You don't say whether your FP washer is a TL or FL. In my opinion and experience, having to buy ANY washer & dryer these days is a dilemma in itself. If you buy some Top Loaders you can have some control over the water level; otherwise, forget that with any and all Front Loaders. My Speed Queen FL (cost $1800) is built like a tank and works like a charm except for the water level (13.4 gal split between washing and rinsing!???). San Diego Steve will tell you that is plenty and he has even posted that he sold that model and bought the newer one which uses even less total water per wash cycle (11.xx gal I think). He and I are in complete disagreement on how 4 gal of water can rinse a set of King size sheets that remain in a wad. So FL vs TL is the first hurdle. I'm not sure how much water a SQ TL uses, but that would be my first question. My FL spins like crazy. I would have bought an FP but they are not sold anywhere in the Dallas, TX area. Maytag used to make a Centennial model which my daughter in law has and it has a deep rinse which fills the tub, but might no longer be made. Sorry not to have any more helpful information. The Chinese factor would scare me off as well with the FP. Good luck and please post your final decision with the outcome. It will be up to date and may help others.

I have not found a post for this question, so I hope someone will have an answer/opinion. Thank you for your help. The condo is 70 years old, solidly built two story with concrete above the 4' crawl space and also the ceiling. I am looking for ways to cool and heat with electricity that are considered efficient and warm in winter. It does not have much insulation on the exterior walls...if any. The flooring above the crawl space is 3/4" thick parkay. Current heat is baseboard, and cooling is through the wall..one in the br and another in dining rm near kitchen. A local contractor told me that central heating/air will be very expensive to run. I don't doubt it. I would still like to have something unobtrusive and efficient. I can search the internet once you give me a 'push' in the right direction. Latest and greatest? or old standby.

Both my parents and I have had great luck with the Handyman Connection. I had them do everything in my master bathroom starting right after drywall installation.

Thanks Texanjana I thought you'd appreciate how lovely your DR is going to look with lighter walls and dark cherry furniture. The rug...she has a puppy and went out and closed the doors in the DR, but forgot to lock the swinging door to the kitchen. To her horror, her puppy chewed a little piece of the Persian rug in the corner. She called her rug man, (the gentleman that sold her the rugs) he picked up the rug and took it into NYC to be weaved. They wanted 1250.00 to repair it, but he got it down to 1000.00. It was a perfect repair, you can't tell which corner was repaired. The culprit ...Atticus