While there have been many brilliant innovations over the years, we still have a long way to go toward more eco-friendly friendly appliances. Having said that, the brands on this list are doing better than most.
While choosing energy-efficient appliances is important (and mostly easy to identify), the majority of appliance brands have yet to consider the broader elements of sustainability.
We’re talking about ethics in the supply chain, toxic chemicals used in manufacturing, and what happens to that washing machine after its days of washing are over. We try our best to cover as much of this as possible on this list.
However, we will be moving to a new Brand Rating System, that does a better job of assessing these criteria (and other criteria like climate action too). To learn more about what to expect from this change, take a look at our explainer here and look out for rated appliance brands on the list below. If there are none, ask your favorite brands to get rated!
We independently research all featured brands and we ask them to confirm their claims. In many cases we personally review recommended products. This post contains affiliate links which means we may earn a commission if you buy something. Learn more here.
More Sustainable Home Appliances
From sustainable packaging to repairable kettles, Dualit keeps it green with its range of kitchen appliances focusing on low-impact food prep.
On the way to becoming carbon-neutral, Miele promises a 20-year service life for its range of appliances from laundry washers to dishwashers, vacuum cleaners and coffee makers.
Index: Eco-friendly Home Appliances
- Miele Jump to brand
- Smeg Jump to brand
- Dualit Jump to brand
- Bosch Jump to brand
- Sodastream Jump to brand
- LG Jump to brand
- Sub-Zero, Wolf, and Cove Jump to brand
Miele
About Miele
Price Range: $1,299–$17,599
Family-owned Miele is well known for its high quality appliances, offering washers and dryers, along with dishwashers, that meet the highest energy-efficient A+++ category (hello, cheaper energy bills) with an increasing number of energy-efficient refrigerators and freezers falling into that category, too.
You can expect a 20-year service life from anything on their list of home appliances—which includes laundry appliances, dishwashers, vacuum cleaners, ovens, hobs, refrigerators, wine coolers, freezers, and coffee maker systems.
Miele’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Miele aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 at the latest. They’re already carbon-neutral across all of their locations (referring to the greenhouse gas emissions from their own production processes) and are working to address the carbon footprint of their entire value chain.
As per their most recent Sustainability Report, they’ve been successful in reducing energy consumption by up to 72% for some of their high energy-efficient products (tumble dryers and washing machines). To close the loop, Miele appliances are designed with easy recyclability in mind. In some cases, 100% of the metals can be recycled.
All of Miele’s manufacturing partners are SA8000-certified, meaning no forced/child labor or discrimination. Many factory workers are paid above minimum wages to meet the local cost of living.
Smeg
About SMEG
Price Range: $100–$18,160
SMEG’s selection includes eco cookers, ovens, hobs, dishwashers, eco-friendly laundry appliances, refrigerators, and freezers. With a range of awards under their belt, this Italian appliances manufacturer prides itself on durable consumer goods that offer both style and functionality—especially if you dig the retro aesthetic.
If you’re looking for (mostly) plastic-free coffee makers, the Drip Filter Coffee Machine and Manual Espresso Coffee Machine are mostly made from stainless steel and come in a quirky choice of colors (pale pink or mint green, anyone?)
SMEG’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
SMEG’s kitchen appliances combine high performance with low consumption. Many of their energy-efficient models meet the highest energy efficiency class rating.
Materials like glass, steel, brass, and aluminum are prioritized because they’re easy to recycle. Smeg also complies with the EU RoHS and REACH standards, which restrict the use of hazardous materials and chemicals in manufacturing.
Their Italian headquarters won an award for its innovative bio-architecture.
Dualit
About Dualit
Price Range: $120–$370
Dualit’s range include kettles, toasters, coffee machines and a collection of appliances for food prep.
You can make green(er) tea with their stainless steel electric kettle options, which combine durable product design with modern features. The Classic Kettle has a 1.7 liter capacity, a replaceable 3KW heating element, a removable, washable filter, and two measuring windows (cups and millilitres) so you can fill with just the right amount of water and waste less energy.
