Who Owns Magic Chef?

The Magic Chef name is one of the oldest in the American appliance industry. Its corporate ancestor was the American Stove Company, formed in 1901 through the merger of eight stove manufacturers including the Quick Meal Stove Company and Ringen Stove Company, led by Charles Stockstrom. The American Stove Company introduced the first oven temperature control device in 1914.

The Magic Chef brand name debuted in 1929 for the company's stove lines and proved so successful that American Stove renamed itself Magic Chef, Inc. in 1951. Through the mid-twentieth century, Magic Chef gas and electric ranges were fixtures of American kitchens, though attempts to extend the brand into a full appliance line met mixed results.

Ownership churned in the late twentieth century. Magic Chef merged with Food Giant Markets in 1957, was absorbed by Dixie Products in 1958, and by 1986 stood as the 249th largest US industrial company when it sold to Maytag Corporation for approximately $740 million. Maytag folded Magic Chef into its brand portfolio until Whirlpool acquired Maytag in 2006.

Whirlpool's interest centered on Maytag's core brands, and Magic Chef's small appliance business did not fit its major appliance strategy. MCA Corporation (CNA International) had already licensed the name for compact appliances since 1996, so in 2010 Whirlpool sold the Magic Chef trademark to CNA outright.

Under CNA, Magic Chef refocused on compact living: microwave ovens, compact refrigerators, freezers, beverage coolers, ice makers, small washers and dryers, and countertop cooking appliances. The company added the Norpole and Magic Chef Commercial lines for foodservice refrigeration and cooking, and in 2018 launched an outbound licensing program extending Magic Chef into adjacent categories. In 2024, Erikson Consumer began distributing Magic Chef housewares in Canada, marking the brand's 95th anniversary year.