All the front loading washers have a water-proof seal. If you leave the door shut and sealed, it will smell like sour clothes after a day or so. If you leave the door cracked, it will dry out inside and it won't smell. If you forget, you can run and empty cycle and it'll take the smell away.

All of the front loaders take longer to wash clothes but they use MUCH less water and it's not idle marketing talk that they are much gentler on your clothes. Your clothes will last longer and look newer. You can also actually do handwash and delicate loads in the washer instead of in a sink, unlike the kind with the central agitator. They also fit a TON of clothes inside and your clothes will get clean even if you overload the machine. So even though a load takes longer, you might spend less time actually doing laundry.

I haven't had one of the top loading machines without the central column. They are more efficient than the old fashioned kind, but not as efficient as the front loaders since they have to fill up with water. Otherwise I would think they are comparable in performance and they are about the same price.

This time of year many appliance stores are clearing out models for the new ones coming in, so there are deals to be had if you aren't picky, and it sounds like you aren't.

If you want someone to give you actual model recommendations... what's your budget?

I would post in the Laundry forum for recommendations on washers and dryers. My FL model is 4 years old, so it is no longer available (there are more features now, as well). I agree with everything Nicole wrote above. I have never had an issue with my FL smelling. I leave it open after we used it. When I go back in there later I close it if it is dried out, otherwise I just leave it open. I notice my clothes are lasting much longer than when I was using a top loader. The wash time on mime is anywhere from 25 minutes to 2 hours. The shorter time is for delicates and the longest time is a super hot wash. The cycle I use the most is 50 minutes. If I recall, the same load with a top loader was 40 minutes.

This is right up my alley- I spent more time researching washers/dryers than I care to admit! I think it's because we have a lot of cloth diapers in addition to all of our other laundry.

We went with a front loader for several reasons, so my research was limited to that type...looked at reviews from Consumer reports, best buy (consumer ratings,etc), amazon.com, epinions, etc.

As far as front loaders go, Miele, Bosch, GE and Electrolux were on our short list. Bosch and Miele were eliminated because there seemed to be many complaints about either the washer or dryer and I wanted to buy the same brand of washer and dryer. These things spin at an incredibly high speed so you need to be strategic about where you put them and make sure they are installed and balanced correctly- otherwise you will have vibrations! GE was the next to go because the new front load model that we were looking at (it has a triangular door instead of the old circular one, if you need a visual) has had several complaints about a strange rubber smell. It seemed that the inside seam of the washer was dropping rubber shards into various reviewers' loads of laundry. Since I read this from several people on different sites we crossed them off the list. Maybe they have fixed the problem by now, who knows?

Electrolux was new at the time so there were fewer reviews, but all the feedback was excellent. We installed them 2 months ago and I am really happy with our choice. The washer actually comes in a more expensive model that saves something like 50+ washing options/modes, but we went with the turn dial, less expensive one. The shortest cycle time is 18 min and the longest is almost 2 hours. Most cycles are 30-60 min. We use the long cycle to sanitize the diapers and the outcome is superb. Nothing like cleaning cloth diapers to test a machine! It is very gentle on our clothes and they don't take as long to dry (or I dry everything on a lower temp) since the machine spins so much water out of the load. With regard to the dryer- so far, so good. Both the washer and dryer hold an enormous amount of laundry (I think it has the largest capacity on the market, but don't quote me on that one ;). There is a neat option, which I haven't used yet, which allows you to put a shelf in the dryer and dry delicates in a static position (without tossing everything around). I haven't taken the time to read the manual yet and figure it out.

Good luck- there is a lot of information out there and very little of it is consistent!

thanks all--

Well i dont necessarily have a budget for washer/dryer b/c i had my old one for 12 years so i know i plan to have this one for as long--- so i just want to make sure its a good one-- i dont like the idea of leaving the door open b/c i will forget about it since its on level 2 of the house and i'm a busy mom....

help lol

Hi.

Exact same boat as you. Our house is almost finished and I am so over picking out things.....

Before I lost steam, I did a lot of research on washers/dryers. I was concerned about those huge FLs vibrating during the spin cycle (laundry is on 2nd floor near baby/toddler rooms). We had a FL in our last house & it vibrated.

Ended up with GE Harmony set (top loader). Not the sexiest appliances you'll ever see, but got good reviews on performance. I'll report back when we're in & I use them!

Good luck & congrats on your project-it is looking great already! Saw the pics in the other thread.

Katie

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1500774}}

I have Sears brand FL now and LG FL's for new house which I haven't used yet.

I recommend a front loader for sure. It's so more economincal in the long run using less energy, water and cleaning products.

Most machines have different length cyles. I have a quick cyle on my present machine that I use for things that aren't that dirty, then the cycle's duration goes up, all the way to heavy duty washing.

One thing to be mindful of is the capacity of the machines. When I bought my first FL pair, the Sears pair I have now, I was concentrating on price of course, and the washer was a good size, but then after I received them and put them to use I realized the dryer was too small and was taking too long to dry very large loads. I recommend you buy the largest machine if you do large loads. It's more economical in the long run.
To compare machines you can go the Sears website and pick all the machines you are considering and they'll line them up side by side and you can compare features and prices. That's how I picked all my appliances. I hate to do any kind of foot work to pick out things. I like to do my research online then just walk in and say "I'll take it." Our salesman was grinning from ear to ear realizing he'd just made a huge sale and it didn't require anything except ringing it up, on his part. LOL

Katie- i just checked out your pics- your house is beautiful! Keep us posted!

I suggest taking a look at the water/energy efficient Fisher Paykel top loading washer and toploading dryer. When I was doing my searching there seemed to be a lot of good reviews for these. We ended up getting the aquasmarts and I love them. They use much less water than a traditional toploaders and you don't have to deal with leaving any doors open. This really bugged me about the FL, after spending so much money, their solution for the moldy smell is to leave the door open to air out?? weird! Anyway, just my opinion! I think the FP were a couple hundred less than the top of the line front loaders I was looking at and I couldn't be happier. Lots of options/wash cycles, less detergent usage, the no-bending over for both wash and drying is the best! I've got 2 young kids (meaning after one wear of an outfit it always has to get washed!!!), one on the way and a dirty husband :) so I do a lot of washing each week. Everything is coming out clean and not mangled. Good luck!

My recent experience is with an older Kenmore TL that died just months before we moved out of the old house. They were replaced by Maytag FL and matching dryer. I found leaving the door open to be no big deal . . . I always left my TL door open to dry out anyway.

In our new build, after much research, I planned to get a Fisher Paykel top loader, until our well came in with "limited production." Our appliance salesman checked with the manufacturers regarding water use and were told that a conventional top loader typically uses 40 gallons of water, the FP uses 20, and FLs typically use about 8. Because of our water situation and septic, we went with a Samsung FL. After 4 months of use by two families (DD, DSIL, 2 kids are living with us) we're very happy with our choice.

Our laundry room is off the master bath, over a walk-out basement, so the vibration control was very appealing.

True, cycles are longer than with my old TL. You might want to check into Electrolux -- I think I've seen TV commercials that say they have shorter cycles.