Whirlpool Vs LG Dishwashers: How Do These Popular Brands Compare?

As two of the best dishwasher brands out there, you may be wondering which company produces the best appliance: Whirlpool or LG? Each has a compellingly different history and corporate ethos. While Whirlpool is a long-lived staple that's been around for over a century before it turned into a multi-armed home electronics juggernaut, LG — once "Lucky Goldstar" — is a younger brand by comparison. It popped to life in 1958 and makes everything from television sets to refrigerators.

The way the two companies approach manufacturing their dishwashers (and other appliances) also divides them. Whirlpool concentrates on affordability and ease of access — things that, in the company's own words, "help families thrive." Meanwhile, LG is more technologically-minded, with lots of smart home features embedded in its various appliances. But which brand's washer will fit into your daily life with the least amount of muss and fuss? To help you answer that question, here are the five biggest differences between the two brands, including the features they don't share.

When it comes to washing arms, LG has a unique advantage over the competition. Its product offers a special QuadWash washing attachment. This implementation features four prongs instead of the usual two on the wash arms that spin around in your appliance. The name of the game is naturally improving the performance of the dishwasher — getting all that gunk off your dishes and sterilizing the flatware and other dining implements that go through every cycle.

Whirlpool, meanwhile, has stayed reliant on features like its "TotalCoverage Spray Arm," which has come standard in many Whirlpool models since 2016 when the brand redesigned its dishwashers. Known for making the most of the water pressure available to it, its spray arms are programmed to work and weave in ways that wash your dishes from multiple angles in the hope of ridding you of the maximum amount of dirt. Whirlpool dishwashers usually contain a total of two large spray arms.

But which is superior when it comes to dish cleaning? Whirlpool's wash arms are sometimes taken to task for splitting, causing leaks and resulting in repairs. Consumers also complain that stuck-on food still requires a pre-rinse sometimes. On the other hand, LG's dishwashers have accrued complaints about their weak spray arms, which require replacements. In the end, the superiority of your chosen brand will depend on how you use it.

Do you need your dishwasher to stay up and running at all times? Or are you willing to deal with the occasional breakdown if it's easy to repair it? Consumers say the quality of Whirlpool kitchen appliances has gone downhill, but it's much easier to find parts to replace them once they do break down, per several repair companies. These same operations also report that LG's more complicated design makes things much harder to diagnose initially.

Which brand of dishwasher lasts the longest overall? The two brands are quite comparable in that department, though it would likely depend on specific units. On average, LG dishwashers stick around for 10 to 14 years (often with a 10-year warranty on the motor), while Whirlpool's models keep on ticking for around 9 to 12 years, per repair company estimates.

LG's brushless design is part of what gives it an advantage over Whirlpool here. Fewer parts might mean fewer breakdowns, even despite the complexity of the LG units. But naturally, depending on how much maintenance you're willing to put into your dishwasher, it could last even longer.

Do you want to pair your dishwasher with your smart phone or other forms of home electronics? LG's units offer LG ThinQ connectivity, which patches into your home Wi-Fi connection and offers various smart home features. Through ThinQ, you can control the appliance via voice commands, use the app's automatic diagnostic features when trouble brews, and control the wash cycle through the company's smartphone app. Naturally, LG's ThinQ technology also envelops the brand's other appliances and electrics, including television sets, vacuums, washers, dryers, microwaves, air purifiers, and ovens.

While Whirlpool seems to have offered dishwashers with smart home capabilities that work in concert with the Whirlpool app, customers report that recent models don't have any real AI or smart home features at all. It's clearly not a company priority, as no dishwashers are featured on its listing of smart home-equipped appliances on the company website. No matter which way you slice it, it's clear that they're lagging behind LG in the artificial intelligence department.

What about cost breakdowns? It turns out that on the whole, Whirlpool's dishwashers tend to be a bit cheaper. As of this writing, the cheapest Whirlpool dishwasher currently on the market is the Quiet Dishwasher with Boost Cycle at $398.99. Conversely, the least expensive LG dishwasher is the 24 Inch Top Control Dishwasher with QuadWash and Dynamic Dry, priced at $549.00. The difference in price is quite noteworthy, especially if you buy the appliances straight from the manufacturer.

In the end, the difference between Whirlpool and LG dishwashers ultimately comes down to how much you're willing to spend — both or repairs and on the initial purchase — and which features you absolutely need and can live without. Whirlpool puts out solidly dependable results across the board, and is less expensive to boot, and while LG comes equipped with superior features. However, if smart home technology doesn't mean anything to you, then buying an LG unit may not be worthwhile. Let your must-haves be your guide and pull you in the right direction.