KitchenAid
reviews and complaints

KitchenAid transacted an unauthorized charge against my debit card on or about September 9, 2011. When I noticed the pending charge against my account, I notified my bank and had to search out a number for KitchenAid, as their contact information had not been submitted along with the charge. I spoke with a representative who took my information and stated to me that she would get with the department responsible for handling such charges and that I should follow up with my bank. On September 12, the transaction settled and the funds were subtracted from my account. No further information was available on the transaction, so I called KitchenAid and asked to speak with the representative who had helped me before. Another representative offered to "help" instead. I explained to her what had happened. She then stated to me that there was NOTHING KitchenAid could do because they would need an order number to search for the order. If the charge was unauthorized, how in the world would I have an order number? Of course, I brought this to her attention, but she kept insisting the order number was the only way. As a business owner and merchant account holder, I KNOW there are other methods of tracing orders other than order numbers, especially when you have someone's debit card number, name, etc. Her supervisor sided with her, both insisting I'd just have to take it up with my bank who shouldn't have accepted the charge knowing it was fraudulent. Hunh? My bank knew it was fraudulent? Well, KitchenAid knew that, too, because I called them as soon as it appeared on my account. I have started a Facebook campaign against KitchenAid and their questionable practices. There is no way their company is so primitive as to not be able to trace a charge without an order number. I cannot believe this for a minute. I also plan to write their corporate headquarters for all that's worth. In the meantime, I am working with my bank to attempt to resolve this issue, because it's obvious KitchenAid cares nothing about doing what's right. I will never buy a KitchenAid appliance. As Whirlpool is the head corporation, I'll more than likely not purchase from them either.

Like thousands other people my kitchenaid superba oven (Kebs177dbl7, serno: xj3101002) refused to heat up after I used self cleaning feature for the first time since i've bought a house with it. Of course it was the infamous blown thermostat. I contacted the ka customer service providing links to other complains about the same issue and asking just for a new part. They said that even though I am 'a valuable customer' they can't help me since the oven is out of warranty. Fine, I asked to redirect me to a supervisor and finally she called me. I told her, that everybody knows about this problem but ka and that should be a recall. She kept repeating 'your oven is out of warranty and we can't help you'. I said fine, i'll join the army of unhappy customers in the internet and will just spread the word about how badly ka design their products. She said again that she can't help me. Oh, well, apparently ka doesn't care.

I am going to buy the part off the amazon ($34) and install it myself, not a big deal, but this is definitely the last product of kitchenaid in my household. I'll never buy anything else from them and will continue to tell everybody about my experience with ka.

Kitchenaid buyer beware! This is long, but if you are considering kitchenaid, you should read!

We moved into our newly constructed home in april of 2009. We purchased all kitchenaid appliances for the kitchen. The built-in refrigerator is a kbr036ftx and cost $5, 000 in addition to the $2, 000 worth of custom cabinetry it sits in. The horrors start when you call the kitchenaid “experience center” …

On june 15, 2011 (2 months out of warranty) it started to “warm up” … neither the fridge nor freezer could maintain the correct temperature. I immediately called kitchenaid and they sent a repairman the next day.

June 16 – (Day 2) he turns it off and on and said that sometimes that fixes things. It didn’t so he ordered a “dryer” and “access valve”. The parts took 7 days to arrive. He was not aware kitchenaid would expedite and kitchenaid did not offer it! (First clue ka does not put customer first)

June 23 – (Day 8) parts are replaced but nothing changes freezer was 21 and fridge was 45 degrees. I called kitchenaid, repairman can’t arrive until the following monday.

June 27 – (Day 12) repairman shows up at 4pm and on the phone with kitchenaid decides it needs a new compressor.

July 1 – (Day 16) 4 hours to install new compressor, new tubing and compressor didn’t “match up” so repairman had to “modify” all connections. Three hours later the fridge had warmed up dramatically … I called kitchenaid and they said that was normal, give it 24 hours. I asked for a supervisor and was told “supervisors are not available to customers”. (Second clue) he said they prefer same repairman finish the job (Third clue that customer comes last).

