What's a good older washing machine brand/model?

[Stubby]

My old, low-end Maytag washer and drier have been going strong since

1996. BUT Maytag is a different company these days and I would not buy their products today.

Doc wrote:

[Mike T.]

HUGE problem with that approach. There is no brand name "Kenmore". Kenmore LABELLED washer/dryers are made by many different manufacturers. Some are good, some are not so good. So buying Kenmore is very much risky.

No argument there

[Mike T.]

Sheesh, how many times do I have to explain this? THERE IS NO SUCH BRAND AS KENMORE!!! There is no company called "Kenmore" that manufactures appliances. Kenmore is a line of appliances made by many different appliance manufacturers. SOME are good, some aren't. If you've had good luck with Kenmore, it was just LUCK, as you had no fricking clue what you were actually buying, when you bought that (whatever) that was LABELLED "Kenmore". If you are going to buy "Kenmore", you might as well roll the dice to decide what brand you want, as that is exactly what you are oing. -Dave

[Mike T.]

Kenmore has many manufacturers, probably 3 or 4 manufacturers make their washer/dryer sets alone. I DO know that various "Kenmore" labelled appliances are made by electrolux/frigidaire and whirlpool. But those aren't the only manufacturers making appliances labelled "Kenmore". LG (Goldstar) also makes "Kenmore" labelled crap. -Dave

[Mike T.]

I've been buying frigidaire and whirlpool appliances for many years. Now frigidaire is electrolux, but . . .

Of the brands you listed, I'd go with the whirlpool, and nothing else is even close. About 15 years ago, we bought a whirlpool top load washer/dryer set. When it was a few years old, it was moved to another house. When it was 10 years old, it was moved again. This time, the movers goofed and bounced the washer down the stairs trying to get it into the basement. It seemed to suffer NO damage at all, other than some bad scratches and a couple of dents. We used them for a couple more years, then gave them to a guy who was unemployed and his washer just died on him. They are still going strong. Since we bought them (and to this day) they are averaging 4-5 loads of laundry a week. WOW. Moved three times, once very roughly. What more can you say? -Dave

[C. Massey]

Kenmore IS the Sears BRAND even though it is manufactured by someone else.

Also in response to your other anti Kenmore post, if you have a knowledgeable salesman at Sears, he can look at the model number and tell you which company manufactured the unit in question.

My parents have always bought Kenmore and *never* had problems within the first 20 years or so. My in-laws always have bought Kenmore and have never had problems. They have a large family and the appliances do get abused there. My wife and I have been buying Kenmore and we have never had problems as of yet. We have a Kenmore washer, dryer, refrigerator and an upright freezer. After 13 years, we have never had anything other than PM's performed on the washer and dryer and not a thing done to the refrigerator or freezer.

We rent our home and the landlord installed new Frigidaire dishwasher (in an earlier post, I said it was a Whirlpool by mistake), stove, oven and refrigerator. The dishwasher is junk, the oven temperatures are off by about

20 degrees. We have the refrigerator in the garage and seems to be working ok, but we have our trusty old Kenmore in the house.

You don't like the band name Kenmore, then buy something else. Kenmore has a good track record as far as I am concerned and will continue to by them.

[Mike T.]

If you like Kenmore, that's great. To call Kenmore a brand however, is (at worst) a bald-faced lie, and at best very misleading. To say that Kenmore is a brand of appliances is like saying that "Geo" was a brand of automobiles. If I tore off all the Ford emblems and stuck a "Mikey" sticker on my car, would that mean that my car was Mikey brand??? Heck no. That's why it's ridiculous to state that Kenmore is a brand of appliances. For about the thousandth time, there is no company called "Kenmore" that manufactures appliances. Never was, probably never will be. -Dave

[C. Massey]

I never said that there was a company named Kenmore, did I?

OK... I'll bite... Why wasn't Geo a "brand"?

[pebe]

We had a Hotpoint for 22 years. It went through 2 motors, a set of brushes and a door seal in that time. The door seal gave up the ghost a month ago and I could find no-one who stocked spare ones. So it had to be replaced.

Went for a Hotpoint again. Superb. The quietest machine I've heard. Excellent wash and no 'walking across the floor' when it spins.

[Mike T.]

Because there was no manufacturer named "Geo", and there was no single company that was manufacturing automobiles under a dba "Geo". The cars and SUVs sold (by GM dealers) as "Geo" were made by various car manufacturers such as Suzuki and Isuzu and Toyota (that I know of), and maybe other manufacturers as well. For example, just about everyone in the known universe is aware that the Prism (labelled Geo, later labelled Chevy) was actually a Toyota Corolla. Fewer people are aware that the much-maligned Geo Metro was actually A re-badged Suzuki Swift. Suzuki and Isuzu both made other vehicles which were labelled "Geo" and sold at GM dealers. But "Geo" was just a label, NOT a brand. The brand of the Geo Prism was Toyota. The brand of the Geo Metro was Suzuki. And so on.

