Hotpoint Domestic Appliances

Known for their innovative products that are built to last, Hotpoint appliances are designed to make your life easier.

Appliance Manufacturer & Brand Information

Hotpoint began in the United Kingdom in the early 1900's when Earl Richardson invented a new electric iron with the heating element the length of the iron which converged to be hot at the point, hence the name of 'Hotpoint'. In 1911 the Hotpoint Electric Heating Company was formed and in 1920 an agreement was set up with General Electric (GE) of the USA to create an agency in order to sell GE branded domestic appliances in the UK. This agency was called Hotpoint Electric Appliance Company Limited (HEAC).

Hotpoint started to produce washing machines under its own brand name in 1923 and one of the biggest factories was situated at Llandudno Junction in North Wales.

In 1929 HEAC joined the Associated Electrical Industries (AEI) group and in 1940 purchased a factory in Peterborough to produce refrigerators. In 1967 the GEC group bought AEI when the name was changed to Hotpoint Limited. In 1982 a new factory in Kinmel, North Wales was opened for the production of washing machines.

In 1989 Hotpoint became part of a new division of the GEC Group called 'General Domestic Appliances'

General Domestic Appliances was formed as a division of the GEC Group in 1989 and encompassed not only Hotpoint, Creda and Cannon but also the brands of Redring (electric showers) and Xpelair (air management systems). Later in 1989 GE of the USA bought a 50% share of the General Domestic Appliances division. This encouraged closer communication between the individual companies and resulted in the transfer of the manufacture of gas cookers and fires to Creda's Blythe Bridge factory in 1994.

In April 1998 Hotpoint, Creda and Cannon officially merged to become General Domestic Appliances Limited, an official 50/50 joint venture between GE and the GEC Group (later to become Marconi). Redring and Xpelair became collectively known as GDA Applied Energy.

In December 2001, Merloni Elettrodomestici of Italy who where responsible for the major European appliance brands of Ariston, Indesit, Philco and Scholtes purchased the 50% share in General Domestic Appliances Limited from Marconi for £120M. GDA Applied Energy was sold in a management buy-out.

On the 1st January 2005 Merloni Elettrodomestici changed it's name to Indesit Company.

In 2014 the entire Indesit company, including Hotpoint, was bought by Whirlpool further cementing Whirlpool's status as the largest appliance manufacturer in the world.