July 2 – (Day 17) fridge is 71 and freezer is 73, was partially usable before but now completely unusable. Company arrives for 8 days.

July 5 – (Day 20) told kitchenaid we would give the repairman one more chance and to get him out here.

July 6 – (Day 21) repairman arrives and now it is the inverter. I said “isn’t that quite the coincidence”? And he said that since the compressor is working great now, it was probably too much for the inverter. What? Part is not under warranty so I have to pay for it. They won’t even pay to expedite shipping. They clearly have no interest in helping me get this resolved quickly.

July 8 – (Day 23) I hired a new repairman. After time on the phone with kitchenaid, they determine it is the compressor (Again!) … inverter is fine, there was no need to order that but kitchenaid tells me it is non refundable and non returnable! Kitchenaid offers me $100.00 to buy a “dorm” fridge. Asked for a supervisor again and was put on hold for over 45 minutes and had to give up.

July 12 – (Day 27) third new compressor arrives, new repairman changes out and fridge starts to cool, but by next day is back to 70.

July 13 – (Day 28) new repair company is taking charge and will contact his representative since kitchenaid is doing nothing for me when I call.

July 18 – (Day 33) new repair company is trying to get it exchanged, they feel the entire system is contaminated. Kitchenaid says no way, it’s still repairable and they want the original incompetent, unreachable, part time repairman to complete the job. I called kitchenaid and demanded an exchange and that they work with the new repair company. I also asked again for a supervisor and was told someone would call me back in two business days! I gave two phone numbers so I wouldn’t miss the momentous call.

July 20 – (Day 35) super only called one of my numbers and left a voicemail. I called her back and left a voicemail. (Sigh …)

July 21 – (Day 36) still no word from supervisor, but new repair company has “made a deal” with kitchenaid and will be “allowed” to do my repair. Parts will arrive july 25th or 26th and repairs will be scheduled at that time.

I’m sure there is more drama to come, but wanted to get this posted so that no other potential buyers would buy kitchenaid unawares and unadvised.

Exactly 2 years ago we completely remodeled our kitchen and purchased over $10, 000.00 in KitchenAid appliances. Our French door refrigerator never sat right. It always looked like it was falling into the wall. My husband tried to level it and was frustrated that there was no way to level this fridge from front to back. He went on line and called customer service and was told there was no way to level this fridge. Upon moving the fridge out we also noticed that there was a bolt on the left side of the bottom of the fridge that was sticking out and gauging our hardwood floor when moved. On several occasions when I had KitchenAid repairman out to my home I would mention the leveling issue on the fridge and kept getting the same answer. One service company told us that you had to put shims in to level it. I have never heard of putting shims in a fridge to level it. We called KitchenAid and told them our situation and that the fridge was also at this point making a lot of noise. This was a few months ago. We did opt to extend our KitchenAid warranty through what I originally thought was KitchenAid directly but it is a third party company called Assurant. We were frustrated that we were stuck with a less than 2 year old $2, 500 refrigerator, that we had to put cardboard in for shims to try and make it level and were now making a lot of buzzing noises. I called the warranty company and they told me they don't come out for noises. Next I called KitchenAid directly and they advised us to call the warranty company back and ask for a second opinion company. While we were on the phone with KitchenAid my husband realized that the noise was coming from the under belly of the fridge. It was vibrating on our floor. After calling Assurant they scheduled an appointment with a service company who never showed after we waited from 8 am - 5 pm on a Saturday for them. I called the warranty company back not to happy but they scheduled Quaker City repair service to come out. They actually had been the company assigned to us by KitchenAid under the first year manufacturer warranty period. I was not very impressed with them from the get go. The repairman came, and looked at my fridge. After looking at it, I asked him what he thought and he refused to tell me anything. He said I would have to wait for a call for his report. He wanted to consult with someone else. I persistently tried to get some information out of him. I have never had a repairman not tell me what the problem was with an appliance for a service call. This only confirmed my poor impression with this company. After one week of waiting to hear from them I called the warranty company who lied and told me they had no report from the service company. The only thing he told me was that the noise it was making could not be addressed until somethings breaks and he told me to put a shim under the part that was making the noise underneath. What professional repair people. I called the service company and they read me the report and confirmed that the warranty company had a copy of the report. The service representative did read me a copy of the report which stated "Base of the unit is bent and preventing left right wheel to be on floor causing unit to be unbalanced." They told me that it was not able to be fixed. Assurant the warranty company will not fix the fridge or even address the issue because they are saying that the fridge was like this from the get go and KitchenAid says that it is out of the original 1 year warranty and will not fix it. We have spent countless hours on the phone with KitchenAid and the extended warranty company that KitchenAid uses and have gone round in circles. Neither will take responsibility for it. So right now we have a pretty new fridge that has shims under the back to try to level it and shims under the belly pan area to keep it from making loud annoying constant buzzing noises. Which is still does constantly. I am ready to kick it to the curb. We are totally frustrated. Every time we call we have to go through the same story and you would think that after 10 or more phone calls it would be on file. Somehow KitchenAid and the warranty company can't find our information each time. We are probably posting this on this website in vain but I am on a mission to post this information everywhere until someone listens and does something about my defective refrigerator. We are very unhappy with the lack of professionalism from KitchenAid's customer service, the repair companies that they use and the extended warranty company that KitchenAid offers.

