If you really want useful information, I second the notion of posting on the Laundry Forum. There are some folks there who are as knowledgeable and obsessed with W/D's as folks here are about ranges and dishwashers. I will say that to get useful information, you need to supply as much information as you can. Asking "what is the best [fill in the blank]" will never get you an answer, as there is no such thing as a "best" range, or DW, or washer or dryer. The better you can outline your needs, the better the advice will be. So, for the W/D--how much laundry do you do? Is the top priority cleaning performance, capacity, reliability, "green-ness" (water and energy consumption, special features (sanitation cycles, steam dewrinkling, special cycles), etc. Where will they be located? (Many front loaders vibrate excessively if installed in an upstairs location, as opposed to on the slab of the basement). How much space do you have? What's your price point? Once you have those outlined, then let the laundry folks take a rip at it. You'll get great information. Here is a link that might be useful: Laundry Room Forum

I love my Moen Aberdeen. Picking a faucet was very hard for me. In my area, Grohe is what all the stores push. I didn't like the Grohe styling for my kitchen. I finally got the Moen Aberdeen because I wanted a spray that would stay on. It also has a trigger for the whole faucet so you can turn it on and off when you're holding the spray head. This feature is great if you're filling pots that are on the countertop, or filling flower vases. You can turn it on and off from the head of the faucet while your holding it, instead of at the sink. Total one hand operation. It is also nice and tall, and if I'm scrubbing a pot in the sink, I can tug the entire head out, let it dangle in the sink right over the pot, and fill the pot. In this way, it's like those tall chef style sink filler faucets, but without the height. I've been very happy with it. I got mine on Ebay. I think I might have saved about a hundred bucks over what the regular faucet stores wanted. If you decide to get a faucet at Lowe's or HD (I think they have the Moen) be aware that they will accept a return if you change your mind, but they will charge restocking fees nearly as high as the internet sellers do! Good luck.

One thing I would change: Get the delayed start timer to be more able to measure timeframes that are less than an hour. The one I have lets me choose hours. Apparently also less than an hour, but it's not very fine-grained there. The dial LOOKS like it takes delay start times of less than an hour, but it doesn't really do that. Sometimes I'm going out to do an errand, and I want it to start and finish before I get back. Instead, it hasn't even started yet when I come home, or it has barely started. Defeats the purpose. Counterproductive. The complete opposite of what I wanted. Frustrating. So, I've had to teach myself to turn the dial to the last click (also very coarse and not very finegrained). Even then it's not impressive. Why can't I have a delay of 10 minutes? Why can't it be easy to turn, and reliably set at ten minutes? OK, I realize that many will say "who cares" and "why do you need to delay start for ten minutes". This is the feature that I want, for my own reasons. It will determine my next purchase. If I move I'm selling with a wonderful FL washer already installed and in its place. HTH

gayl: Our ss is the generic variety that was carried by the fabricator. I collected TONS of samples before we bought, and what we ended up with is one of hardest. It is more gray than green and has minimal veining. After we installed, I wished I had chosen a veinier slab! Our kitchen is small, however, so plain is probably a better choice. I don't know how to use our camera or even know were it is. However, the kitchen doesn't get much natural light, and I'm not sure how well it would photograph under artificial light what with reflections and all. In addition to our sink rim having tons of small nicks, the top rim of our counter in front of our sink also has tons of nicks. You can feel them if you run your finger along the edge. I don't really visually notice it. The other counter edges don't get quite the abuse, so they are pretty good. I would be hyperventilating if the counters were shiny granite because then the nicks would look terrible. But the counters are matte, and they are more like broken in blue jeans. The counter above our dishwasher warms up when it is run, but otherwise remains cool to the touch.