Kenmore Decoded: How to Tell If Yours Is Whirlpool, LG, or Frigidaire

Kenmore was never a manufacturer. The brand was applied by Sears to machines built by Whirlpool, LG, Frigidaire, GE, and others. Knowing who actually built your Kenmore matters because parts, failure modes, and service procedures follow the real maker, not the badge on the front.

The first three digits of the model number tell you. Look at the part before the period or space on the model tag (usually inside the door frame on washers, inside the door or on the rear of dryers).

• 110 means Whirlpool. These share parts with Whirlpool, Maytag, and Amana. You’ll see direct-drive top-loaders or Duet-style front-loaders.
• 796 is LG-built. Front-loaders with the round window and the LG-style direct-drive motor. Parts are LG-coded under the hood (drain pumps, control boards, drum bearings).
• 417 is Frigidaire. The Affinity-style front-loaders that show up in a lot of OC rentals.
• 363 and 587 are GE-built.
• 562 is Samsung-built on some newer models.

Why this matters in the field: a “Kenmore 110” no-spin call gets handled like a Whirlpool direct-drive. We check the motor coupler, the lid switch, the drive block. A “Kenmore 796” no-drain gets handled like an LG. We check the drain pump and the coin trap, and we pull LG fault codes from the control board. Same badge on the front, completely different parts behind it.

We had a call last month in Mission Viejo where the homeowner had been quoted $400 by another shop for a “Kenmore drain pump.” The model was a Kenmore 796.40272 — an LG underneath. The actual fix was a sock in the LG coin trap and 10 minutes of labor. The model number would have told them.

DIY: writing down those first three digits before you call saves time on every service call. If the sticker is missing or unreadable, photograph the serial plate inside the door or under the lid. The full model number plus the serial gets us to the correct parts diagram before we leave the shop. For the Sears Kenmore identification deep-dive, we have a companion post that covers the rarer prefixes.

We’re at (949) 283-6111 weekdays and weekends, 8am to 7pm. Three-month warranty on parts and labor.