Hello!

So sorry for my long post!

You are smart in getting the extended warranty for whatever you buy! We did that when my family members and I bought my grandmother a Maytag Bravos washer. By the way, the Bravos has been wonderful for my grandmother so far! But you are right! No matter what appliance you buy nowadays, it most likely won't last as long as appliances that were made in the 80's and earlier, so it's best to cover yourself. At least that is how I feel.

But being that you stated you are doing heavier loads of towels from an animal rescue group, (which is so wonderful that you volunteer your time to such a cause, by the way!), the new Bravos with it's heater, sanitary cycle and ENORMOUS capacity may suit you well. I would use either the "sanitary" or the "sheets" cycle on the Bravos for those.

As for Maytag's bad reputation, they did have some bad products but that was when Maytag was their own company. Since 2006, they have been bought by Whirlpool. And since that takeover it seems their products have improved a lot, at least based on the user reviews I've seen. I believe the Bravos is made in a Whirlpool factory but a word of caution I'm pretty positive the parts are made by Fisher & Paykel. Figured I'd warn you based on your last experience with F&P. But all in all, my grandmother LOVES her Bravos and the owner reviews of the Bravos have generally been very positive!

You mentioned the GE Adora and GE Profile machines. The only washer I'd buy from GE is the Harmony. I work in a high school special ed. classrm and we have the Harmony in our room for our students swim clothes and soiled clothes, for which the sanitary/super wash cycle on the Harmony works well for. It is also an excellent machine, very similar to the Bravos in that it has a heater, has a HUGE capacity and it is also an HE TL like the Bravos. Other people here on the laundry blog rave about the Harmony and Bravos as well. If I were buying today, those would be my 2 top choices, even though I like my FL's as well.

As for FL"s, I have had 2 (a Danby FL and my current machine, a Maytag compact FL) and NEVER had a problem with mold! I do wipe down the rubber gasket with a towel and keep the door open a crack and that seems to eliminate any musty smells or mold from occuring. An occasional hot wash with bleach or Affresh tablets while the machine is empty helps as well. I think if you complete those steps you should be fine.

Some FL's I've heard very good things about are the Whirlpool Duet HT, which has had a few negative reviews but mostly glowing reviews, The Maytag Performance Series FL's, which is essentially the same machine as the Duet HT, the Bosch Nexxt, which has a feature list that I like, the Samsung VRT FL's, which many owners that blog here seems to rave about, the Frigidaire Affinity, another machine people rave about here and is the least expensive of the bunch I am listing, and the Electrolux FL's which are new (and expensive) but a couple of recent reviews I've seen seem to be wonderful!

But I have not heard stellar reviews on the Adora (circular window GE FL) since it came out, which was over 2 years ago. Other GE washers besides the Harmony do not seem to get the best reviews as well.

Well I hope this info helps as it was a lot! Good luck and do keep us posted on which machine you do purchase! :o)

Kevin

Here is a link that might be useful: Maytag Bravos with heater at Lowe's

Check out Speed Queen. Owners here love these machines. They are still built like "old" washers. Plus, a 3 year warranty is standard.

Here is a link that might be useful: Speed Queen Home Laundry

Thanks to those who have posted suggestions. I've done some more follow-up research on the forum and other places and I'm now leaning toward the Samsung machines - not the high end with steam and all - I think they are the model 328. No matter what I purchase I'm going to get the extended warranty, service plan, whatever you call them, this time around! I have learned from experience that they DO break during that time. I usually don't purchase those types of plans, but it would have come in handy with the F&P machines - although I still am not sure they would work correctly. It's too bad too, because I like the machines when they work, but I shouldn't have to unscrew a part and clean out BEHIND the lint area weekly.....

I was reading an appliance repair forum and the repair guys indicated that Speed Queens were terrible difficult to work on.

You can get a replacement agitator through searspartsdirect.com for $36. It takes like 5 minutes to remove and replace. As for the dryer, I would see if maybe Dadoes can help. He has access to many of the F&P service manuals.