7 Frequent Complaints Customers Make About Whirlpool Kitchen Appliances

In many ways, Whirlpool has helped to make life easier. Founded back in the 1910s, the American company (yep, it was born and raised in the USA) pioneered the invention of the electric washing machine before branching out into kitchen appliances, like refrigerators, freezers, ovens, and microwaves. More than 100 years later, Whirlpool is a household name, generating billions of dollars in sales every year. 

But there are some big drawbacks to Whirlpool. In fact, customers have many gripes and grievances to air about this brand. People say it's one of the most overpriced appliance brands, and you just can't trust its products to work properly, which seems to be a running theme with many appliance companies (ahem, Nespresso, looking at you).

Here, we're taking a look at some of the most frequent complaints people make about Whirlpool's kitchen appliances specifically. Small spoiler, but they range from customer service nightmares to ovens covered in stubborn, sticky blue plastic and seemingly unfixable refrigerators.

Whirlpool has been around for more than a century, and, let's be honest, it's rare that a company sticks around for that long without a good reputation. But lately, some customers have observed that the quality of Whirlpool's kitchen appliances just isn't what it used to be. "Does anyone else feel like around 2020ish, Whirlpool appliances became garbage?" asked one Reddit user in r/appliancerepair. "Their stuff gets worse by the year."

Customers have reported all manner of issues, including dishwashers with failing control boards, ovens with chipping enamel, and microwaves that suddenly give up without warning. "Every appliance I have is Whirlpool," reads another Reddit post in r/Appliances. "They used to be a good company. Not anymore." Quality problems also seem to have resulted in legal trouble. In 2026, Whirlpool settled a lawsuit over a wire harness issue in refrigerators manufactured between 2018 and 2021 that caused failures in the appliance's ice maker, ice dispenser, water dispenser, and control panel.

So, what happened? Some speculate that things have been going downhill for a considerable amount of time. In fact, some say that things haven't been right since the company merged with Maytag in 2006. Others, however, maintain that declining quality isn't specific to one appliance company. "It's an industry wide phenomenon," observed one Redditor in r/appliancerepair. "Whirlpool perhaps is one of the more egregious and obvious examples."

As we've established, Whirlpool has historically been praised for its quality, and durability is a big part of that. Some people have reported their Whirlpool refrigerators lasting as long as 30 years. That's significantly longer than the lifespan of an average refrigerator, which is between 10 and 15 years. Others have claimed that their Whirlpool ovens have lasted three decades, while some say that they have used their Whirlpool microwaves without issue for as long as 25 years.

But the days of Whirlpool kitchen appliances lasting long enough to see a person through from childhood to their wedding day seem to be behind us. "Nothing new will last," said one Redditor in r/BuyItForLife. "My Whirlpool range is from 1988 and looks and runs like new. There's no way in hell I would get rid of this amazing piece of equipment for the new garbage they're selling today." That assumption, unfortunately, seems to have some truth in it. At least, that's what many customers are saying.

Some have claimed that their new Whirlpool refrigerators gave up after just a matter of months, while others have complained that they only got a few weeks of use before running into problems. Customers have also reported longevity issues with microwaves, dishwashers, and freezers. "A freezer should last [years], not months," a particularly disgruntled customer wrote on Trustpilot. "This is a poorly built piece of junk backed by a company that clearly doesn't stand behind its products."

For some, the most frustrating thing about Whirlpool's kitchen appliances isn't the quality issues or the lack of durability, but the fact that, when things do go wrong, there is very little in the way of support. "If it were possible to give a company a -5 star review for customer disservice it would definitely be Whirlpool," reads one Reddit post in r/Appliances. They went on to explain that when they tried to report an issue to the company, they were left on hold for hours, and when they did get to speak to someone, they seemed disinterested in helping to resolve the problem.

Unfortunately, it seems that many other customers have run into similar problems, claiming that employees are not only unhelpful but rude, too. "Whirlpool service reps are rude and treat customers like they are lying," reads one review on Trustpilot, while another called employees "extremely rude and condescending."

