The Affordable Appliance Brand That's Owned By Whirlpool

The Whirlpool appliance name summons to mind images of top-load washing machines and sleek, state-of-the-art dryers. These machines may form the most popular image of the brand, but it also has produced kitchen and temperature-control appliances since the 1950s. But take a closer look around your home, and you might be surprised by just how many appliances fall under the Whirlpool umbrella — including another popular appliance brand, KitchenAid (which has one of the best small appliances for your kitchen), JennAir, and InSinkErator. 

Since its founding in 1911, Whirlpool has made a name for itself as a leading American producer of household appliances. In 2006, Whirlpool acquired Maytag Corporation, a $2.6 billion deal that also made Whirlpool the owner of Amana appliances, which Maytag had purchased five years earlier. Amana is particularly noteworthy for offering appliances at prices generally below those of its corporate parent's namesake brand.

In a September 2026 comparison of value-tier appliances at The Home Depot, Amana products — including top-load washers, top freezer refrigerators, electric ranges, and dishwashers — each cost between $60 and $155 less than a roughly comparable Whirlpool model. Whirlpool appliances tend to offer fancier features than Amana, such as app controls, automatic detergent dispensers, and elaborate refrigerator storage innovations. But Amana's machines, though sporting fewer frills, still get the same jobs done at a lower price.

The reliability of Amana appliances is rooted in nearly a century as an innovator in the sector. The company's namesake is its founding location — Middle Amana, Iowa — which began in 1934. Since then, the company has been at the forefront of numerous appliance innovations, including the first side-by-side refrigerator designed for households in 1949, the first bottom freezer refrigerator in 1957, and the first countertop microwave in 1967. These products were designed with American culture and consumer habits in mind, and Amana's parent company, Whirlpool, still strives to build appliances in U.S. factories. According to Whirlpool, approximately 80% of its major appliances sold in the United States are produced in American factories, including Amana.

Maintaining domestic manufacturing while keeping prices affordable has proven difficult. Whirlpool laid off a little more than half of its employees in its Amana factory to make room for new technology and more efficient assembly lines, part of a modernization plan intended to keep refrigerator production viable in Iowa. But Whirlpool also increased production sourcing from Mexico and China, particularly increasing the infrastructure for refrigerator assembly in Mexico.  Competing pressures illustrate the challenge behind Amana's affordable prices: Producing budget appliances for which the brand is known while preserving American manufacturing that Amana advertises.