Frigidaire

Frigidaire as a brand has been around for many years. In fact, older people (80’s plus), when calling Landers Appliance for service, would often refer to their refrigerator as their Frigidaire. As best as I can determine in talking to customers and doing research, the reason for this improper naming stems from the time when Frigidaire was owned by General Motors. At the time the Frigidaire brand had a larger market share and experienced a sales surge from being associated with GM. This was also the post war time (1940’s through early 1950’s) when people were moving away from having a true ICE BOX (a box that housed a large block of ice that would keep food from spoiling until the ice melted) and transitioning to the electro-mechanical refrigerator in use today. There were no international competitors in the US appliance industry and Frigidaire was one of only a few companies offering a house hold refrigerator for sale.

Since I have been in the service business for over thirty five years, I have watched the Frigidaire brand change ownership several times. GM sold the Frigidaire brand to White Consolidated before my time. White Consolidated then sold to the current owner Electrolux in 1986. Electrolux was founded as a vacuum cleaner manufacturer and grew into the world’s largest producer of household appliances (Whirlpool is the world’s largest in the major appliance category). The Frigidaire name was used by Electrolux as the only brand sold in their American division until the Frigidaire brand was positioned as their mid grade, every day product and Electrolux was positioned as their slightly higher end brand.

Frigidaire offers a large number of appliances with multiple choices and price points. Interestingly, one glaring exception is that Frigidaire and Electrolux do not currently sell a top load washer with or without an agitator. They only sell the front load washer. The brand has never been a top seller in the US and historically ranked third behind Whirlpool and General Electric in sales volume. If you were to ask our Landers Appliance service technicians about Frigidaire products, they would say that while not cheaply made, Frigidaire appliances in general do not carry the same life expectancy of other brands due to what they see as design issues. One distinct advantage though, is that Frigidaire replacement parts are usually less expensive than either GE or Whirlpool appliance parts and their initial cost at the register tends to be less than other brands. Parts are also readily available through a wide distribution network and most companies, Landers Appliance included, services the full line of Frigidaire appliances.

If you have a service related question or would like a current perspective on a Frigidaire (or any other brand) appliance, please contact me, Dean Landers at 410 682-3232 ext 101 or DLanders@LandersAppliance.com.

For more information about Fridgidaire, visit their website.

* If you love to read about Americana Industrial history check out Dr. Lee Maxwell’s book called “Save Womens Lives – History of Washing Machines”. Dr Maxwell actually has a museum full of old washing machines in Eaton, Co You are also welcome to come to Landers Appliance showroom (7032 Golden Ring Rd. Baltimore, MD) and look through the books as we have signed copies sitting on top of our two antique wringer washers.

Servicing Areas