We purchased Kitchen Aid Dishwasher from abt.com and after 6 months it stopped working.
After our call to KitchenAid, they send a support person from A&E and the first guy came and he did something to make it work once and it did not work after that. After the 2nd call to KithcenAid they resend some other technician from A&E and this guy opened the control panel and tested something and said that there is something wrong with some control panel and he ordered parts and one of the parts are in back order for few weeks. This is so frustrating that we are unable to use the dishwasher for 1 month now...

The model no from inside the dishwasher is KUDS30IXSS0 and model no I purchased from abt shows KUDS30IVSS.

So, having purchased a top of the range Esspresso machine from Kitchen Aid, two months out of warrany, I am sat in my Kitchen, and thank god I was, when said machine started to smoke and burst into flames. This is not good, I thought, and contacted Kitchen Aid who promptly arranged for collection to 'service' the machine, with a normal 10 day window. Five Months later, having been informed that the machine was behond repair, having chased several times to be told 'awaiting parts from the US', I finally get the New machine.

This morning I plugged it in, added the water and sat back waiting for magic... Nothing. Lots of noise, whirring, clicking, spluttering, but... No water. It would appear that the during the manufacturing, some idiot must have forgotton to connect the hoses to the pumps. At least that is my assumption without opening the damed thing up.

So. Kitchen Aid. This has cost you:
- One new order for a mixer
- One new order for a grinder
- One new order for an ice cream machine

And... Money, as I fully intend to make sure that you pay for my waisted time.

This is the first ever time I have posted to such a BBS, and this only goes to show just how miffed I am with your rubbish products and services.

We spent over $11 thousand to buy our appliance package when we built our home in August of 2000. We take very good care of all of our things and even though all of our appliances look like brand new, every single one of our Kitchenaid appliance we bought have broken. Dishwasher ($1350) first, the touch pad panel shorted out. Then the micro/oven, ($2500) shorted out and caught on fire burning a hole in the bottom of the oven which I think I used maybe 15 times. Never even used the self cleaning program because I never got the oven dirty. Then the refrigerator, ($6500) compressor went out. Luckily that was still under warranty, barely, and they fixed it costing us $300. Would have cost us $2000. Then the Kitchenaid blender broke! Maybe used 10 times. All substandard to say the least. The folks at Kitchenaid said that refrigerators, ovens, and dishwashers only last 10 years! That means our oven costs about $250 a year to own! No wonder America is in trouble! Buyer beware! We will never own Kitchenaid/Whirlpool again. Terrible customer service. They will do NOTHING to make anything right. We did have great professional service from the Appliance Doctor. We would highly recommend this company. Steve was fantastic.

