To me the moving from a TL to a dryer got just as many things dropped on the floor as doing the FL to dryer does. Except no socks or small items fall between like they did with the TL. I think it is possible some brands are worse on the smell/gasket thing. Could be the material they use for their gasket, so you might want read reviews. As for the washer getting dirty - the non HE TL I had did get dirty. It had a ring around the drum kind of where the water line was that I had to wipe down on a regular basis. My old FL did get dirty in the gasket folds and I did wipe that every now and then just like I did the drum on the TL. My new LG washer doesn't have a gasket with folds and has a slightly tilted drum so never have any water or anything that gets sitting there. I can add clothes whenever to mine too. Never an issue. Clothes get really nice and clean too. Unfortuntatley I'm not seeing the benefit of the drying not taking as long time. I think there is something wrong with my dryer. Jeans even after the high spin cycle is still a long time to be completely dry. I don't want damp clothes coming out of the dryer.

The problem of today's market is that sometimes you have to sacrifice something for another. A couple of reasons for the development of front loader washers is eco-friendliness and space-savings. Eco-friendly in the sense that the front loader uses less water and therefore less detergent. They are also a space-saver because of the ability to stack the dryer on top of the washer, install them in a closet space or even under a kitchen cabinet (like the ones that ASKO produces - http://www.ajmadison.com/cgi-bin/ajmadison/W6984FI.html?brand_store=1). But then again there are companies out there that are taking the "less water" concept into consideration when developing top load washers. Take for example, WA42T26GW1 from Fisher & Paykel (I found it here - http://www.ajmadison.com/cgi-bin/ajmadison/WA42T26GW1.html) which has an auto water level that senses the size of the load and selects the optimum water level automatically, eliminating water wastage and fabric damage caused by too little water. The only thing is that you can't stack it, but if that isn't a problem for you then it doesn't matter. I use to own a top load before converting to my Electrolux Wave Touch machines, and my machine use to emit a nasty smell (well, maybe not nasty but definitely not pleasant) after a couple of weeks of use and I use to hate cleaning the dispensers which use to get all greased up and nasty (I tend to use this word alot!). So smell there always will be whether you use a front load or a top load. And cleaning the tub is definitely not that difficult as my machine reminds me when I need to do it and all I have to do is run a cleaning cycle with bleach. Like PC vs Mac, there will always be arguments around which one is the best and it will always come down to which one YOU are most comfortable with.

I am so very happy to have an old-school top loader again. My front loader finally bit the dust and we didn't even bother to try to have it fixed. It was here in the house when we moved in - we're kicking ourselves for paying extra to keep the set, we should have installed our old ones - and these were awful from day one. The first pain was the kamikaze clothing that leapt out from both washer and dryer when the door opened or you pulled something big out. It sucks that something you've just washed has to wait to get cleaned again. Plus, with a bad back, I didn't like bending down so far. It is infuriating that you need to spend extra money on those pedestals to raise them up, and laundry baskets won't fit under either door without them, so, again, when the door opens, things can hit the floor, which is horrible. The machines come out of the box with this huge flaw and you need to spend $150.00 minimum to make them work as they should. They should just be taller from the outset. Also, I like pulling things up out of the washer and then putting them straight into the dryer without having clean wet clothes go into a basket that has previously had dirty clothes in it. Then came the smell. Now it's possible that the previous owner pre-fouled the thing, but that gasket? Where water ALWAYS was? Yak. Mold city. No amount of bleach and cleaning would keep this thing clean. My clothing is now much cleaner after just a week of having a top loader again. I'm very sensitive to detergent left in fabrics, and mine are once again clean and my towels are far more absorbent. It's possible that a new machine, for way more money than I just paid for my new GE top loader, might be better, but we didn't want to spend that much and are happy to have the old style machine back.

I agree with Cynic. It really depends on your needs. Make a list of your personal needs by priority and go from there. I went from a TL to a FL but that is beacuse my number one priority at the time was the water rates went up so high here it was getting to the point I couldn't afford to wash my clothes. My water bill was cut in half and the FL paid for itself in savings within 10 months. Some of the basic advantages and disadvantages I noticed are as follows: Advantages of my TL 1) My TL rinsed way better than my FL. 2) It was way easier to find detergents for my TL than my FL. 3) The water temperatures on my TL worked way better than the ones on my FL. 4) The wash cycles were faster so I was able to catch up on laundry quicker. 5) No mold issues. Advantages of my FL 1) Saving a lot of money on water use. 2) Can do much larger loads, even comforters. 3) Gentler on my clothes. Our clothes have been lasting much longer. 4) Spins more water out of laundry lessening drying time in my dryer which is saving me on electricty when I have to use my dryer. 5) Stainless steel drum so no more rust spots. (drum in my TL had a nick in the porcelin coating so I ended up with rust spots on several articles of clotheing.) As far as servicing, they are kinda running neck and neck on that one. Both had to be serviced multiple times when I first got both, but the TL only lasted 2 years. It was really inexpensive when I got it so it served it's purpose, and the replacement parts were dirt cheap so it made it easy for do it yourself repair. My FL is covered under warranty, but most of the stuff that has gone wrong with it has been relatively inexpensive parts wise and the inside is so basic it looks very fixable for an owner to do oneself. Cleaning performance? They are neck and neck. Neither one was/is fantastic, and neither was/is horrible. Both did/do the job well enough. For reference, my TL was a low end, real basic Kenmore. My FL is what you would class as a low end, real basic Frigidaire Affnity.