Consumer Reports Reveals 2026 Best Kitchen Brands for Cooktops, Dishwashers, Ranges, Refrigerators, and Wall Ovens

YONKERS, NY – Consumer Reports (CR), the 90-year-old nonprofit research, testing, and advocacy organization, today revealed The Best Kitchen Appliance Brands of 2026, highlighting the top-performing kitchen appliance brands for cooktops, dishwashers, ranges, refrigerators, and wall ovens. To identify the best brands for kitchen appliances, CR’s engineers and data experts created a statistical model that aggregates the Overall Scores for every CR-tested model within each category. The calculations reflect performance from lab tests, predicted reliability scores, available features, and satisfaction data from appliance owners. Brands earn additional credit for delivering high performance at a lower cost than their competitors. The “CR Best Brand” mark is earned by the highest-scoring brand in each kitchen appliance category. 

“Kitchen aisles and search results are packed with competing claims, and it can be hard for people to know who to trust,” said Lilian Kayizzi, Vice President, Testing, Research and Insights, Consumer Reports. “CR’s kitchen appliance ratings simplify the search by steering shoppers toward the brands that deliver year after year in our independent evaluations. And for those who want more detail, our model ratings and expert recommendations help them find a specific appliance for their space and budget.”

Consumer Reports Best Kitchen Brands of 2026

• Best Cooktop Brands:
  • Gas Cooktops: LG
  • Electric Cooktops: LG
• Best Dishwasher Brand: Bosch
• Best Range Brands:
  • Electric Ranges: Frigidaire
  • Gas Ranges: GE
• Best Refrigerator Brands:
  • Top-Freezer Refrigerators: LG
  • French-Door Refrigerators: Bosch
  • Side-by-Side Door Refrigerators: GE
• Best Wall Oven Brand: LG

“The ‘CR Best Brand’ mark gives consumers a clear, trusted way to identify brands with a proven track record,” said Rob Gentile, Senior Director & General Manager, Brand Licensing, Consumer Reports. “For brands, the mark is a credible way to stand out and reinforce trust, performance, and reliability. For shoppers, it’s a shortcut to brands that consistently deliver better products.”

Brands that earn the “CR Best Brand” distinction can license the mark via CR’s Brand Licensing program. Shoppers can browse Best Brands at CR.org and look for the “CR Best Brand” mark in-store or online to help them make no-regret buying decisions.

How Consumer Reports evaluates kitchen appliances

CR helps shoppers make confident choices at different points in the buying process, whether they’re deciding which brands to trust or comparing specific models.

Brand ratings identify manufacturers that consistently perform well in our lab tests and member reliability surveys. This brand-level guidance gives shoppers a reliable way to narrow their search and validate their purchases.

Model ratings offer an in-depth look at individual appliances, helping shoppers compare performance, features, and value when they want to narrow down to a specific model. CR continually buys and tests kitchen appliances online and in stores, adding new models and removing old ones when they are no longer available. The testing is independent with no corporate influence: CR does not accept advertising, sponsorships, or free product samples from manufacturers. They use a team of secret shoppers to buy everything they rate. CR currently has test results for 700 kitchen appliances, including 50 wall ovens, 75 cooktops, 130 dishwashers, 190 ranges, and nearly 300 refrigerators.

Reliability scores draw on surveys of hundreds of thousands of CR members to show how brands and models hold up over the years in people’s homes, strengthening both our brand and model ratings.

For more information on CR’s Best Kitchen Brands, including the full ratings for every category, visit CR.org/Kitchen or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok @consumerreports.