Kitchenaid is one of only a few major appliance manufacturer's left in the US - most appliances are made in China, Japan, or Korea, and some in Europe. I wanted to keep my business in America and show some patriotism with this major purchase, so I selected to buy a Kitchenaid, made in the good ole' US of A - in Ohio. When shopping online for it, I noticed that the east coast dealers were offering the model I wanted for $717 including free shipping and no sales tax, delivered to my door in California. But they couldn't sell to me because they said "Kitchenaid has a manufacturer's restriction on selling more than 150 miles from our store, and they are the only manufacturer that does this. I can sell you any other model and ship it to you - just not a Kitchenaid." I went on their website, and their website actually says this 150 mile limit when you try to look up dealers that carry their product - so the dealer told me correctly. When I contacted all of their dealers in California, the best price I could find was $953 delivered, including sales tax, for the same model. The CA dealer confirmed for me that Kitchenaid charges higher prices in some parts of the country than others for the same models, and prevents transfer across dealers of equipment with this 150 mile restriction, to enforce those price differentials. I contacted Kitchenaid about it, they said "we don't have anything to do with dealer pricing, and we don't care if they sell out of their areas." I told them of what was on their website saying the opposite, but they said "if you are dissatisfied with our answer, file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau". I did that, but the BBB can't process the complaint when it concerns merely pricing. So, basically, Kitchenaid gets away with it. This is so very wrong on every level. This American company is actually scaring away Americans who want to patriotically buy from our own countrymen, and they put obstacles in our way from doing so, and basically tell us they don't care about our concerns when we notify them. This is very bad behavior and policy by Kitchenaid. If all American companies behave this way, our country is doomed. Kitchenaid deserves to go out of business if this is their customer service attitude.

Gas stove central burner shoots up a flame 6-inches high! It looks like a Bunsen burner from chemistry class. - And that is on the LOW setting. When used with the outer ring it shoots up 8-inches. We have called to get it fixed but KitchenAid sent the wrong parts. It is now one year later and we STILL do not have a fully functioning cooktop.

I ordered repair parts from this company in October 2010. I eventually received the merchandise, but they sent the wrong part. I notified them about their error and returned the part for a refund. Their refund policy states that they do not refund the shipping costs unless it was their error. I explained this to the Customer Service Manager (who obviously has no clue about customer service !); however, he informed me that "Unless you received a part number other than what you ordered then you received the products you ordered" After repeated attempts to explain to him that Point & Click sent me the wrong part, he refused to refund my shipping expenses. I currently have an action pending with the local BBB for further investigation. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY !

I have KitchenAid refrigerator KSRG25FKST17 side by side and it is not quite 5 yrs old. The compressor has started making LOUD clunking/clanging noises for 5-10 seconds whenever the compressor shuts off. I can produce the noise by rocking the compressor on its rubber mounts with my hand. It also sometimes makes wheezing, squeaking noises.

I talked to KitchenAid and they said the compressor is not considered bad as long as the unit is cooling on both sides, which it still is. Warranty on compressor is for 10 years.

Do I have to put up with this for as long the compressor or refrigerator lasts?

I purchase blender about 2 to 3yrs ago. I have all of your small appliance. I am not a person that uses them they are more for show. A couple of week ago I purchase a breakfast drink and I got out the blender to mix it. After it mixed up the drink I picked up the jar to pull out the drink and notice that the black connector that connects the base to the container was all broke up. This is suppose to be a high end item can someone please tell me what I can do. I am so upset at this because its only been used about three times which includes this last time.

I purchased a high dollar, stainless steel Kitchenaid dishwasher ($600-800 range) less than a year ago (2010). My wife and I figured Kitchenaid has a good reputation and should have good quality. Well, think again. Two of the four roller wheel brackets on the bottom rack bent out of shape from less than normal use. The wheels now fall off every time the bottom rack is pulled out to load or unload the dishwasher.

Fortunately, the dishwasher is under warranty so a repair guy came out. He told me Kitchenaid makes its own parts and they probably don't want to make good brackets so they can sell more spare parts. As once a mechanical engineer, I reasoned that the brackets were not supporting the load of dishes on the bottom rack under the high temperatures during normal washing cycles. I think I could have easily designed a better part that could last 5 to 10 years without problem. How could Kitchenaid design rollers that last less than a year? All I can figure is that they must make good money on their spare part business at the expense of its loyal customers. As a not so proud owner of Kitchenaid, I now am fearful of what else will happen to the dishwasher when it is no longer under warranty (one year after purchase).