Clearly, many customers believe that Whirlpool customer service leaves a lot to be desired. However, many also acknowledge that they were actually sent a technician (eventually) in a bid to try and resolve the problem with their kitchen appliance. However, it seems that, on many occasions, technicians are unable to effectively fix issues.

"Whirlpool is one of the worst companies I have ever had the misfortune of dealing with," reads one Reddit post in r/Appliances. The customer went on to explain that, after multiple attempts over the course of a month, maintenance had been unable to repair their fridge and freezer, leaving them with faulty appliance and little hope for repair. "It is a complete disregard and disrespect of my time as they are wanting me to be at home around noon during the weekdays in which I work," they added.

And they are not alone. Unfortunately, while scouring Trustpilot and Reddit forums, we came across this kind of complaint time and time again. And it's not just fridges and freezers but also other appliances like ovens, microwaves, and dishwashers too. If an item can't be repaired, you might expect that Whirlpool would simply replace it. But regrettably, due to those apparent customer service issues, getting a timely replacement seems to be a big hurdle for customers to jump, too.

A warranty is supposed to represent a promise. It's a commitment from a company that if an issue arises with a product within a certain period, and it is not the customer's fault, the customer can make a claim for a refund or a replacement. Simple, right? In theory, yes; in reality, maybe not — especially when you're dealing with Whirlpool.

Many customers complain that not only are they faced with a lack of effective repairs and difficult customer service when things go wrong, but Whirlpool often won't honor its warranty, either. And apparently, they're not imagining things. "Someone in the industry told me recently that Whirlpool warranties are the most difficult to work with," one Redditor wrote in r/Appliances.

But again, many say that this isn't a Whirlpool-specific problem and is more of a reflection of the current state of the industry. One Redditor, in a post in r/BuyItForLife, remarked that many appliance warranties seem like they're not worth it, considering the number of customer service hoops customers have to jump through. 

If you've ordered a Whirlpool appliance recently, you might have been alarmed to discover that, instead of gleaming silver or stainless steel, it was bright blue. And then you might have breathed a huge sigh of relief when you realized it was just the protective coating that's designed to keep the appliance safe from bumps and scratches during travel. "I've been cussed out for bringing a blue washer/dryer/stove," recalled one former Whirlpool delivery person in r/Appliances. "Always funny to watch people get red faced with embarrassment when you peel off the plastic."

But people probably don't find it so amusing when they attempt to peel off the plastic coating themselves with little success. "There's a level of Hell just for whoever invented this protective coating on this Whirlpool range," reads one Reddit post with 1,000 upvotes at the time of writing. The user shared a video of them trying to pick up bits of blue from their stovetop. Many have agreed that they too have struggled to remove all the plastic coating from their Whirlpool appliances. "I still have it in the cracks and crevices of a mini fridge I bought 3 years ago," commented another Reddit user.

If you're in this predicament, Whirlpool has some advice. It recommends covering the appliance in packing tape, which will stick to the plastic, before attempting to peel it off slowly and gently.

Back in 2012, Whirlpool promised that it would bring its customers more up-to-date, modernized smart appliances. More than a decade later, it appears to have fulfilled that promise, offering ovens with voice control and microwaves that can be monitored from an app on your phone. But for some, smarter doesn't equal easier. In fact, many claim that their smart kitchen appliances from Whirlpool actually make things harder than they need to be.

"Setting the oven temperature is an awkward, multi-step process through menus of a comically bad, somewhat slow touchscreen interface," reads one Reddit post in r/Appliances, which also labeled Whirlpool's smart appliances "astonishingly incompetent." A few have reported that they can't use ovens with "locked" smart screens, some say that the touchscreens on their microwaves are faulty and others claim they have experienced ongoing problems with the Whirlpool app or the Wi-Fi not connecting to their appliances.

And once again, this doesn't seem to be a Whirlpool-only problem. In 2025, a study by J.D. Power found that, on average, appliances with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities have around 87 problems per 100 appliances.