Dualit’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
From industrially compostable coffee capsules and responsible packaging to repairable kettles and eco-friendly toasters, Dualit puts the environment at the forefront of their sustainable kitchen products‘ design.
Prioritizing ethical sourcing, nearly all of their coffee capsules are Fairtrade certified.
Bosch
About Bosch
Price Range: $500–$9,900
Bosch has been one of the biggest companies for automotive, electrical, and industrial components for over 120 years. The company’s environmentally friendly appliances include ENERGY STAR certified and stoves, refrigerators, dishwashers, mixers, wall ovens, washers, and dryers.
Bosch’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
In 2020, Bosch (and its 400 global locations) became climate neutral. They have been the ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year for the past two years. By 2025, they hope to reach targets for increasing renewable energy use, reducing water withdrawal, improving wastewater flows, improving social impacts, and establishing a circular economy.
Bosch is actively taking steps to improve conditions in its supply chain (particularly with raw material extraction), while the Bosch Community Fund supports science, technology, engineering, math (STEM) education and environmental sustainability initiatives.
Sodastream
About SodaStream
Price Range: $100–$195
It may have carbon in the name, but carbonation doesn’t have to mean a higher carbon footprint. SodaStream wants to make La Croix addicts lower impact.
Their kitchen appliances consist of sparkling water makers that help replace single-use bottles and cans. You can make your own sodas and seltzers—saving a family up to 3,000 disposable bottles every year.
SodaStream’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
With the purchase of their Art for Action Special Edition SodaStream carbonated water bottles, 10% of profits are donated to ocean conservation.
They’ve also committed to switching away from both plastic flavor bottles and virgin plastic appliances. Instead, they’re working towards sparkling water makers made from recycled or plant-based materials.
5% of the company’s energy comes from solar panels fitted on their factory roof and they’re working to increase this amount. This also supports their parent company (PepsiCo—which admittedly still has a long way to go in terms of sustainability) in its efforts to use 100% renewables by 2030.
LG
About LG
Price Range: $159–$9,499
We all know LG. Their product line is extensive including TVs, speakers, air conditioners, vacuums, refrigerators, dishwashers, washers, dryers, and small kitchen appliances that boast lower energy consumption.
LG’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
LG’s sustainability commitments are based on 6 key initiatives: “better earth, better circularity, better eco-products, better workplace, better society, and better access”. Since 2019, they’ve been increasing their number of ENERGY STAR-certified household appliances and in 2020 alone, saved Americans $40 billion in energy costs.
By 2030, they hope to achieve carbon neutrality, reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of their major products by 20%, achieve a 95% recycling rate of waste from production, and gain ISO 45001 certification.
They do not source conflict minerals from the DRC or adjoining countries that benefit armed groups.
If you’re wondering how to dispose of electronics, their recycling program promotes electronics recycling with more than 1,000 drop-off locations in the US.
Sub-Zero, Wolf, and Cove
About Sub-Zero, Wolf, and Cove
Price Range: $940–$20,390
Sub-Zero, Wolf, and Cove are refrigeration (Sub-Zero), cooking (Wolf), and dishwashing (Cove) specialists. They’ve been doing it 90+ years, after all. Twenty years ago, Sub-Zero introduced Wolf eco cookers and more recently added Cove dishwashing to complete their line-up of kitchen appliances.
Products are manufactured in their own Wisconsin and Arizona facilities, designed to last for a minimum of 20 years, and backed with a lifetime of support.
Sub-Zero, Wolf and Cove’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
75% of the stainless steel and 50% of the plastic used to make their refrigerators is recycled, the company produces no wastewater, and recycles nearly 200,000 gallons of water per year. 100% of their scrap metal internal electronics are also recycled and for non-recycled metals, they practice conflict-free raw material sourcing.
Several of their refrigerators and dishwashers have achieved an ENERGY STAR rating for energy efficiency.
Employees are supported with an on-site health clinic, fitness center, and training opportunities.
Why Are Eco Appliances Important?
Despite rapid advances in technology itself, progress toward making that technology sustainable has been, well, a little less rapid.
