Invented by American, Earl Richardson (1871–1934) in 1905, he subsequently formed his Pacific Electric Heating Co. in Ontario, California, in 1906.

Most Hotpoint production moved to GE's mammoth Appliance Park manufacturing complex in Louisville, Kentucky in the beginning of the 1950s.

[clarify][7] Whirlpool's had a turbulent ownership of Hotpoint and Indesit as in 2015, Indesit released a statement announcing a safety alert for certain models of tumble dryers produced between 2004 and 2015 due to a design flaw which caused large particles of lint to escape the fluff filter into the dryer and build up around the heating element bank which posed a risk of fire.

In July 2019, Whirlpool finally issued a recall for the appliances, stating that up to 800,000 machines would either be replaced or repaired.

In September 2014, Electrolux agreed to buy General Electric's household appliances business including the Hotpoint brand in North America for £2bn ($3.3bn).

[8] Due to blockage by U.S. regulators, the Electrolux deal was terminated, and GE subsequently sold its appliance division to Haier of China, to close in 2016.

[9] In 2022, Turkish white goods manufacturer Arcelik agreed to buy Whirpool's Russian arm including use of the Hotpoint brand.

The deal included Whirlpool's sales operations in Kazakhstan and selected countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States.

The company, including sister brands Creda and Indesit, at one time produced the largest amount of kitchen appliances in the United Kingdom.

[13] In June 2017, a Hotpoint FF175BP fridge freezer was found to have triggered the Grenfell Tower fire in London that killed 72 people.

Hotpoint washing machines were formerly manufactured at a plant in Llandudno Junction, in Conwy County Borough, North Wales, United Kingdom.

Indesit UK's (former GDA) Creda plant in Blythe Bridge, Stoke-on-Trent closed in December 2007.

[13] On 31 July 2009, Indesit closed its plant at Kinmel Park, Bodelwyddan Denbighshire, Wales, United Kingdom.

[27] In the United States, Hotpoint branded products are made by GE Consumer & Industrial (appliance business to be acquired by Haier in 2016) at Louisville, Kentucky.