Kenmore vs LG refrigerators: an incident-report comparison

What this Kenmore vs LG comparison is based on#

Two federal complaint records are counted on this page: 373 CPSC SaferProducts incident reports naming a component on a Kenmore refrigerator between 2011 and 2025, and 192 doing the same for an LG refrigerator between 2011 and 2026. Every share belongs to its own column, and neither total counts refrigerators sold or in service.

The closest pairing on the page is a trade, not a lean#

Four of the eight compared components show no measured difference between the two records, and the remaining four split evenly: two lean LG, two lean Kenmore, and none by more than 4 points.

That is a genuinely balanced result, and it is worth naming because it rules out the most common explanation for a difference between two records. When one record names components more freely than the other, its shares rise almost everywhere. Nothing like that happens here.

Where the two records agree exactly#

The control board is the striking one: 7% of the Kenmore reports and 7% of the LG ones, 25 filings against fourteen. Two records of different sizes arriving at the same share on a component that carries real weight in both.

The motor matches at 2%, eight filings against three. The thermostat or sensor matches at 1%, five against two. The condenser matches at 1%, two against one. Those three are small on both sides and their agreement is worth less than the control board's, but the pattern is consistent: nothing in the middle of these two records pulls apart.

The four rows that separate them#

The ice maker leans LG by 4 points, 13% against 9% — 24 filings against 35. That is the largest gap here, and it is an unusually clean one, because both sides rest on a couple of dozen reports.

The water valve or line leans LG by 3 points, 3% against 0%: six filings against one. It sits on the same side of the appliance as the ice maker, which is the one place a reader could reasonably see a theme rather than two separate rows.

Running the other way, the compressor leans Kenmore by 2 points, 11% against 9%, 42 filings against eighteen; and the wiring or power cord leans Kenmore by 2 points, 3% against 1%, twelve filings against two.

Two rows about water on one side, two rows about power and the sealed system on the other, none of them wide. That is what a real, small difference between two complaint records looks like — much less dramatic than most brand-comparison material, and much more likely to survive scrutiny.

The shapes of the two columns#

Both records descend in steps rather than off a cliff. Kenmore's leading three rows are the compressor at 11%, the ice maker at 9% and the control board at 7% — 102 filings out of 373. LG's are the ice maker at 13%, the compressor at 9% and the control board at 7% — 56 out of 192.

The order of the top two is swapped and everything else holds. That is about as close to a structural match as two independent complaint records get, and it means the two tables can genuinely be read as one shortlist.

Both tails end in single filings. Kenmore's carries a defrost system and a water valve or line at one report each; LG's carries a condenser and a drain pump or hose at one apiece. Rows that size are the edge of the classification and carry no argument.

One asymmetry to keep in view#

The Kenmore record stops in 2025 and the LG one runs to 2026, so the most recent Kenmore submissions are missing. Over a fourteen-year window that is a small omission, but on a page whose real differences are 2 to 4 points it is worth remembering before treating any single row as settled.

Reading the pair together#

For a technician these two columns give nearly the same shortlist: compressor, ice maker and control board on either brand, with the first two swapping places. The LG record adds the water valve as a modest fourth; the Kenmore record puts slightly more weight on the wiring. Neither column is a failure rate, because neither counts refrigerators.

Kenmore vs LG refrigerators: what the reports mention#

Both columns are shares of their own corpus, and the corpora differ in size. Kenmore: CPSC SaferProducts incident reports for Kenmore refrigerators, 2011-2025, n=373. LG: CPSC SaferProducts incident reports for LG refrigerators, 2011-2026, n=192. A difference no larger than one report on either side is marked "within one-report noise".

About the corpus: these are CPSC SaferProducts reports — incidents someone chose to report, not units sold — so the shares on this page are shares of the reports and never a failure rate. The corpus is weighted toward safety events: 12,007 of its 20,581 records (58%) are fire, smoke, burn or melt reports, which over-represents the components that burn and under-represents the ones that merely stop working.

Kenmore refrigerators: the reported component split#

Kenmore refrigerators — every share in this table is a share of: CPSC SaferProducts incident reports for Kenmore refrigerators, 2011-2025, n=373.

Shares of reports, not failure rates — see the corpus note above.

LG refrigerators: the reported component split#

LG refrigerators — every share in this table is a share of: CPSC SaferProducts incident reports for LG refrigerators, 2011-2026, n=192.

Shares of reports, not failure rates — see the corpus note above.

How to use these numbers#

What this comparison can settle: which components the reported incidents of each brand actually concentrate on, for this appliance. What it cannot settle: which brand fails more often. That would need units sold, and no public source states it. Use the component split to plan for the repair each brand is most reported for, not to rank the two.