re: #91 lawhawk

I get that the brands are rebadged products, but there are differences and CR does the testing across brands/badged products so the distinctions are quite real.

It could be that a particular Kenmore was made by Whirlpool in factory X, while other Whirlpools are made in factory Y. The Kenmore quality is better (or worse) than the Whirlpool, even though both made by same company.

Put another way, we know GM makes a whole range of autos, Chevy, Buick, GMC, etc., but some do better on quality and reliability than others (across brands and specific offerings).

But this much is certain - stay away from LG. Bad jobu.

Our assembly line made several refrigerator brands. We were GE, and made Hotpoint, a GE subsidiary. The difference, besides the trim, was that the GEs ran down the line at around 1200 per hour while the Hotpoints went at 1500. Line speed=quality.