Commitments and Contingencies - Guarantees (Details) - USD ($)	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Customer Lines Of Credit For Brazilian Subsidiary
Guarantor Obligations [Line Items]
Guarantor obligations, maximum exposure, undiscounted	$ 236,000,000	$ 260,000,000
Guarantee of Indebtedness of Others
Guarantor Obligations [Line Items]
Guarantor obligations, maximum exposure, undiscounted	2,000,000,000	2,000,000,000
Line of Credit
Guarantor Obligations [Line Items]
Guarantor obligations, maximum exposure, undiscounted	43,000,000
Guarantor Obligations, current carrying value	$ 111,000,000	$ 20,000,000
Guarantor obligations, term	5 years

The current carrying amount of the liability for the freestanding or embedded guarantor's obligations under the guarantee or each group of similar guarantees.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 460
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (c)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6851643&loc=d3e12069-110248

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Maximum potential amount of future payments (undiscounted) the guarantor could be required to make under the guarantee or each group of similar guarantees before reduction for potential recoveries under recourse or collateralization provisions.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 460
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (b)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6851643&loc=d3e12069-110248

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Guarantor Obligations, Duration Term

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	whr_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

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Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_GuaranteeObligationsByNatureAxis=us-gaap_GuaranteeOfIndebtednessOfOthersMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_GuaranteeObligationsByNatureAxis=us-gaap_LineOfCreditMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: