If you want to know who makes the Kenmore products that you're looking at, see my post on how to find out.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/appl/msg09184822647.html

Good luck...

-Bob

Sears service sucks. It, like most of the all-fridges and all-freezers on the market is made by Electrolux. Kenmore is just Sears' way to try and lock you into spending your money with them and not anyone else. Why not get it from the horse's mouth and buy an Electrolux or Frigidaire.

Service for Sears' Kenmore products is through A&E, a joint venture between Sears and Whirlpool. A&E is the contract warranty servicer for other brands, as well. (GE signed an agreement with them a couple of years ago, for example. Electrolux and Samsung also have agreements with them in some regions, though they may allow alternatives, at times.) The quality of service from A&E has been variable with a pretty fair number of horror stories. There was a long running thread here on that topic and I've linked to it below in case you are interested in the history behind hvtech's opinion and my comments.

That said, most folks who buy a Kenmore-labeled refrigerator product won't need service. Judging from the membership survey results published by Consumer Reports, it seems that 1 in 10 or 1 in 9 buyers of Kenmore refrigerator products have serious issues in the first five years of ownership, which is pretty much as good as it gets these days (unless you go for standard, non-icemaker top-freezer fridges which tend to be the most reliable with about 2/3 to 1/2 the defect rate of the SxS and bottom freezer models. CR used to report brand reliability on built-ins but apparently are not getting sufficient survey responses on those lines for what they regard as a statistically reliable sample.

Here is a link that might be useful: Experiences with A & E Factory Service?