Whirlpool refrigerators tends to perform well in Consumer Reports’ tests, with the brand’s Gold GX5FHTXV[Q] topping our Ratings of bottom-freezer refrigerators. The home-appliance maker said today it is taking at least a small step back from offshore manufacturing when it announced its plan to rebuild a cooking-appliance plant in Cleveland, Tennessee, with construction of the one-million-square foot facility beginning at the end of 2010. That would add 130 employees to the current 1,500 at Whirlpool’s Cleveland plant.
 
There had been talk of the Benton Harbor, Michigan-based company moving its Cleveland operation to Mexico, as it had with thousands of jobs from its refrigerator/freezer factories in Arkansas and Michigan in recent years. Industry experts see Whirlpool’s decision to stay as part of a broader recommitment to domestic manufacturing. Caterpillar Inc, the world’s largest manufacturer of construction equipment, is also discussing plans for several new plants in the U.S.
 
Whirlpool has also been a winner in Consumer Reports’ laundry tests—five out of seven top-loading washing machines we recommend are from Whirlpool or Whirlpool-owned Maytag or Amana. But the company has been less dominant in the kitchen: GE, Kenmore, LG, and Frigidaire have all posted better results in Consumer Reports reviews of electric and gas ranges and cooktops, as well as electric wall ovens. The new facility is going to specialize in built-in, premium cooking products.

—Daniel DiClerico