washers and dryers

[matadorpoeta]

i don't know if this is the best place to seek advice on this subject, but i need to replace both the washer and the dryer at home.

any tips on what to look for?

are 2in1s as good as seperate units? any brands you recommend?

my budget is about $2500 or less.

 

[Tokyo Slim]

My sole advice to you is that if you are planning on washing any of your nicer clothes in the washing machine, get a front-load... they use less water and detergent and are much gentler on the clothing than a top-load. They tend to be more expensive off the bat - but your money should be returned on your water/electric/detergent savings, not to mention less wear and tear on your clothes. There are several options available, LG makes some very nice ones, I'd probably say that they were the best of the commonly available front loads. Maytag's Neptune series is probably my second reccomendation, though some models are better than others. I'd try to avoid Sears unless they can tell you who made the product... Kenmore and Craftsman are "house" brands. Not as bad for tools and etc, but when you are talking about complex electronics, its better to know EXACTLY what you are getting. Also, make sure to check www.Epinions.com and the like, to find out what people who already have them think. Hope that helps.

 

[j]

This topic actually came up in Clothing a while back. I don't know if the search function is working right ATM, but you could try, or ask there.

 

[uriahheep]

Fisher and Paykel.

 

[matadorpoeta]

My sole advice to you is that if you are planning on washing any of your nicer clothes in the washing machine, get a front-load... they use less water and detergent and are much gentler on the clothing than a top-load. They tend to be more expensive off the bat - but your money should be returned on your water/electric/detergent savings, not to mention less wear and tear on your clothes. There are several options available, LG makes some very nice ones, I'd probably say that they were the best of the commonly available front loads. Maytag's Neptune series is probably my second reccomendation, though some models are better than others. I'd try to avoid Sears unless they can tell you who made the product... Kenmore and Craftsman are "house" brands. Not as bad for tools and etc, but when you are talking about complex electronics, its better to know EXACTLY what you are getting. Also, make sure to check www.Epinions.com and the like, to find out what people who already have them think. Hope that helps.

tokyo slim (from another thread):"Maytag's Neptune line is generally poorly built, unreliable, and frustrating. The washing machines are garbage, the dryers are cheap. A few years from now you will probably regret buying them. The drying center has relatively thin plastic doors that will warp, melt, and/or crack with anything over light to moderate use. I've heard that the inside of the dryer can impart strange odors onto your clothing. I get to hear appliance salesmen grumbling about these things all day, and I'll tell you to run a search for MAYTAG NEPTUNE on Yahoo. The first 20 sites are negative reviews, complaint boards, and hate pages. Save the money you would have spent on this thing, and buy your drycleaner a present." Tokyo, do you like the neptune series or not?

the other thread also mentions miele? any thoughts on that one?

 

[Tokyo Slim]

...

 

[Tokyo Slim]

My sole advice to you is that if you are planning on washing any of your nicer clothes in the washing machine, get a front-load... they use less water and detergent and are much gentler on the clothing than a top-load. They tend to be more expensive off the bat - but your money should be returned on your water/electric/detergent savings, not to mention less wear and tear on your clothes. There are several options available, LG makes some very nice ones, I'd probably say that they were the best of the commonly available front loads. Maytag's Neptune series is probably my second reccomendation, though some models are better than others. I'd try to avoid Sears unless they can tell you who made the product... Kenmore and Craftsman are "house" brands. Not as bad for tools and etc, but when you are talking about complex electronics, its better to know EXACTLY what you are getting. Also, make sure to check www.Epinions.com and the like, to find out what people who already have them think. Hope that helps.

tokyo slim (from another thread):"Maytag's Neptune line is generally poorly built, unreliable, and frustrating. The washing machines are garbage, the dryers are cheap. A few years from now you will probably regret buying them. The drying center has relatively thin plastic doors that will warp, melt, and/or crack with anything over light to moderate use. I've heard that the inside of the dryer can impart strange odors onto your clothing. I get to hear appliance salesmen grumbling about these things all day, and I'll tell you to run a search for MAYTAG NEPTUNE on Yahoo. The first 20 sites are negative reviews, complaint boards, and hate pages. Save the money you would have spent on this thing, and buy your drycleaner a present." Tokyo, do you like the neptune series or not?

the other thread also mentions miele? any thoughts on that one?[/quote] Well that was more about avoiding the horrid drying center than anything else, but as far as quality goes, across the board things are much better with the Neptunes than they were when I wrote that. Maytag is not unaware of the problems with the Neptune line as a whole, perhaps because of the class action lawsuit.

