Back when I started at Yale in 1986, there were many manufacturers who had their own brands. The exception was GE who had their Hotpoint brand. Back then, there were GE dealers and Hotpoint dealers. The difference was the style like the color of the handles and knobs.

Then GE allowed a dealer to sell both. Your immediate thought is probably: Why would anyone sell the identical product? We aren’t the smartest group and most did.

So GE now sold twice as much to the same dealer as crazy as it may seem to you. So companies like Whirlpool, Electrolux, GE, and BSH routinely use many labels to sell more products through varied distribution. You may see Whirlpool at a box store and Maytag at an independent store, but they are the same product.

Premium Brands

Then there is the premium set like Viking, Wolf, Miele, and Jenn-Air. They label to OEM's (short for Original Equipment Manufacturer) to complete their lines with speed ovens, steam ovens or even refrigeration.

For the purposes of this article, I want to focus on these brands. Otherwise, this blog will go on forever.

Let's look at a few premium labels and who really is the manufacturer.

Viking

We don’t sell Viking and haven’t since 2013. They outsource their products quite a bit, for good reason as they cannot seem to manufacture a decent product themselves. Their new company is trying to rectify the issues, but that takes time.

Their dishwashers are now manufactured by Blomberg. Who is Blomberg? Blomberg is a label of the Turkish company Arcelik. Outside of Turkey, they were mostly known as Beko. Never heard of them? You will have after this article.

Their freestanding refrigerators are made by Electrolux, according to their analyst calls last year.

Miele

Unusual that a company that doesn’t even outsource components for their own products would outsource whole categories. However, it makes sense to label another manufacturer, because they don't have scale or demand to open an expensive refrigerator facility.

That being said, they outsource refrigeration. In Europe, it's Liebherr. In the US, they outsource the refrigeration to Bosch. However, Bosch doesn't really make the refrigeration. It is actually produced by Arcelik. This company builds most of the integrated refrigeration (not Sub-Zero) in the U.S.

Wolf

Wolf, like Miele, is another family-owned company manufacturing most of its own products. Their steam ovens are manufactured by Tekka of Switzerland. The speed ovens and microwaves drawers are manufactured by Sharp like everyone else on this list except for Miele.

Their small appliances are quite good but are manufactured to their specification by Hamilton Beach. I never would associate those two companies, but it seems to work.

Thermador

You already know about microwaves and speed ovens. Thermador is part of the Bosch family and their top of the line brand is Gaggenau. They all have the same refrigerator which is all built by Arcelik. Gaggenau has the stainless steel interior and a better warranty.

Bosch is the manufacturer of both Thermador and Gaggenau dishwashers.

Jenn-Air

Other than speed, steam, and microwaves, Jenn-Air products are not outsourced by Whirlpool. They are cross-branded with KitchenAid (like the GE and Hotpoint in the 1980's). Whirlpool leverage their factories like GM used to do with Olds, Chevy, Buick, and Cadillac by labeling the same product.

So their ranges, refrigerators, and dishwashers (their shallow dishwasher is manufactured by Bosch) are almost identical to KitchenAid. For example, their Obsidian, a black interior built-in refrigerator, was gray in KitchenAid.

Jenn-Air's proprietary products are now their wall ovens and professional ranges. The rest you can buy as KitchenAid with different styling.

Should You Buy an Outsourced Products

It depends. Many of these products are good like the Wolf steam oven. Much more are free or enticements to buy the whole package. The Viking and Thermador dishwashers are free with the purchase of other non-OEM products, so it makes sense.

In some cases, it does not. You are paying a huge premium for an Electrolux built refrigerator or Blomberg built dishwasher (not in a package) with a Viking label. Ditto with Jenn-Air, but sometimes the more expensive Jenn-Air can be cheaper than the KitchenAid unit.

Just be aware of who makes what, so you do not overpay.

Additional Resources

Get the Yale Appliance Buying Guide with buying strategies, detailed profiles of all the brands and answers to the 10 most asked questions. If you are looking to buy a kitchen full of appliances, then you will find this guide useful. Well over 155,000 people have read a Yale Guide.

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