KitchenAid vs Maytag refrigerators: an incident-report comparison

What this KitchenAid vs Maytag comparison is based on#

Two small federal complaint records are counted here: 46 CPSC SaferProducts incident reports naming a component on a KitchenAid refrigerator between 2011 and 2026, and 76 doing the same for a Maytag refrigerator across the same window. Each share belongs to its own column, and neither total counts refrigerators sold or in service.

This is the thinnest pairing on either side in this comparison set — 122 reports across both columns — and the page is written accordingly.

Fix the scale before reading any row#

One KitchenAid filing is worth roughly two percentage points. One Maytag filing is worth a little over one. Those two figures govern everything below, and they are worth converting as you go rather than at the end.

In practice that means the KitchenAid 7% rows are three reports each, its 2% rows are one, and the Maytag 4% rows are three reports and its 3% row is two. Only four rows on this entire page rest on more than seven filings.

The compressor leads both, by nearly the same amount#

The agreement at the top is the durable result. The compressor takes 28% of the KitchenAid record — thirteen filings — and 25% of the Maytag one, nineteen filings. Three points apart, and first place in both columns.

Those are the two largest counts anywhere on this page, and they are the only two figures here that would survive a handful of reports being categorised differently. Two independently collected records agreeing that the compressor is the leading named component, at close to the same share, is worth more than any of the differences below it.

The ice maker is the one real difference#

The ice maker takes 24% of the Maytag record, eighteen filings, and 15% of the KitchenAid one, seven filings. Nine points, in Maytag's direction, and the widest gap on the page alongside the wiring row.

On the Maytag side that is a genuine second place, close behind its compressor: nineteen and eighteen filings, a single report apart, which means the ordering between Maytag's top two carries no information at all. On the KitchenAid side, seven filings is seven — the direction is probably right and the size of the gap is not something 46 reports can pin down.

The wiring row runs the other way#

The wiring or power cord takes 13% of the KitchenAid record and 4% of the Maytag one — six filings against three. Nine points, in the opposite direction to the ice maker.

Nine reports in total sit behind a 9-point difference. That is a fair summary of the arithmetic on this page: gaps that look substantial as percentages and dissolve into single-digit counts as soon as they are converted.

The motor and the control board follow the same pattern at 4 and 3 points, resting on three filings against two and three against three.

What this page is actually good for#

Two things, and neither is a ranking. First, the compressor result: both records name it first, at 28% and 25%, on thirteen and nineteen filings. That is a genuine shared finding and it is the one a technician can use.

Second, the demonstration itself. A comparison built on 122 reports will produce percentage gaps of 9 points that rest on nine filings, and reporting the counts beside the shares is what stops those gaps being mistaken for measurements. Every row here is shown with its filing count for that reason.

Both columns also carry tails that should be ignored: KitchenAid lists an evaporator, a thermostat or sensor and a water valve or line at 2% on one report each, and Maytag lists a condenser and a defrost system at 1% on one apiece.

Reading the pair together#

The compressor is the first stop on either brand, and both records say so at almost the same volume. After that, the Maytag record adds the ice maker as a near-equal second and the KitchenAid record does not have enough filings to add anything reliable. Neither column is a failure rate, because neither counts refrigerators.

KitchenAid vs Maytag refrigerators: what the reports mention#

Both columns are shares of their own corpus, and the corpora differ in size. KitchenAid: CPSC SaferProducts incident reports for KitchenAid refrigerators, 2011-2026, n=46. Maytag: CPSC SaferProducts incident reports for Maytag refrigerators, 2011-2026, n=76. 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.

KitchenAid refrigerators: the reported component split#

KitchenAid refrigerators — every share in this table is a share of: CPSC SaferProducts incident reports for KitchenAid refrigerators, 2011-2026, n=46.

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

Maytag refrigerators: the reported component split#

Maytag refrigerators — every share in this table is a share of: CPSC SaferProducts incident reports for Maytag refrigerators, 2011-2026, n=76.

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.