 190 ranges, and nearly 300 refrigerators.
Reliability: Each year, we survey hundreds of thousands of CR members about the products they buy and how well those products hold up over time. Those surveys help us form brand-level reliability scores for the major appliances we test. Even if we haven’t tested a particular model, our reliability ratings give you a good sense of how appliances from a given brand will weather years of use in your kitchen. You can find those scores in our ratings and in individual articles, such as our overview of the most reliable refrigerator brands. We also look across categories at the most reliable kitchen appliance brands.
Brand-level performance: Our kitchen brand scores reflect how appliances from particular brands stack up against each other—taking all of the above into account to help you compare brands at a glance and narrow your choices faster. If we don’t have test scores for the precise model you’re looking at, our brand ratings can provide high-level guidance based on the brand’s overall track record.
These scores are detailed in the articles below. We’ve made these brand ratings available to everyone for a limited time, so you can explore them now. After Feb. 19, 2026, full access will be available only to CR members.
