It's been my experience with internet forums like this one that you'll get the most useful replies if you ask specific questions, as opposed to open ended ones, simply because it's more work to reply to the latter.

Have you checked Consumer Reports on line, and read any of the many threads here about various brands? If you narrow it down to two or three top choices and ask people who own them to comment you'll get some useful replies.

I was in your situation 15 years ago and concluded that for excellent cleaning, reliability and durability, and quiet operation the European front loaders were top of the list. But they are not big. I decided that I could adjust my laundry habits and start doing loads more often but I couldn't add quality to a poorly designed machine that was built as cheaply as possible. Now I like doing more loads because I can do the folding in a few minutes and everything the kids want to wear is almost always clean.

My 15 year old Miele just had a motor failure, which was the first problem we ever had with it. The performance has always been so outstanding that we're buying another. I don't think there's a better machine out there, but that's just my opinion. We have a GE Profile gas dryer that works fine too, but it is 5 years old and probably only has a few years left on it. Operating a gas dryer where I live is about half the cost of running an electric unit and all of the Euro machines are electric.

Good luck in your search.

This post was edited by richard_f on Sun, Apr 14, 13 at 15:40

Richard,
Thank you for your reply. Interestingly enough, your suggestion of how to post my question would completely defeat the intended purpose of it, AND you responded exactly how I was hoping people would.
You see, I'm not looking for product information. I have researched my options until I'm blue in the face. I have all of the information on the machines that I could possible use to make an informed decision. But to me, the rational information on purchases such as these makes up only part of the decision-making information - the other half is emotional, irrational, and made up of nothing more than impressions and perceptions - hence my open-ended question about favorites, and opinions based on some key criteria.
Consumer Reports' information is sketchy, in my opinion, and is not a source I inherently trust. They test only those brands and products that manufacturers pay to enter or participate in, and so there's bias in the reviews straight from the start because of the limited brands and products in their consideration set.
Again, thank you for your input. They are the personal impressions and perceptions that I value more than specific product information. Your reply was very helpful.

I'm glad you found my reply helpful.

I take CR with a grain of salt also, because all they test is performance while the product is brand new. They do some survey of ownership experience for cars to get longitudinal data about use and satisfaction, but not for other products. And the data gets out of date. In their most recent report on washing machines they reviewed two Miele's that were dropped from the product line in the US last year. They just haven't test washers recently.

I think you have some misinformation about them more broadly though. Consumer Reports is published by a non profit organization and they don't accept payment or advertising from manufacturers:

' To maintain its independence and impartiality, Consumer Reports accepts no outside advertising and no free samples and employs several hundred mystery shoppers and technical experts to buy and test the products it evaluates.'

I put a link to their mission statement below.

Here is a link that might be useful: CR Mission Statement

Electrolux for all the bells and whistles and capacity.
Frigidaire if your more on a stricter budget.

You can watch both on Youtube and get an idea about them.

Thanks, George. I do see that people seem to be awfully happy with their Elux washers and dryers.

Do you (or does anyone) know the difference between their Perfect Tumble and Gentle Tumble features on the dryers? This seems to be one of the most major (if at all) differences between the 60 and 70 series.

In general, I'm looking at Elux models, and the differences between 60 and 70 series is number of cycles. The 60s have about 11 and with the 70 series, the machines jump to 65. I would NEVER use this many cycles, and I'm wondering if the 70 series is just overkill for me. Again, however, one major difference for the dryer, however, is that the 60 series offers Gentle Tumble, and the 70 series offers Perfect Tumble. Trying to figure out what the difference is, and if this feature offers a benefit that is worth the incremental cost.

I believe the "Perfect Tumble" reverses the tumble toward the end of the cycle as not to tangle items.

Seems they recently redid the Electrolux website and the manuals are not up and running yet, otherwise I could have done some more investigating.

Here's a good thread on the Electrolux machines if you haven't seen it yet:

Here is a link that might be useful: Elux thread

I have the Wave Touch 70 series and while I don't know exactly what "Gentle Tumble" is, I can tell you that I absolutely love the Perfect Tumble feature on the dryer. It reverse tumbles the load and makes sure it's not tangled up when you remove it. I also like the extended tumble feature, which tumbles the load with cool air until you take it out. This feature is adjustable, so I can make it tumble for up to three hours after it's done drying. This allows me to take the laundry out and fold it when it's convenient for me. If I wait till the load is fully cooled and has tumbled a bit, it doesn't get wrinkled in the basket while I'm folding. With my old dryer, I'd dash to the dryer as soon as it went off, and it would take some fancy maneuvering to make sure that things didn't get wrinkled in the basket. A feature I like very much in the washer is the shrink guard. It tumbles the load after the last spin, fluffing it up a bit. I have fewer wrinkles in the laundry with the new pair.

As to the number of cycles, I admit freely that it's a ridiculous number. However, you have options within those cycles, and that means that I can get this washer to do pretty much anything I want it to. I don't use all of the cycles, but I can tweak the cycles I do use to my satisfaction, and I like that very much. I've had this pair for almost a year and a half, and so far I'm very happy with them. The push to open door has not been annoying, as I'd feared it might be. :-)

Cj

Updated to insert a missing sentence, so the first paragraph makes sense now. Sorry!

This post was edited by cj47 on Thu, Apr 18, 13 at 11:13

65 cycles = multiplying each cycle by each option.

Looking at your list... you should consider Miele Professional or Speed Queen. Both, and the Miele esp., are rather expensive choices.

The Luxes are nice washers, although I'm not sure if they'll last 15 years without any repairs.