Kelvinator is an appliance company since 1994 owned by Electrolux of Sweden. It takes its name from William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, who developed the concept of absolute zero and for whom the Kelvin temperature scale is named. The name was thought appropriate for a company that manufactured ice-boxes and domestic refrigerators.
Kelvinator was founded in 1914; in 1926 it acquired Leonard, which had been founded in 1881. On January 4 1937 the company merged with Nash Motors to form Nash-Kelvinator. In 1952 it acquired the Altorfer Bros. Company which made home laundry equipment.
Nash-Kelvinator became part of the American Motors Corporation when Nash merged with Hudson in 1954. Kelvinator introduced the first model frost free side by side refrigerator in the 1950s. In the 1960s, Kelvinator refrigerators introduced "picture frame" doors on some models allowing owners to decorate their appliance to match décor of their kitchens.
Kelvinator traditionally has had larger market share in Canada and the United Kingdom than the United States.
Acquired by White Consolidated Industries , Kelvinator joined a company that had acquired the rights to Frigidaire (formerly owned by General Motors), Gibson, Tappan and White-Westinghouse product lines. In the early 1990s, the name of the Dublin, Ohio based holding company changed to Frigidaire Company. In 1994, Frigidaire Corporation was acquired by Sweden’s Electrolux.
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