Note, I also bought a pricey Kitchenaid cooktop (over $1000) and already one of the six burner switches had to be replaced. Hasn't Kitchenaid heard of the big three car makers in the US who produced poor products and now they are playing catch-up to Japan's makers? Read "The Machine That Changed The World" by James Womack (from MIT) for that story. I imagine they will write a story about Kitchenaid someday as well.

I purchased the three piece pasta roller and due to my own misuse I broke the flat sheet pasta roller. I tried to purchase only this piece and was told I had to buy all three - again. How ridiculous! The Customer "un-Service" department was no help at all. I wrote letter to both Kitchen Aid in Canada and the US over 2 months ago and have not even had the courtesy of any kind of response. The reason I couldn't buy only the flat roller - it was against company policy. That's a bit lame in my opinion.

We purchased a Kitchenaid dishwasher and it was installed in July '08. The rack tines were never well covered when installed. When we first tried to start the dishwasher, it would not start. Kitchenaid had to replace the motherboard before we could start it. Now the racks, including the glass and cupholder racks which came with it are rusted out. Kitchenaid has a warranty on the racks from year two through five written in their "Dishwasher User Instructions" which came with the dishwasher. After two months of waiting, we finally received the replaced upper and lower racks, but not the glass and cupholder racks which are a part of the racks and made out of the same material. They are charging me $116.23 for the glass and cupholder racks, saying that these racks are not included in the warranty. You might want to think twice prior to buying a Kitchenaid appliance. We have a Kitchenaid refrigerator purchased at the same time as the dishwasher, and we had multiple service calls in the first year. These are expensive appliances, but we have found them to be lacking in quality.

I have reached out to many companies over the years but have never had a worse experience than I recently had with KitchenAid. Horrendous customer service pretty much sums it up.

I purchased a 7-cup KitchenAid Food Processor during the summer of 2010 at a local Bed, Bath and Beyond store. I only used this processor a few times when the handle of the plastic bowl broke during normal use. Pieces just came off in my hand making the unit unusable since it must lock into the back to operate the unit.

I contacted KitchenAid customer service in early December 2010 giving them the model number and purchase information, I also explained the bowl was defective and asked how to arrange a replacement since no product should come undone… especially after light use.

It took THREE WEEKS before they wrote back to me. Instead of offering help or to make the situation right, I received a curt two line response telling me I was welcome to ORDER a new bowl for $39.99 and gave me a link to their webs site where I could place my order.

I was taken back. No apology for the defective merchandise or weeks taken to write me back, just a sale pitch to pay nearly $40 for an item that should not have broken to begin with. I wrote back immediately received absolutely no response.

I then wrote the Better Business Bureau to file a complaint. While the BBB has always been very helpful, KitchenAid continued to be rude and indignant right in the face of myself and the organization. They claimed my unit purchase during the summer was “years old” (calling me a liar) and that without me finding me proving where and exactly when (date, time, etc) I purchased this unit, they would not offer any help at all.

Again, stunned. Not only did they take weeks to respond to my original inquiry, never responded to me a second time and not once made an apology for their defective item, they we calling me a liar about when I purchased the unit instead of working with me to resolve the issue. I responded explaining again that this was a plastic bowl, should be replaced at no charge and the $40 replacement price of the bowl was more than half what I paid for the entire unit. I also stated I would never take time to reach out to a company on several occasions has I not purchased this machine when I said. My time is much more valuable.

I had hoped my final letter would awake their sense of right and wrong. No such luck. They responded today to the BBB with another curt message (unsigned) saying it was “the customer’s responsibility” to provide them with the information they demanded. They ended the message with no further comment. As far as they were concerned, they were done with me.

I have never in my life experience a more poorly run company nor customer service organization. Weeks to respond to customers looking for help, followed by endless debate and calling their customers liars instead of offering assistance.

My search of the web shows my experience does not stand alone. I hope all will take pause before purchasing ANY Whirlpool or KitchenAid products in the future. I certainly will. BUYER BEWARE!

