Kenmore is an American brand of household appliances sold by

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

, The brand is owned by

Transformco Transform SR Brands LLC (trade name, doing business as Transformco, referred to as "New Sears") is an American privately held company formed on February 11, 2019, to acquire some of the assets of Sears Holdings, Sears Holdings Corporation. T ...

, an affiliate of

ESL Investments ESL Investments is a privately owned hedge fund based in Greenwich, Connecticut. History ESL Investments is managed by Edward Lampert, who founded it in April 1988 and named it after his initials. The firm invests in the American public equit ...

. As of 2017, Kenmore products are produced by manufacturers including

Whirlpool A whirlpool is a body of rotating water produced by opposing currents or a current running into an obstacle. Small whirlpools form when a bath or a sink is draining. More powerful ones formed in seas or oceans may be called maelstroms ( ). ''Vo ...

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

, LG,

Electrolux Electrolux AB () is a Swedish multinational home appliance manufacturer, headquartered in Stockholm. It is consistently ranked the world's second largest appliance maker by units sold, after Whirlpool. Electrolux products sell under a variety ...

Panasonic formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Osaka P ...

, Cleva North America, and

Daewoo Electronics Winia Electronics, formerly named Daewoo Electronics, is a South Korean home appliances company and a member of South Korean Winia Group. Established in 1971, it has since grown into a global business with more than 64 production sites, research ...

. Today, the majority of the brand's portfolio is sold at

Kmart Kmart Corporation ( , doing business as Kmart and stylized as kmart) is an American retail company that owns a chain of big box department stores. The company is headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, United States. The company was inc ...

, and

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

. In 2019, the brand's grills and vacuum cleaners were offered at

Lowe's Lowe's Companies, Inc. (), often shortened to Lowe's, is an American retail company specializing in home improvement. Headquartered in Mooresville, North Carolina, the company operates a chain of retail stores in the United States and Canada. A ...

The Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc., is an American multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportation rentals. Home Depot is the largest home improvement re ...

and

Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, fi ...

History

The brand first appeared on a four-drawer drop feed sewing machine sold from 1913 to 1919. The first Kenmore washing machine was introduced in 1927. The first Kenmore vacuum cleaners were introduced in 1932. In 1976, Sears expanded the Kenmore name to its line of refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners, and dehumidifiers, which were previously branded as Coldspot. In 2016, the Kenmore brand was expanded into

consumer electronics Consumer electronics or home electronics are electronic (analog or digital) equipment intended for everyday use, typically in private homes. Consumer electronics include devices used for entertainment, communications and recreation. Usually r ...

with the launch of Kenmore-branded high definition (Kenmore HDTV) and

ultra HD Ultra-high-definition television (also known as Ultra HD television, Ultra HD, UHDTV, UHD and Super Hi-Vision) today includes 4K UHD and 8K UHD, which are two digital video formats with an aspect ratio of 16:9. These were first proposed b ...

(Kenmore Elite UHDTV) televisions. In July 2017, Sears announced that it will stock Kenmore products on

, and also support integration between its appliances and

Amazon Alexa Amazon Alexa, also known simply as Alexa, is a virtual assistant technology largely based on a Polish speech synthesiser named Ivona, bought by Amazon in 2013. It was first used in the Amazon Echo smart speaker and the Echo Dot, Echo Studio and ...

. In April 2018, Sears CEO and major investor

Edward Lampert Edward Scott Lampert (born July 19, 1962) is an American billionaire businessman. He is the former CEO and chairman of Sears Holdings (SHLD), founder of Transform Holdco LLC, and founder, chairman, and CEO of ESL Investments. Until May 2007, he ...

, along with his hedge fund ESL, offered to buy the brand along with Sears Home Services in order to diversify Sears’ already-strained assets. The hope of spinning off a stable asset, according to Lampert, is to increase capital in Sears’ portfolio, which would filter down into the stores, thus providing much needed income for the Sears brand. Lampert revised his offer to buy Kenmore in August 2018 for $400 million and without Sears' Home Services division. On October 14, 2018, Sears' parent company Sears Holdings filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection leaving the future of the Kenmore brand undecided. Sears will continue to sell Kenmore products and honor warranties while it undergoes restructuring. With the demise of

Sears Canada 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� ...

, Kenmore products are no longer sold in Canada, but existing warranty for Whirlpool-made Kenmore lines continued to be honored. A number of Canadian parts suppliers continue to provide Kenmore parts previously sold by Sears Canada. Some Kenmore products are also being individually resold online in 2021.

Products

Kenmore's upscale line of appliances is known as the ''Elite'' line. Kenmore also has a professional line of appliances called ''Kenmore Pro''. In October 2017, an announcement was made on the termination of the Sears-Whirlpool appliance relationship, which dates back to 1916. Sears will no longer sell Whirlpool and Whirlpool subsidiary-branded appliances, but Whirlpool will continue to supply the Kenmore appliances they make for Sears. In October 2017, Kenmore vacuum cleaners were certified

Asthma and Allergy Friendly Asthma & Allergy Friendly is a registered certification mark operated by Allergy Standards Limited in association with not-for-profit asthma and/or allergy organizations, labeling products which have been put through and have passed standardised te ...

. As of January 2019, the Kenmore brand had over 50 products listed as top performers on the non-profit website,

Consumer Reports Consumer Reports (CR), formerly Consumers Union (CU), is an American nonprofit consumer organization dedicated to independent product testing, investigative journalism, consumer-oriented research, public education, and consumer advocacy. Founded ...

List of common manufacturers

Whirlpool Corporation The Whirlpool Corporation is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of home appliances, headquartered in Benton Charter Township, Michigan, United States. The Fortune 500 company has annual revenue of approximately $21 billion, ...

LG Corporation LG Corporation (or LG Group) (), formerly Lucky-Goldstar from 1983 to 1995 (Korean: ''Leokki Geumseong''; ), is a South Korean multinational conglomerate founded by Koo In-hwoi and managed by successive generations of his family. It is ...

References

External links

Kenmore

Kenmore Live Studio on Facebook

{{- Home appliance brands Sears Holdings brands American companies established in 1913 Electronics companies established in 1913 American brands