And they have been trying to correct it. I still wouldnt waste my money on the drying center... Now common sense prevails here, if you run a search on a particular model - and there are a million pages of complaints... don't buy it. But remember that enough people buy Maytag appliances to warrant a little perspective. Thats the main reason you shouldn't buy Kenmore appliances unless you know exactly what it is and who is making it. The range of complete crap - decent is apparent in almost every major appliance line out there. Just take your time, do your research and if you are looking at something specific, let me know I'll see if I can get any info/dirt on it.

the other thread also mentions miele? any thoughts on that one?

Hmm... wouldnt be able to say for sure, I've heard good things about them, but never had the chance to check them out firsthand. To be perfectly honest with you, I've only really had experience with the major brands. So therefore no Fisher or Paykel either.

 

[Dakota rube]

We have Kenmore front-load washer and dryer and are very pleased with performance and reliability. About five years old now and never had a service call. A nice side-effect of front loaders is, as TS mentioned, lower water use. We actually saw a decrease in our monthly water bill. (Also the sound of the final spin is like a jet airplane....pretty cool.) When our clothes come out of the washer they are almost dry, so the dryer doesn't work as long or hard either.

As to Miele, my sister-in-law, to whom price is never an object, bought a Miele pair about the same time as we got our Sears stuff. They are kind of like a Mercedes...built like a tank, but she put up with leaks, repairs and various other disappointments for three years. She finally "lowered" herself to go to Sears and buy what we have. She's tickled with what she now has.

 

[Bradford]

I think the Sears (Kenmore) products are built by Whirlpool.

We've never had a problem with the Kenmore brands.

Bradford

 

[Tokyo Slim]

further notes on my above post, shortened due to the fact that I was running late for work - The Maytag Neptune front load washer 2002-2003 had a bad front seal and a non- steel backed plastic composite door - the first allowed the gasket to leak water inside the casing of the washer itself, which provided a nice dark, damp place for mold to take foot - as far as I've heard the mid 2003-present washer has the updated gasket which is supposedly a better design. The appliance guys at Depot are convinced that problem number one is fixed. As for the door, its still a composite, but now its got some sort of a structural steel backing on the inside that prevents the door from warping under heavy hot water load, which was the problem with the original. So... as far as I know, the two major gripes that I had with the washer in question have been corrected. It took them a year or so do fix it - with the help of at least the threat of a class action lawsuit Dakota - perhaps you could share which model Kenmore you have... like I said, the quality of Kenmore products tends to vary significantly due to the multiple manufacturers involved in the Kenmore "brand" itself. It sounds like you've got yourself a winner. On the other hand my dad has a Kenmore stack washer and dryer unit, that for some particular reason decided to overflow about six hundred square feet of water at an inch depth inside the condominium (right before Christmas no less) causing quite a bit of trouble. I was taking a nap at the time

Needless to say, I was awakened by the sound of the ocean... A seagull was perched on my chest. The one we had before it was fine for about three years, but then the bearings in the motor went out one day and the drum smacked into the front bumper and locked up. For some reason my dad keeps insisting on buying these damn things, and I've never been able to talk him into buying anything halfway decent.

This is the kenmore/whirlpool we CURRENTLY have...except not gas - so luckily we didn't die in a horrible fire, we almost drowned in a flood instead. http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml02/02192.html

 

[Kai]

We own and really like our Miele washer. Here's a review I wrote on it for another site: http://www.epinions.com/hmgd-Wa....reviews

 

[matadorpoeta]

thanks for the link kai.

update, it turns out that i don't need to replace the dryer, so i'm shopping for a washer only. the miele is a little bit pricey to me, especially since i need something with a very large capacity. these are the ones i'm looking at now:

Kenmore HE4t: no reviews yet on epinions, but it has the largest capacity and we like the different colors.

LG WM-2277HW: good reviews and the least expensive of the group.

Bosch WFMC 6400: good reviews and it's supposedly very quiet.

any more advice? tokyo?

 

[Tokyo Slim]

of particular note is the last few paragraphs on the bottom of this review detailing the differences between the he3t and the he4t... http://www1.shopping.com/xPR-Kenmore...D-162433371780 Sounds like if you can get a HE3t for less, it may be worth it. But then again, I'd make sure to verify it with another source before you run out to Sears.

 

[matadorpoeta]

tokyo, thanks for the advice.

i'll let everyone know what i choose and how it works out.

 

[PHV]

thanks for the link kai.

update, it turns out that i don't need to replace the dryer, so i'm shopping for a washer only. the miele is a little bit pricey to me, especially since i need something with a very large capacity. these are the ones i'm looking at now:

Kenmore HE4t: no reviews yet on epinions, but it has the largest capacity and we like the different colors.

LG WM-2277HW: good reviews and the least expensive of the group.

Bosch WFMC 6400: good reviews and it's supposedly very quiet.

any more advice? tokyo?

most of the appliances we have are Bosch/Miele. All are extremely quiet and never break... ever.