On 12/30/2010 a Kitchen Aid customer service representative gave me the number of Able & Ready Appliance. An appointment was made to see if they could repair my refrigerator before I purchase a new one. The appliance has not been functioning properly since it was approx 15 months old it is now 9 years old (Kitchen Aid was contacted when the appliance first broke I was told they could send a service rep to fix it since it is out of warranty). After reading different reviews on the internet I concluded that the door wiring would have to be replaced for approx 800 dollars. I decided to not pursue repairing the appliance at that cost.
Years later I decided it was time to buy a new refrigerator but before I spent 2500 dollars I thought it would be worth call in a rep for $75 dollars. He arrived on 12/31/10 at approximately 12:00 pm he looked at the appliance and smiled and said you know there were electrical problems with this model He tested the wiring and it shorted. I explained to him that that was the noise we hear from time to time. He called KA customer service then spoke to them. After hanging up the phone he said that KA use to offer assistance on this model for up to 60 months, but since you appliance is over 5 years old I would be probably out of luck. He recommended I call KA customer service for information. I asked him what the cost to repair the appliance is and he said 700 to 800 dollars, he then said I would be better of purchasing a new refrigerator.
As soon as he left I called KA customer service and spoke to Julie I asked her for her last name and she said I am not allowed to tell you. I explained the situation mentioned above to her and she said there is nothing she can do to help. When I told her I research different blogs on the internet and I think there is a problem with the model because it’s sparking and it seems to be a safety issue. She told me it was not a safety issue because KA has no knowledge of electrical sparks on their products, she also went on to tell me that the blogs are just opinions and mean nothing, she also told me that the guy who came to my house was trying to overcharge me for something that does not need to be fixed. I told her that KA customer service recommended him. I then asked to speak to a manager and she asked me 5 times what I was going to ask him. I finally told her I would be discussing my refrigerator with him. After waiting 40 minutes a mangers named Frank got on the phone and I explained the situation to him plus my reason for asking for him. He quickly cut me off and said there was nothing he could do. I said okay but I just want you to know that I will never buy another Kitchen Aid product and I will never recommend KA to anyone I know. I also told him that I would be telling anyone who will listen to how I was treated by KA customer service. He then said you think I don’t know what you are doing; he then said you are threatening me so we fix your refrigerator. I disagreed with him and then told him that I have no interest in having my KA appliance repaired for free. I then asked him if I was still threatening him. It was quiet for a couple seconds. I then told him that I will be writing a letter to management to discuss how I was treated by their CUSTOMER SEVICE DEPARTMENT. He told me that KA documents everything and he will be waiting for my letter. I then told him then you should have record of my previous calls years ago regarding this issue. I then ended the phone call.
I am sorry I have to write this letter and I hope that someone at Kitchen Aid cares enough to write me back with an apology for the treatment of a customer by the Customer Service Department.
Thank you
Thomas J Flynn CPA
[protected]@aol.com
[protected]

I bought a Kitchen Aid mixer from Kohl's on 11/27/2010. There was a $30 rebate for these mixers bought between 11/18/10 and 12/12/10. I live 70 to 80 miles from the store, so I do my purchasing online. I sent Kitchen Aid all required information, including the only receipt Kohl's sent me. My rebate was rejected. I called the Kitchen Aid rebate center and was told not enough information was on the Kohl's receipt. What am I supposed to do? Part of my purchasing this mixer was counting on the $30 rebate. I am being penalized for something I cannot help. If the Kohl's receipt for online purchases is not good enough, then Kitchen Aid and Kohl's need to fix this. Or, make it PERFECTLY clear that for people making purchases online, Kitchen Aid rebates won't be honored.

Purchased range 5 years ago from Kitchenaid. Have had the control panel to work the oven, 3 times. 6 months ago 2 of the burners stopped working and now the control panel is out again. After 5 years and multiple service calls, only 2 burners left on the range...it will cost almost as much to fix or just get a new one...have had other ranges, that have lasted over 15 years...Kithenaid will do nothing...their customer service is unconcerning. Don't need to do business with a company that makes inferior products, but spends alot of $$ on marketing only to not stand by their poor quality.