Whirlpool (part of the Whirlpool Group)
General Whirlpool Information
Whirlpool the brand is a part of the larger Whirlpool group, which also includes (just for induction equipment--it has countless brands in sum) Kitchenaid, but whether Whirlpool and
Kitchenaid have much in common across their induction lines is unclear--they certainly all have different element layouts, if nothing else. Though Whirlpool is now the #2 worldwide
appliance giant, behind only Electrolux, it has--even across its bajillions of brand names--only a very few induction units out to market--so far, anyway (whereas Electrolux, by contrast,
has a great many).
(We couldn't resist including the image at the left, a remarkable conceit from the Mighty Minds at whoever directs Whirlpool's marketing efforts. Don't you wish you or
your lady--as appropriate--looked like that in the kitchen? No? Oh well . . . . Maybe you'd like the Thermador lady better.)
Whirlpool has a pair of units available in the U.K., but none (under its own name) in the U.S., at least so far; whether it will add some or just stay with the Kitchenaid brand for
induction offerings in the U.S. remains to be seen.
As always in these listings, we give these standard general--
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Important notes on these data:
We have spent a lot of time hunting these data--often in several places for each individual unit--but we cannot and do not guarantee any datum to be correct
(indeed, we often found conflicting data at different sources). Caveat emptor! For those units we offer for sale, the prices shown are never over an hour old. For other items, the prices shown are the lowest we found with moderate but not fanatic
searching; moreover, they are not updated very often and are only intended as a rough guide to comparative unit values in cost/power terms. Most "Features" are not terribly important, and are nearly standard among roughly similar units, regardless of brand name. If some "feature"--shown or omitted--is especially
important to you, check on it, because we did not take great pains over the "Features" data. Dimensions given here are, as the makers themselves warn, only to be used as guidelines in planning--never do anything (such as cutting a countertop) till you have your
actual unit to hand. A very important unit datum is the "MaxPower" value. Many units show individual-element powers that add up to impressive totals that the unit cannot really supply.
That is not a defect or some form of cheating: it is "power sharing", a clever and
useful feature; but, unless the maker is unusually open about data, one can easily be misled into believeing that the unit as a whole is more powerful than it is. Your dollars are buying
cooking power, and you need to be well aware of just what you are paying for in actual cost/power terms for the unit as a whole. Similar to power sharing (though less flexible) is the "power boost" feature many
units have on some or all of their elements. (That feature allows a "boosted" element to temporarily, for some short period--rarely specified, but typically 10 minutes or so--run at some
set level well over its nominal power, to help with tasks like getting large pots of water to boiling.) As with true power sharing, if one is not careful, one can get an incorrect
impression of the true total power capability of the unit as a whole, which, as we just said, is basically what your dollars are buying.
(For much fuller information on power, read our page Kitchen Electricity
101.)
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Whirlpool Induction-Unit Data
We found 3 Whirlpool models:
U.K. availability:
- AKM 983 (4 elements, 7.2 kW, 600 mm)
- AKM 995 (4 elements, 7.4 kW, 770 mm)
Australia availability:
The AKM 995, listed above, is also available in Australia; the unit below is not listed on the Whirlpool U.K. site.
- AKM 990 (4 elements, 7.4 kW, 580 mm)
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