Top-Rated Appliances That Won’t Hike Your Utility Bill

Our annual usage cost estimates combine data from government sources and our own tests, with the specific sources varying by appliance type. “We have model-specific electric, gas, and water consumption data from our lab tests,” Rerecich explains. “We combine this data with typical usage frequency and national average utility costs to provide consumers with a ‘typical’ annual usage cost for comparing models.”

The Department of Energy’s EnergyGuide labels, as well as its Energy Star program, remain important tools to help you identify energy- and water-efficient appliances. By adding efficiency to the purchase decision, they’ve also helped raise the bar for manufacturers, resulting in the lower operating costs we see for many appliances. 

EnergyGuide labels, like CR’s annual usage cost data, provide an estimate of the yearly cost of running the appliance relative to others in the same category. The actual figures on the two may differ, however, because EnergyGuide labels are based on manufacturers’ data following government specifications, and our AUC is based on our own test results that reflect real-world conditions. (Meaning we test dishwashers using dirty dishes and washing machines using soiled laundry.) And not all appliances carry the EnergyGuide label—clothes dryers, ranges, cooktops, and wall ovens, for example, do not. (Clothes washers, dishwashers, and refrigerators do). Nor does Energy Star certify all types of appliances. For example, you can find Energy Star certified electric ranges and cooktops, but not gas ranges or wall ovens.

What the EnergyGuide label and Energy Star do not take into account is how well an appliance delivers on its promised performance—how thoroughly a washing machine removes stains or how gently a cooktop simmers melted chocolate. Those factors, measured in our performance tests, determine a model’s Overall Score. (Actual energy draw is baked into our Overall Scores for refrigerators, and both energy and water use figure into the Overall Score for washing machines). Combined with our annual usage cost data, you get a complete picture not only of how efficient an appliance is, but also of how well it does what you’re buying it to do. 

Below, we highlight the appliances in our ratings that, based on our calculations, cost less to run than comparable machines but also deliver the performance and features you’ll appreciate over the long term. Because purchase price is always part of the equation, we’ve considered that in some of our picks as well. Of course, the purchase price can fluctuate. In this article, we’ve compared prices that are current at the time of publication. Separately, our staff is always on the hunt for the best deals on major appliances and many other products; visit our Deals Hub for the best current markdowns.

Your refrigerator draws power 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year—so it’s not surprising that it’s one appliance where a lower operating cost can make a real difference in your annual bottom line.

The good news here is that refrigerators as a whole are getting more efficient, with their share of electrical usage for the average American home dropping from 13.7 percent in 2001 to 8 percent in 2020, according to the EIA.

How much of a difference can a more efficient refrigerator make? The cost of plugging in the refrigerators in our ratings range from just $34 annually for the 24-inch-wide bottom-freezer Miele KFN4799DDE to $186 for the LG LRYKS3106S 36-inch-wide French-door. While it’s safe to assume that a refrigerator’s size and type largely determine its energy needs (simple bottom- and top-freezers tend to cost less to run than large French doors or side-by-sides), we found that there can be significant differences even between models of the same type. For example, based on our calculations, the 28-inch-wide top-freezer Frigidaire FFHT1425VV will cost you just $37 to power for a year, while the 28-inch Frigidaire FRTE1622AS, also a top-freezer, will set you back $95. 

In refrigerators, lower operating costs usually come from a more efficient compressor and better insulation, says Jason Holmes, CR’s director of lab operations. This may involve a trade-off between price and capacity: a super-insulated model may cost less to run but may lack the space you need.

It’s worth noting that the manufacturer’s claimed capacity for refrigerators is often much higher than the actual capacity we measure (by not counting the space taken up by shelves and bins). In the model descriptions below, we refer to the usable capacity as we measure it, which may differ from what you see advertised.

Below, we’ve highlighted the refrigerators in our ratings that represent the best balance of performance, reliability, and annual usage cost. 

Compared to running your refrigerator and electric clothes dryer, the annual cost of washing your dishes hardly moves the needle. Thanks in part to better efficiency, dishwashers account for about 1 percent of a household’s energy consumption, according to EIA. Our calculations place the cost of using a 24-inch dishwasher at $44 to $97 per year, and an 18-inch dishwasher at $64 to $72 per year. Most of that cost goes to heating the wash water, and secondarily, to producing the heat needed for drying, says Larry Ciufo, who oversees dishwasher testing at CR.

Dishwashers with the lowest calculated usage cost don’t impress us with their performance. But there are several models whose annual usage cost falls in the middle ground, and which also offer respectable performance and good value. 

Ranges, along with separate ovens and cooktops, collectively account for about 3 percent of a home’s energy use. And we’ve found the annual usage cost doesn’t vary greatly from model to model or type to type. Induction ranges come out ahead by a nose ($83 to $112 annually), followed by electric coil ($89 to $115) and smoothtop ($94 to $136). The most efficient gas ranges can cost up to $20 less per year than the most efficient electric ranges, but gas ranges also come with their own environmental issues. 

Below are select models that balance high performance with a reasonable annual usage cost.

Given that gas is generally cheaper than electricity, it’s not surprising that we found gas cooktops (including both 30- and 36-inch models) potentially less expensive to operate, with the lowest AUC at just $23 a year. But other gas models ran as high as $76 (with less than stellar performance, let’s add). We saw less range with Induction cooktops ($43 to $52 annually) and smoothtops ($52 to $60 annually). With numbers that close, it makes sense to focus on price and performance.

We found the annual operating cost for electric wall ovens in our ratings ranges from $54 to $93 for single ovens and $59 to $69 for double ovens (testing just one of the double-ovens’ chambers at a time). The sweet spot for performance, though, is $60 to $64 for both. Combo wall ovens (those that combine an electric wall oven with a microwave) in our ratings had AUCs of $57 to $70.

Electric clothes dryers rank second among appliances when it comes to electricity use—chugging down 6 percent of your household’s energy, according to the EIA. Gas dryers, which rely on a propane or natural gas flame for the heat needed to dry clothing, tend to cost less to operate because gas costs less than electricity in many places. But before you switch to gas, know this: The full-sized dryers with the lowest cost of use in our ratings are two all-electric, heat-pump models.

We base our dryer usage-cost calculations on the energy required to dry 2.5 loads per week, based on data from the EIA and manufacturers. Your usage—and usage cost—may vary. 

The results reveal a wide range of operating costs for all types of dryers. Usage costs for standard electric dryers ranged from $100 to $254, standard gas dryers from $63 to $115, and compacts from $32 to $145, based on a load that’s half the weight used in our tests of standard dryers. And heat pump dryers? The full-sized models in our ratings had AUCs of $57 and $61.

We did see some trends. Lower-priced machines tend to have higher annual usage costs; none of the electric dryers in our ratings priced under $700 have an AUC under $150. The clear winners among electric dryers, in both full-sized and compact models, are heat-pump models.

There’s one thing you can say about clothes washers: Efficiency improvements over recent decades have made their mark without affecting performance. When it comes to front-loaders, especially, we found no shortage of high-performing washers that cost very little to run. 

We also found that front-loaders earn their reputation as energy and water misers, with AUCs ranging from $23 to $38 annually. Top-loaders with an agitator range from $33 to $93, and high-efficiency top-loaders from $30 to $81—making them only marginally cheaper to run than agitator models. The cost of operating the compact machines in our ratings ranges from $23 to $47 a year, nearly on a par with full-sized front loaders, which can handle much larger loads.