Whirlpool Estate Series

I am looking for a new fridge. I found a Whirlpool I like. It's from the Estate series.

The salesman says this is a premium brand. I think he's full of it, but I don't know. I saw similar Whirlpool fridges at Best Buy that cost more but they didn't say "Estate". I just don't want to end up buying a subpremium builder-grade series.

Thanks

Mort

Reply to
Mort Guffman
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i had the same concern you did and the guy let me look at the parts list for both an estate and its purebread whirlpool twin brother (both were in stock too so i could look at them) same control panel, same top, same elements. comparing the quality side by side, the only differences i saw were cosmetic. same guage metal, same trim, about all worth mentioning is that the whirlpool had 6 oven rack slots and mine has 5. at first glance you would have thought they were the same model. the whirlpool 'may' have been built better but i couldnt see anything apparant. the estate was 150 or so less.

so in short, i think estate stuff is ok. sure its not industrial grade, but for me it was the best i could find for the money.

randy

Reply to
xrongor

Not a premium series but not necessarily bad either. Used to be Estate was the series that Whirlpool offered to the warehouse stores like Costco. I was told once by a Whirlpool rep that what they did was drag out old molds for the cosmetic panels and make up enough to run off a few train loads of machines. It was cheap because the molds had been paid for and were just collecting dust in a warehouse. The machines looked different so the regular dealers didn't or couldn't get too upset with Whirlpool for supplying Costco, etc. with cheaper machines.

Reply to
Tom

It's just a cosmetic difference to avoid price competition with retailers vs discounters.

The same appliances, mattresses, etc., are sold with a variety of model numbers for this silly sales gimmick, so you can't price-shop or claim low- price guarantees.

Reply to
Richard J Kinch

I suspect if you go the the appliance parts store you will find the "guts" of all whirlpool appliances are virtually the same. They only differ on the outside in the sheet metal case and the complexity of the timer.

Reply to
Greg

Greg has it right. All appliances by a manufacturer are of the same quality, regardless of nameplate. They only differ in features, capacity, and styling. Some manufacturers will reserve certain features for certain nameplates, and some nameplates are reserved for cerain marketing channels and geographic regions.

However, there is one tiny exception, and that is when a one manufacture sells to another, with the latter's name on the product. Example: The front load GE washer at Home Depot is a Frigidaire product. So it would conform to Frigidaire's quality level, not GE's. Another way this could impact you is that parts for this product would have GE part numbers and GE prices, which tend to be higher.

There are a number of common products that are made by one manufacturer, and marketed by another. Examples would be the front load washer mentioned above, as well as certain laundry systems (dryer over washer that can't be detached). Some Asian refrigerator models appear under different nameplates. Finally, all private label appliances sold at certain retailers are manufactured by the big four US companies: Whirlpool, Frigidaire, GE, and Maytag, although some of these companies are into this marketing channel more than others.

Reply to
Todd

Exactly. You can see whom makes what brand names in the major home appliance industry at the following link:

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That may be a good thing... depending on your point of view.

Often considerably in GE's case from what I've seen and there is not always a cross reference between the name brand's part numbers and the actual appliance manufacturer's part numbers so consumers are often forced by necessity to purchase the higher cost item. :(

The "Availability Search" feature in my site's 'Repair Parts' section has some such cross references built-in but there are so many, it's hard to keep track. I wish everyone just used the actual appliance manufacturer's part numbers to keep everything straight!

JMO

Dan O.

- Appliance411.com

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Reply to
Dan O.

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