I had one when the children were growing up. I ground all my own wheat (Magic Mill) and used the Bosch to make bread twice a week. Back then (in the mid and late 80's) the Bosche could handle 5 large loaves of bread - it had a 1/2 horsepower engine. I had attachments that would whip, mix, knead, grind, juice, etc. I used that thing to death. It lasted about 12 years and then died a peaceful death. I loved it and miss those days of grinding, baking, canning. Now I have a Kitchenaid and really like it but it does not have the capacity to hold as much dough as my Bosche.

I've used one for about 15 years (I'm actually on the second one now), but I live in an apartment and don't have laundry hookups, venting, or 220V power for a conventional dryer. I currently have a 2.3 cubic ft LG. I live alone and regularly do small loads of laundry throughout the week. Because a large load can take long (if you use the full washer capacity, you really do need to split it to dry in two loads, but i can do about 2/3 a wash load and still have it all dry together most of the time), This isn't a "save everything to do laundry every two weeks" solution but it works well if you do a load here and there as needed. I also think any more than three people may want a larger machine. LG does make a larger unit, but because the dryers are 110V, they will never dry as quickly as a dedicated dryer on 220V circuit. I've never had the clothes stick to the inside of the drum as mentioned above, but I also use a small amount of fabric softener for everything by towels/linens, which apparently can prevent that issue. I also have found the dryer to work pretty well: it helps to sort clothes by weight as well as color. My first combo lasted 12 years (no repairs, but I did have to remove lint from the condenser a couple times). The new LG is better in everyday: quiet, dries faster, cleans really well, and greatly reduced vibration. If you have the option for laundry hookups, but not room for full size machines, I'd recommend going with compact units before a combo; but I'm pretty sure all the compact dryers will need a 220V hookup. Keep in mind that what is now called a compact (at about 4,2 cubic feet) used to be marketed as jumbo capacity. It's fairly recent that home machines got big enough to wash 30 full size bath towels, though I'm not sure why most people need that.

Be very careful about the build quality, customer service, and promises made by GE. They plumbed up the appliance cash cow for sale. If the sale to Electrolux doesn't go through there will be consequences. The quality of most of the GE laundry appliances is just so-so in my opinion. As in everything YMMV. There are winners, losers, and lemons in every product line as well. You will not find an easy consensus on anything because there are so many choices and no perfect solutions. Many bells and whistles and duplicate cycles to attract your attention. Who does most of the laundry? What are your must-haves? HE toploaders are a disaster. Consumers who don't read manuals or follow common sense have given some perfectly acceptable frontloaders a bad reputation with their bad habits. You will find a following for F&P on the forum as well as those who hate them. Speed Queen has a cult following on this forum. Most of us had to plod through, make a few mistakes, and decide what worked best for each. Do your appliances have to match? My compromise was to get the functionality in the frontloader (LG) I needed and pair it with the same color, but different manufacturer cheaper dryer. It's mostly worked out for us. BTW Speed Queen does make front loaders, but they do not have on-board heaters. I assume you are already acquainted with the differences in today's machines for limits of water temperatures and water levels and what you have been used to. First thing I would do is make sure I knew exactly what I needed at my best price point. Good Luck

Thanks to everyone for the comments. I wanted to give a little update on the filling patterns of my machine. I did a couple loads of laundry on Saturday and wrote down my observations. I did not time them with a stopwatch...I just did the old "one one thousand.....two one thousand....three one thousand...." approach like we did when we were kids... while I jotted down how many times and for roughly how long. A stopwatch would have gotten in the way during all the short bursts. I loaded my machine....and after it auto sensed the load size, it sensed it as a full load (4 out of 4 bars), so it should have used the most amount of water I guess. I used the following options....pre-wash... extra rinse....and water plus. Here's how the machine filled. During the "pre-wash" stage, I observed the following water filling bursts: - 12 short bursts of water, roughly 1 second each, maybe 3 or 4 seconds apart.....+/- - 1 long burst of water, roughly 30 seconds. - 2 medium bursts of water, roughly 7 seconds each. - 1 long burst of water, roughly 30 seconds. - 4 medium bursts of water, roughly 4 seconds each. - 1 long burst of water, roughly 35 seconds. So 21 separate bursts of water for the pre-wash stage. During the "main wash", stage, I observed the following: - 6 shorts bursts of water, roughly 1 second each - 1 long burst of water, roughly 30 seconds. - 5 short bursts of water, roughly 1 second each - 1 long burst of water, roughly 20 seconds - 4 medium bursts of water, roughly 4 seconds - 1 long burst of water, roughly 30 seconds. So 18 separate bursts of water for the main wash stage. For the "rinse" cycles, I did not count and/or time, however it was something like: - 1 long burst of water for maybe a minute, again I did not time it...it just fills... - 1 or 2 short to medium bursts...again, I did not time these I just wanted to give you guys an update, and see if anyone has water fill patterns like these or if these are completely ridiculous...which I think they are. Again, the machine is 9-10 years old....so it's time to start looking for a new one....this is driving me crazy. Someone asked if this was a new thing or if the machine always did this. To be honest....I didn't pay attention to fill patterns before I started having the hammer issues and water/mist shooting out of the exterior hose bib vacuum breakers awhile back.......so I cannot say for sure. Now I wish I had paid attention to it from the first day years back..