There are still many problems plaguing the vast majority of technology—and that includes appliances.
Environmental concerns
Environmental concerns are relevant at every stage of an appliance’s lifecycle—from raw material sourcing to their end-of-life fate.
The main materials in most household appliances fall into two categories (both of which have environmental concerns): metal and plastic.
Even the most eco-friendly appliances require mining.
In the EU alone, it’s estimated that appliance production requires a whopping 6 million tons of raw materials—3 million tons of stainless steel and 1.1 million tons of plastic.
Not only do the materials require fossil fuels which leads to mining complications like erosion, deforestation, sinkholes, contaminated water, and worker harm, but then they’re often transformed into appliances in an equally damaging way.
While some appliance manufacturers use clean energy, much of the industry’s production is made possible with significant amounts of gas, coal, or oil.
Manufacturing also requires tremendous volumes of water. Toxic wastewater laden has to be disposed of, as do the appliances when they are no longer functional or wanted.
The average American household gets rid of 44 pounds of electronic waste every year. Much of this ends up in landfills, releasing harmful chemicals while it slowly breaks down (and some components will never break down).
Our recycling rates are getting better—roughly 60% for all metals in appliances in the US—but we’re still sending about half directly to landfills.
Ethical concerns
Like many other industries, there are several human rights concerns that come with appliances.
Between the high levels of child labor involved in cobalt mining, to the fact that just ten appliance companies account for around 66% of the world’s electronics—there’s plenty of room for improvement.
Unfortunately, even this list of appliances is tarnished by some of these concerns.
Nearly every one of these brands had reported ethical issues—ranging from tax avoidance for Beko’s parent company to concerns of forced labor for both Bosch and LG.
What To Consider When Choosing Environmentally Friendly Appliances For Your Home
Aside from using our criteria above, how else can you assess the sustainability of the ENERGY STAR appliances you’ve been eyeing?
Here are some tips for the next time you go appliance shopping:
- Second-hand appliances: Second-hand is the best option unless the old appliances are very dated, as they may be worse for the environment. An old refrigerator, for instance, may use three times as much energy as a newer energy-efficient model.
- Energy efficiency: If everyone in the U.S. were to switch to energy-efficient appliances, the equivalent of 23 million cars worth of greenhouse gasses would be avoided. When new appliances save energy, they cut down on utility bills, too! Fortunately, looking for high-efficiency appliances is easy.
- The EnergyGuide label will show the annual energy consumption and operating cost for the appliance.
- The ENERGY STAR label will be found on all products that meet specific energy efficiency standards.
- Smart appliances can be connected to home energy management systems or smart electric meters to use electricity more efficiently during off-peak hours.
- In the EU, individual classes use the letters A to G, with A being the most energy-efficient. The more plus (+) signs, the more energy-efficient the appliance. A+++ appliances are 48% more energy-efficient than A+ appliances.
- Quality and longevity: Has the product been designed to last? Is it made from quality materials? Even better, does it come with a warranty or options for easy repair/part replacement?
- End-of-life policies: Even a new, well-built appliance will eventually reach the end of its life. What happens then? Has the manufacturer considered the recyclability of its materials? Do they have a program to collect and properly recycle the appliance? Does the appliance contain toxic materials that will wreak havoc in a landfill?
You report FORCED LABOR as a side note. Whyyyyy?
We don’t consider forced labor a side note or minor issue at all and agree they should be front of mind for anyone buying anything new. But the article’s purpose is not to cover the many, many human rights (and other) issues associated with the industry in detail.
Hi there,
Thank you for this post. I was curious to see that you didn’t include companies that are close to (or have reached) a net zero carbon footprint. It’s great when companies have compostable products, but that doesn’t necessarily speak to a tangible, net affect on the environment.
Hey Oz, this is great feedback and a lot of our readers have been asking for this information in a recent survey we did. It seems the consumer focus (and our own) is shifting towards the bigger picture. We’re going to start actively talking about carbon commitments and achievements in our content going forward. And we will update this article to reflect this important consideration on the next round of updates. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment.