Results from the JD Power 2026 U.S. Appliance Reliability & Service Study℠, released today, show appliance reliability and service satisfaction are under pressure. This comes as products become more complex, increasing customer expectations. Overall satisfaction with appliance service stands at 743 points (on a 1,000-point scale), down 13 points from the prior year, a significant decrease. Problem rates also vary considerably by appliance type.

Dishwashers and front-load washers experience an average of 92 and 91 problems per 100 appliances (PP100), respectively, while clothes dryers experience an average of 55 PP100. Cooking appliances, including wall ovens, ranges and cooktops, average 66 PP100, while top-load washers average 64 PP100, and top-mount freezer refrigerators average 59 PP100. Side-by-side refrigerators average 72 PP100, while French Door Refrigerators average 76 PP100.

“As appliances include more electronics and features, they also contain more components that can fail,” said Michael Taylor, senior managing director, travel, hospitality, retail and customer service at JD Power. “Control panels and touchpads are one example. This year’s study found that owners of cooking appliances experienced 8.0 PP100 related to control panel and touchpad button failures.”

Key findings of the 2026 studies include:

  • Brand loyalty leader: Appliance service customers say they “definitely will” purchase Samsung again at a rate of 62%, compared with a 54% segment average across the study.

  • Timely arrival of service techs is key to satisfaction: Overall satisfaction is 757 points among customers whose technician arrived during the scheduled time frame, compared with 638 points among those whose technician did not. Additionally, 88% of customers had a technician arrive within the scheduled time frame.

  • Repair problems are often solved by a single visit: In total, 94% of customers say the service technician fixed the issue, and 75% reported the technician did not reschedule the original appointment.

Study Rankings

KitchenAid ranks highest in dishwasher reliability for the second consecutive year with 72 PP100. GE Appliances (77 PP100) ranks second and Frigidaire (83 PP100) ranks third.

GE Appliances and Maytag rank highest in a tie in clothes dryer reliability, each with 50 PP100. This is the second consecutive year for GE Appliances in this category. Whirlpool (52 PP100) ranks third.

GE Appliances ranks highest in front-load washer reliability for the second consecutive year with 74 PP100. Maytag (79 PP100) ranks second and Samsung (82 PP100) ranks third.

LG ranks highest in top-load washer reliability with 56 PP100. GE Appliances (59 PP100) ranks second.

GE Appliances ranks highest in side-by-side refrigerator reliability for the second consecutive year with 54 PP100. Frigidaire and Whirlpool rank second in a tie, each with 70 PP100.

GE Appliances ranks highest in French door refrigerator reliability for the second consecutive year with 61 PP100. LG (66 PP100) ranks second and Frigidaire (71 PP100) ranks third.

GE Appliances ranks highest in top-mount freezer refrigerator reliability for the second consecutive year with 38 PP100. Frigidaire (45 PP100) ranks second.

GE Appliances ranks highest in cooking appliance reliability for the second consecutive year with 32 PP100. Frigidaire (57 PP100) ranks second and Whirlpool (60 PP100) ranks third.

Samsung ranks highest in service experience with an overall customer satisfaction score of 764 and LG (755) ranks second.

To view the complete rankings, visit http://www.jdpower.com/pr-id/2026114

The U.S. Appliance Reliability & Service Study measures the reliability of major household appliances purchased within the past one to three years, as well as the overall service experience of customers who had an in-home service technician visit coordinated by the appliance brand. Appliance reliability is evaluated using problems per 100 (PP100) as the unit of analysis. A lower PP100 score reflects higher quality, indicating that customers have experienced fewer problems, on average. Service experience is evaluated by examining customer experience across six core factors (in order of importance): ease of scheduling service technician visit; timeliness of completing the work; quality of the work performed; courtesy of the technician; knowledge of the technician; and professionalism of the service technician.

The 2026 study is based on 12,997 appliance reliability responses and 1,511 complete responses for the service study.

For more information about the U.S. Appliance Reliability & Service Study, visit https://www.jdpower.com/business/u-s-appliance-reliability-service-study

About JD Power

JD Power is a global leader in consumer insights, advisory services, and data and analytics. A pioneer in the use of big data, artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic modeling capabilities to understand consumer behavior, JD Power has been delivering incisive industry intelligence on customer interactions with brands and products for more than 55 years. The world’s leading businesses across major industries rely on JD Power to guide their customer-facing strategies.

JD Power has offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. To learn more about the company’s business offerings, visit JDPower.com/business. The JD Power auto-shopping tool can be found at JDPower.com.

About J.D. Power and Advertising/Promotional Rules: www.jdpower.com/business/about-us/press-release-info

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