When Do Appliances Go on Sale? The Best Times to Buy in 2026
Major-appliance prices swing by hundreds of dollars across the year. Here are the exact windows when refrigerators, ranges, dishwashers, and laundry go on sale, and when to never pay full price.
A major appliance is one of the few big purchases where timing the buy can save you more than negotiating. The same refrigerator or range can swing $200-$800 depending on the week you check. Here's when appliances actually go on sale, ranked, plus how to make sure you catch the drop.
The biggest sale windows
Major appliances follow the holiday-weekend calendar, not the seasons:
- Black Friday / Cyber Monday (late November): The single deepest discounts of the year across refrigerators, ranges, dishwashers, and laundry. If you can wait for it, you usually should.
- Labor Day (early September): Nearly as good as Black Friday, and it lines up with the fall model changeover (see below), so you get clearance prices on brand-new current models.
- Memorial Day (late May): The spring flagship sale, kicking off kitchen-renovation season with strong discounts and full selection.
- Fourth of July: A second-wave summer event, similar in depth to Memorial Day.
- Presidents' Day (mid-February): A quieter but real winter appliance sale.
- Amazon Prime Day (July): Best for small and freestanding appliances that Amazon stocks, over-the-range microwaves, freestanding ranges, some laundry.
The hidden window: model-year changeover
Manufacturers refresh their lineups on a schedule, and retailers discount the outgoing models hard to clear the floor. For major appliances this clustering happens in late summer into fall (roughly August-October). A "last year's model" refrigerator is often mechanically identical to the new one with a different handle or finish, at hundreds of dollars off. This is the savviest way to buy.
The worst time to pay full price
Spring (March-April), outside of a holiday weekend. Kitchen-reno demand peaks, new models arrive at full MSRP, and there's little pressure to discount. If you're shopping then and it isn't an emergency, wait for Memorial Day or set an alert.
It varies by category
- Refrigerators see the widest swings and the most aggressive holiday clearance. Browse all refrigerators.
- Ranges and cooktops discount well around Labor Day and Black Friday. See ranges.
- Dishwashers move on smaller, more frequent promos, a quiet Bosch dips several times a year. See dishwashers.
- Laundry (washers, dryers, towers) is bundled hard on holiday weekends, buy the pair together for the deepest discount. See laundry centers.
How to never miss a drop
You can't watch a price every day, so don't. Find the model you want, set a price alert, and we'll email you the moment it falls, across every major retailer at once. That's the whole point of comparing here instead of refreshing one store's page.