In the same sense, "Kenmore" is just a label, it is NOT a brand. If you can find a company called "Kenmore" which makes appliances sold by Sears, I will eat my words. But no such company exists. There is no single company with a dba of "Kenmore" that makes appliances for Sears, either. Therefore, Kenmore is not a brand. It is a label.

The most you can say about Kenmore is that if you find something labelled "Kenmore", it was purchased at Sears or K-Mart. If I purchased a pick-up truck labelled "Craftsman", nobody would be stupid enough to think that my pick-up truck was actually manufactured by Sears, or by a subdivision of Sears called "Craftsman". Yet many people believe that "Kenmore" is a division of Sears that manufactures appliances under the "Kenmore" brand. It's idiotic in the extreme.

Even worse are various consumer groups that proudly proclaim that their research indicates Kenmore is the best brand of blah blah blah . . .

(if anyone should KNOW better) Sheesh. -Dave

[trainfan1]

C. Massey wrote: > ...I never said that there was a company named Kenmore, did I?

It is/was is a brand, w/ it's unique VIN, of NUMMI & Suzuki vehicles sold by Chevrolet dealers.

Rob

[C. Massey]

So, Linclon/Mercury isn't a brand? Pontiac isn't a brand? Oldsmobile isn't a brand?

While I agree with you that many people probably think that Kenmore makes the Kenmore brand, I still believe that Kenmore is a brand name.

This isn't worth arguing about. It's not going to solve the worlds problems. You think that you are right and I know that I am right! :)

[gamer]

You are quite naive. Brand names are simply registered / protected names - None are a particular product, particular manufacturer, particular formulation, etc.

While you are quite correct in stating Kenmore does not define a particular manufacturer, set of manufacturing requirements, etc, that is true for all brand names.

To use your example, Ford can substitute any products they wish within that car / manufacture it anywhere they wish and still call it a Ford. They could even have Honda make a car for them and call it a Ford, if they so choose.

[Mike T.]

Lincoln/Mercury is a brand. You know it's a division of Ford. Pontiac is a brand. You know it's a division of GM. Oldsmobile? I think they used to be a division of GM. They were definitely a brand.

For Kenmore to be a brand, Kenmore would have to manufacture appliances, OR that they would have to be a division of a company that does manufacture appliances*. Neither is true. -Dave

*For example, Frigidaire is an appliance brand, as they are a division of Electrolux, and Electrolux manufactures appliances.

[Mike T.]

You and I both know that manufacturers often sell products that they did not produce themselves. Chevy right now sells an economy car manufactured by Daewoo. I believe they call it the Chevy Aveo?

The problem though, is that most people think of a brand as a company. If you buy the Chevy Aveo for example, you might not know that it's a Daewoo. But if you bought it thinking it was a Chevy, that's OK, as Chevy is a real brand of automobiles.

The problem with thinking of Kenmore as a brand is, Kenmore does not make one single appliance. If half of the "Kenmore" stuff was made by a company called "Kenmore" and the rest of the "Kenmore" stuff was made by a mix of frigidaire/electrolux, whirlpool, kithenaid, maytag, etc . . . then it would be correct to say that Kenmore was a brand.

But to call "Kenmore" a brand when they don't make even ONE appliance is (at best) misleading. Kenmore is a label, not a brand. -Dave

[C. Massey]

Whatever....

[gamer]

You are correct in that neither is true - but the reason is that the owner of a brand name does NOT have to manufacture that product.

Do you believe P&G manufacturers all their own products?

Do you believe Liz Claiborne manufactures (any of) their clothing line?

Do you believe the gas at your local Exxon station was all manufactured / processed at an Exxon refinery?

And do you really believe Coke is made using the same formulation today as 50 or 100 years ago?

There is NO reason a brand has to be manufactured by the owner of that brand name or by any specific set of conditions / formulation.

Hint - most companies subcontract the manufacture of many of their products and make changes in suppliers, formulations, etc - all the time.

[Chloe]

You can make up or adopt whatever usage you want, but by dictionary definition, Kenmore is obviously a brand name, the one under which Sears sells appliances (the caps are mine).

"a word, name, symbol, etc., esp. one legally registered as a trademark, used by a manufacturer OR MERCHANT to identify its products distinctively from others of the same type and usually prominently displayed on its goods, in advertising, etc.

[trainfan1]

Mike T. wrote: But "Geo"

Well... actually the Corolla was a NUMMI built vehicle sold by Toyota(Brand) as the Corolla(Marque).

Rob

[Rich256]

Confused about Frigidaire. For example one of the Kenmore front loaders, a Frigidaire front loader and a GE front loader were all pretty much identical. I think all made in the same factory owned by White-Electrolux. Kind of similar to Kenmore for that one.