Coldspot was a brand by US retail company Sears that existed from 1928 to 1976, when it was replaced with the Kenmore brand. [1] The brand was originally created for a line of refrigerators. Other products sold under the Coldspot brand included freezers, dehumidifiers, and window air conditioning units. Many of these products were manufactured for Sears by Seeger Refrigeration, which was purchased by Sunbeam, giving the new name Seeger-Sunbeam. The company was then purchased by The Whirlpool Corporation under various model prefixes, most notably the "106" model prefix which can be found on the model number placard on the unit. All units were manufactured at the Evansville, IN at the International Harvester Plant once known as the "Icebox" before Whirlpool closed the plant in 2009.
In 1934, Raymond Loewy redesigned the Coldspot refrigerator into what Time magazine would later praise as "a single smooth, gleaming unit of functional simplicity", increasing its sales five-fold within two years. [2]
Sears Canada Inc. was a publicly-traded Canadian company affiliated with the American-based Sears department store chain. In operation from 1952 until January 14, 2018, and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, the company began as Simpsons-Sears—a joint venture between the Canadian Simpsons department store chain and the American Sears chain—which operated a national mail order business and co-branded Simpsons-Sears stores modelled after those of Sears in the U.S. After the Hudson's Bay Company purchased Simpsons in 1978, the joint venture was dismantled and Hudson's Bay sold its shares in the joint venture to Sears; with Sears now fully owning the company, it was renamed Sears Canada Inc. in 1984. In 1999, Sears Canada acquired the remaining assets and locations of the historic Canadian chain Eaton's. From 2014, Sears Holdings owned a 10% share in the company. ESL Investments was the largest shareholder of Sears Canada.
Haier Group Corporation is a Chinese multinational home appliances and consumer electronics company headquartered in Qingdao, Shandong. It designs, develops, manufactures and sells products including refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machines, dryers, microwave ovens, mobile phones, computers, and televisions. The home appliances business, namely Haier Smart Home, has seven global brands – Haier, Casarte, Leader, GE Appliances, Fisher & Paykel, Aqua and Candy.
The Maytag Corporation is an American home and commercial appliance company. The company has been owned by Whirlpool Corporation since April 2006.
Craftsman is a line of tools, lawn and garden equipment, and work wear. Originally a house brand established by Sears, the brand is now owned by Stanley Black & Decker.
Frigidaire Appliance Company is the American consumer and commercial home appliances brand subsidiary of multinational company Electrolux, a Swedish multinational home appliance manufacturer, headquartered in Stockholm.
Kelvinator was an American home appliance manufacturer and a line of domestic refrigerators that was the company's namesake. Although it is now defunct as a company, the name remains a brand owned by Electrolux AB. It takes its name from William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, who developed the concept of absolute zero and for whom the Kelvin temperature scale is named. The name was thought appropriate for a company that manufactured ice-boxes and refrigerators.
Whirlpool Corporation is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of home appliances headquartered in Benton Charter Township, Michigan, United States. In 2023, the Fortune 500 company had an annual revenue of approximately $19 billion in sales, around 59,000 employees, and more than 55 manufacturing and technology research centers globally.
Hotpoint is a brand of domestic appliances. Ownership of the brand is split between American company Whirlpool, which has the rights in Europe, Chinese company Haier, which has the rights in the Americas and Turkish company Arcelik which has rights in Russia and the CIS.
Sunbeam Products is an American company founded in 1897 that has produced electric home appliances under the Sunbeam name since 1910. Its products have included the Mixmaster mixer, the Sunbeam CG waffle iron, Coffeemaster (1938–1964) and the fully automatic T20 toaster.
The Amana Corporation is an American brand of household appliances. It was founded in 1934 by George Foerstner as the Electrical Equipment Co. in Middle Amana, Iowa, to manufacture commercial walk-in coolers. The business was later owned by the Amana Society and became known as Amana Refrigeration, Inc. It is now owned by the Whirlpool Corporation. Today, the Amana brand is marketed as the economy brand of Whirlpool Corporation, slotting below Whirlpool in the lineup. Its closest competitor in the United States is the Hotpoint brand owned by GE Appliances/Haier.
Arçelik A.Ş. is a Turkish multinational household appliances manufacturer which owns Beko, Grundig and Indesit.
Murray was an American company whose assets are now owned by Briggs & Stratton and Pon Holdings. The corporate brand is a descendant of the Murray Ohio Manufacturing Company, which manufactured bicycles and lawn and garden equipment. The company went bankrupt in 2005 selling most of its assets to Briggs & Stratton and Pacific Cycle.
John Inglis and Company was a Canadian manufacturing firm which made weapons for the United Kingdom and British Commonwealth military forces during the World War II era, then later became a major appliance manufacturer. Whirlpool Corporation acquired control of Inglis in 1987 and changed the company's name to Whirlpool Canada in 2001. Today the Inglis name survives as a brand under Whirlpool.
KitchenAid is an American home appliance brand owned by Whirlpool Corporation. The company was started in 1919 by The Hobart Manufacturing Company to produce stand mixers; the H-5 is the first model that was introduced. The company faced competition as rivals moved into this emerging market, and introduced its trademarked silhouette in the 1930s with the model "K", the work of designer Egmont Arens. The brand's stand mixers have changed little in design since, and attachments from the model "K" onwards are compatible with the modern machines.
Hisense Group is a Chinese multinational major appliance and electronics manufacturer headquartered in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China. Televisions are the main products of Hisense, and it is the largest TV manufacturer in China by market share since 2004. Hisense is also an OEM, so some of its products are sold to other companies and carry brand names not related to Hisense.
MTD Products is an American manufacturer of outdoor power equipment for the mass market. Headquartered in Valley City, Ohio, the company began in 1932 and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Stanley Black & Decker. Prior to Stanley Black & Decker's acquisition in December 2021, MTD Products was a majority family-owned, private company. It originated as a tool and die maker. MTD's main competitors are Stihl, Ariens, Briggs & Stratton, John Deere and Husqvarna.
Admiral is an American appliance brand that is currently marketed by Whirlpool Corporation and sold exclusively at The Home Depot.
First Alert is the retail brand of American safety equipment manufacturer BRK Brands, Inc., established in 1976 and based in Aurora, Illinois, with a production plant in Juarez, Mexico. Products sold with the brand include carbon monoxide detectors, smoke alarms, fire extinguishers, and other safety products like flashlights and fire escape ladders. First Alert supports fire safety in partnership with Safe Kids USA and The United States Fire Administration, providing smoke alarms at reduced cost to low-income families in the United States.
Kenmore is an American brand of household appliances, cookware, floorcare, grills, HVAC equipment and other home items owned and licensed by Transformco, an affiliate of ESL Investments. Previously they were a subsidiary brand of Sears Holdings, but after Sears Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 15, 2018 they were acquired by Transformco, formed in 2019 after acquiring the assets of Sears Holdings Corporation.
Bauknecht Hausgeräte GmbH, commonly referred as Bauknecht, was one of Germany's leading manufacturers of household appliances, and since 1989 has been a brand of Whirlpool Corporation. The headquarters of the company was in Schorndorf in Baden-Württemberg until 2006 when it relocated to Stuttgart. Whirlpool has closed its three plants in Calw (refrigerators/freezers), Neunkirchen (dishwashers) and Schorndorf. Since 2012 all Bauknecht branded products have been manufactured outside Germany.