Most Reliable Kitchen Appliance Brands
CR’s exclusive data on the predicted reliability of refrigerators, dishwashers, cooktops, and more can help save you money in the long haul
When it’s time to invest in a new range, refrigerator, or dishwasher, you want to get one that will stand the test of time.
What’s the best way to avoid shelling out for another replacement too soon? Go with a reliable kitchen appliance brand. Factoring in predicted reliability—based on exclusive data from CR’s member surveys—can help you avoid costly repairs and save money.
Which Kitchen Appliance Brands Are the Most Reliable?
CR members can read on for our exclusive chart that tracks reliability for 24 kitchen appliance brands, including Frigidaire, KitchenAid, LG, Samsung, and Whirlpool. For even more coverage, check out our comprehensive appliance reliability guide.
A Detailed Breakdown of Our Rankings
The luxury appliance brand Gaggenau sits atop our kitchen appliance rankings with our highest Overall Score, though it has only three product categories in our brand reliability ranking calculation: dishwashers, cooktops, and wall ovens. Gaggenau debuted in our appliance rankings in 2024.
LG takes second place, followed by SKS (Signature Kitchen Suite) in third. Thermador and Wolf/Sub-Zero tie for fourth.
Among those brands, LG and Thermador have the most product categories in our rankings. Each makes six types of appliances included in our rankings: refrigerators, dishwashers, ranges, cooktops, wall ovens, and microwave ovens. SKS (Signature Kitchen Suite) has five categories (refrigerators, dishwashers, cooktops, wall ovens, and microwave ovens), while Wolf/Sub-Zero has four (refrigerators, ranges, cooktops, and wall ovens).
Viking, a pro-style brand, ranks at the bottom of our ratings. Dacor, another elite brand, fares only slightly better.
Keep in mind that our predicted reliability ratings aren’t an indicator of performance. So even when you settle on a reliable brand, you’ll want to check our full appliance ratings to find a specific model that performs well in our rigorous lab tests.
How to Use Consumer Reports to Find a Reliable Kitchen Appliance
At Consumer Reports, we provide several crucial pieces of information that can help you find the best kitchen appliance possible.
Model performance: We capture performance at the model level in our kitchen appliance ratings for refrigerators (bottom-freezers, built-ins, French-doors, side-by-sides, top-freezers), dishwashers, ranges (electric coil, electric induction, electric smoothtop, gas, pro-style), cooktops (electric induction, electric smoothtop, gas), wall ovens (electric), and microwave ovens (over-the-range). For each of these products, we also have brand-level reliability scores factored into a model’s Overall Score. You can see these scores on the model page for whichever appliance you’re viewing.
Reliability: Each year, we survey hundreds of thousands of CR members about the products they buy, and in particular, how well those products hold up. We use repair or breakage rates to generate a brand-level predicted reliability score for every major kitchen appliance we test. We also ask whether people would recommend their kitchen appliance to other people to determine a brand-level owner satisfaction score. These results can be found in our ratings chart or our articles on the most and least reliable brands across large appliance types: refrigerators, dishwashers, ranges (electric, gas, and pro-style), cooktops, wall ovens, and microwave ovens. Always check the predicted reliability and owner satisfaction of an appliance before buying.
Brand-level reliability: These scores, in the chart above, reflect how well the kitchen appliances from a particular brand perform in our surveys. You can use these ratings to zero in on a reliable brand, then check our ratings to find the individual models that fare best in our tests.
