Speed Queen

Commercial-grade residential laundry. Steel where others use plastic, light on electronics, built to run two decades.

Watchlist

Founded: 1908
Website: speedqueen.com
HQ: USA
Manufacturing: USA
Ownership type: PE-owned
Parent: Alliance Laundry Systems
Status since: 2026-06-08

Ownership

Made by Alliance Laundry Systems (Ripon, Wisconsin, since 1908). Alliance is private-equity-backed (BDT Capital Partners) and recently went public (NYSE: ALH).

Why Watchlist

The durability standout for laundry and the buy-this pick: ~20-year life, lowest cost-per-year. Watchlist rather than Approved because of the PE-backed, newly-public ownership. A good product to watch, not trust blindly.

Read the full investigation

Investigation · June 11, 2026

Your Appliances Got Worse On Purpose

One company makes the refrigerator you'll buy under four different names. Another sells the identical window unit under nine. GE is Chinese now, Frigidaire is Swedish, and Kenmore never built anything at all. Plus the few brands still built to last.

Read the full investigation

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