Buying new washer and dryer...what to go with?

+1 for Samsung.

I bought the WF448 and matching dryer a few month's ago and couldn't be happier. I originally went in to get the Electrolux set after doing tons of research. The salesman told me he sells more Samsung than any other brand by a wide margin and rarely has customers come back to complain. With coupons, manufacturer rebate and energy savings rebate, came to about 2k w/tax for the set. I also got the pedestals which added another $400.

Samsung WWF448

According to an appliance repair guy I know who is really knowledgeable, the best is the Whirpool Duet.

Got the Duets and happy. But then again I don't do as much laundry compared to a family with 2 kids, etc etc. There are 2 types of Duets: one made in Germany and one made in Mexico. The one I have was made in Mexico.

Check out the website Bestcovery.com they give professional reviews on just about every conceivable product,including Washers and Dryers. I was looking at same category tonight and Samsung,LG,and Whirlpool were all highly rated as Front loading units.I hope it helps you.

I have a Samsung drum washer/dryer combo and it's worthless for pretty much everything, and has broken about 3 or 4 times in 2 years, and the repairman (as Samsung is a domestic brand here, they're well-versed in the models) usually knows exactly what's happened when I call him and descrive what is happening, and brings just the one replacement part up whenever I have to call them, and fixes it. I just paid $80 last week for a capacitator or something, which is not expensive per se, but I was out the washer for a week and that has happened like 3 or 4 times thus far, and I expect it to continue. Washers and dryers should last 20-30 years, IMO, every Whirlpool I've seen in my family has easily gone 20-30 years without breaking once. There has to be something to be said for that.

also, I'm not sure if it's a ploy or not, but here (and elsewhere apparently, as I use German soap) they have separate types of detergent for front and top loading machines, and of course, the front (drum-type) is more expensive soap, by a few dollars per couple kilos. Something to think about I guess, if you're just washing your drawers and undershirts. You could just buy basic units and get your work shirts laundered for you, nobody is gonna drop to their knees and blow you or bow down to see you have luxury appliances in your laundry room. Not something I'd really put too much money into unless I planned to have them for 30 years, in which case, simpler is better.

It's funny, most SF purchasing advice threads usually get way out of hand very quickly. vox or iammatt or some other guru will recommend the most expensive and unobtainable thing ever, or some esoteric debate about the "purity" of a given product will flourish, like a mold. We'll hear about carbon fiber dashboards and their authenticity, or $800 linen sheet sets, or obscure Japanese tube amplifiers, or fight about bespoke Napolitan tailors, or damascus steel knives. On the subject of laundry, however, the big-timers of SF are speechless. Doing your own laundry is small-time. Perhaps one amongst us does have a good recommendation, but he dare not cop to it.

Do not get one with auto water level sensing. I received one as a housewarming and I hate it so so much. I've broken into hives because the chemicals do not fully wash away.

This is my experience as well. However, you also use far less detergent for front-load washers, given they're high efficiency, so the net cost of detergent isn't actually higher.

do you have to use powder for front-loaders?

^^ Nope. We use the liquid high-efficiency stuff.

I use Persil powder in my front loader, it's a bit cheaper (but not cheap, really) at something like $15/3-4kg; cheaper than even some of the worthless domestic brands that tout drum washer optimization and other bullshit, maybe with a bonus pack of a half kilo or something as a bonus freebie. Shit ain't cheap around my parts. They have a Persil liquid, but it's rather expensive as i recall, into the twenties for a regular big jug of it. My drum washer does not wash enough of the detergent away, as guy above said, because these new machines have too many auto-level, auto-resume functions and the cycles are very short, mine runs at 39 minutes for a basic wash and it basically just splashes evreything with soap awter and half drains it out before getting finished. I personally want a classic rotary-knob fuzzy logic top loading side by side set so my clothes get properly clean, but that is not in line with the country I live in.

Also...a repairman told me this - you don't have to use as much detergent as the detergent bottle requires. Use 1/5th - a lot of the jobs he gets called on results from the excess detergent gumming up the works.

Very happy with my Whirlpool duets.